“Not the best – 6” – “Living up to the hype – 9” – player ratings from Ibrox…

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“Not the best – 6” – “Living up to the hype – 9” – player ratings from Ibrox…


As Rangers’ first serious action of pre-season comes to a close, Ibrox Noise has a lot to cover before Tuesday’s trip to Gibraltar gets into full swing.

A comfortable 5-0 win over Karl Robinson’s Oxford was solid preparation if not circumstantially ideal for the Europa League opener, and we now bring you some match ratings following a decent workout in Govan:

Jak Alnwick:

Had nothing to do, at all. Just can’t rate him. N/A

Polster:

Our first time watching this lad, and it was promising. Extremely solid at the back with a fine awareness of position, and his brute-force defending was up to scratch. Didn’t bomb forward with the flair of Tavernier, but did so with the regularity. A fine show and he could provide really good competition there. 7

Katic:

Not the best composure from Katic, and a lot of non-communication with Edmundson – not a partnership which reassured, and while Katic’s raw individual work at the back was decent, his polish was a bit off key. He was ok, rasping 30-yarder or not. 6

Edmundson:

Has a hell of a delivery from deep, but then so did Niko Kranjcar in friendlies and look what happened to him. The duo with the Croat fell flat and a better side than Oxford would punish that level of defending. But it was indeed only Oxford. 6

Halliday:

Once again Halliday shows why he’s a problem for Stevie – excellent defending, excellent crossing, excellent with width support, excellent all round. For an attacking midfielder he’s continuing to put in some great shifts at LB. 8

Kamara:

Barely involved – a few neat passes and turns but a quiet display from the Finn in this one. 6

Docherty:

Very very lively first 30, really heavily involved and worked hard in the last third. Has evolved well the past season into a really effective attacking midfielder and while he did drift out after half an hour, what he had done was extremely promising. Great performance from one of our own. 8

Aribo:

Strong on the ball but not necessarily that effective yet, Aribo was an intriguing debut. Has composure and intelligence but wasn’t dominant on the ball – a useful cross or two and hard to shake off the round thing, but we didn’t see quite the enterprising aggressive attacking and creative play from him we’d expected. 6

Candeias:

His place is under threat and boy does he know it – a great shift from the Portuguese and was full of running, invention and drive – very involved and took his goal sumptuously. Fine performance. 8

Hastie:

Bright first 15-20 minutes but faded afterwards, Hastie looks like he could have some potential but will need to develop his tactical awareness and understanding of how Rangers play. Works hard to track back though, and that is appreciated. 6

Stewart:

Fine debut from the underhyped signing many had doubts over, his assist for the opener was marvellous and his goal was impressive too. Works hard, and clearly wants to earn this shirt – looks like he wants to be a Ranger and we love that. 8

Subs (selected)

McPake:

Wow, only 15 minutes but we can see why Liverpool want him. Absolutely stellar performance from a young man with the world at his feet. 9

Ojo:

Ryan who? Wow, only got 20 minutes but did more in them than Kent did until Hearts late November. This guy is living up to the hype and then some. 9

The rest suffered the ‘spate of subs’ syndrome as the game lost its pattern and edge.

Really pleasing overall even with its flaws and we’re confident for Tuesday.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Hard to judge when we won the game so comfortably but just a few observations:
    Polster: a big lad but certainly doesn't have the attacking prowess of Tavernier. Be interesting to see if the critics of Tavernier would trade his attacking attributes for the solid defensive strengths of Polster.
    Katic : was often left on the ball and didn't seem to know what to do with it.
    Kamara : strong in possession. Keeps the ball moving and will surely be a first pick.
    Aribo: not much evidence of his attacking abilities.
    Docherty : loose in possession and gave too many passes away. Must do better.
    Stewart : has ability but can't see him as a main striker. Surely back up to Arfield as an advanced midfield player.
    Ojo : is it too early to get excited about him. His goal was superb and I can see him getting easily into double figures this season.
    Jones : keen but has to do better. Should've been bombing down the left but often lagged behind his team mates when he should've been an out ball on the left.

  2. It was a canter for the Rangers players and looked more like a kick about therefore hard to judge many. Aribo playing against Oxford? didn't do much to impress. Most of the game was played in front of the main stand which meant it really was one sided. All in a good day out at sunny Ibrox.

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