Steven Gerrard announces status of Umar Sadiq

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Steven Gerrard announces status of Umar Sadiq


Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has dropped his biggest confirmation yet that Umar Sadiq’s loan spell at Ibrox is likely to be cut short and the player returned to Italy in January, following his latest comments to the media.

The Roma striker, 21, has been a painful disaster in Scotland so far, and his game has evidently not suited the Scottish style of physicality.

Scouts watching him had expressed praise in Italy that he was able to adapt his unorthodox style to suit Serie A then the Eredivisie, but it seems that adaptation has gone less swimmingly in the SPL.

And his loan manager Gerrard has evidently run out of patience with the ex-Breda man.

He said:

“It’s a frustration (losing Alfredo) – we lose a player in form and we are going to have to find a way to get the job done without a natural nine unless Sadiq comes to the party and improves an awful lot between now and then.”

Reaction to this quote has been rather mixed – some fans praise his absolute honesty in stating Sadiq’s inadequacy, and for keeping supporters in the loop as to his progress, while others have been more critical, stating this is poor management and will only crush the lad’s confidence further.

We are well aware Gerrard has previous for singling players out for both praise and criticism, and this style is really nothing new, but this criticism did seem rather brutal and a touch counterproductive – Gerrard is right to say we have a pickle for the semi-final and that effectively we currently have no 9 at all for the match, but maybe he was less right to say it publicly?

We are full of praise for SG – we are loving his start to life at Ibrox, but as we said in our previous piece commending him for being so Walter-esque, we equally conceded he will make errors too as he learns his trade.

And we can’t help thinking insulting a current player who is doing everything in his power to ‘get to the party’ probably counts among those errors!

That equally said, it just highlights how desperately far off the pace Sadiq is, and how unlikely he currently seems to be to survive beyond January.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. There are of course, pros and cons to his publicly announcing that Sadiq needs to improve a lot to have a chance to play in the first team. But what we don't know is whether SG may have already tried the arm round the shoulder approach to no avail, and he may have consciously decided to try a more brutal approach to see if he can "shock" Sadiq into doing whatever is needed for him to make progress at Rangers.
    Different people react in different ways, so maybe this is the stimulus needed to get the best out of Sadiq. Let's hope so … time will tell.

  2. I get the impression that the issue is that the lad isnt doing everything he can to join the party. Gerrard has backed players I gave up on two seasons ago. The effort was there.Halliday being the example there. If the lad is not working and being lazy then Gerrard is right to publically oust him for what he is.

  3. Different players respond to different styles of management and while all our other loaners are improving week on week this guy appears to be a disaster. Gerard will know better than most whether the guy is going to work out for us or not and the signs are that he won’t. No time for sentiment, either he can be a success or get rid. If it destroys him in the process so be it!

  4. He said it himself he needs to vastly improve between now an the cup final, in otherwords he is a complete donkey and will be gone by January

  5. there's nothing wrong with SG setting him a challenge. basically telling him if he gets his act together he'll have a chance to play in a semi-final. if he doesn't then they'll have to play one of the wide players up front.

  6. Get Rid in January!
    It should have been Solanke/Abraham on Loan.

    …We should have Kept Cummings

    …We shud have made more effort to sign Marriott

  7. Now we all know this status it’s the same for every player shape up are ship out 🇬🇧🇬🇧

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