Early report card as Rangers new boy Fabio Silva settles in

So he’s played three matches as a Rangers player, and Ibrox Noise decided to finally offer a thought or two on on-loan Wolves man Fabio Silva.

His debut was that 20-minute cameo v Killie, and he did ok. Not great, but he was alright. He made a mess of one shot, won a foul, managed no dribbles, and made 7 passes. It wasn’t ‘wow’ but it was better than average.

Sadly, that was his peak.

While we can’t surely measure a player by friendlies, it’s no disservice to the man to argue Silva has been absolutely howlingly poor.

Spending more time protesting refereeing decisions than getting on with the game, showing the touch of an elephant, making some poor runs and showing no real reading of the game, Silva hasn’t quite sparkled.

At one point on the floor in apparent agony battering the floor yelling in pain, Silva opened his eyes and just looked at the referee waiting for him to give a decision in Rangers’ favour, which didn’t happen, so the Portuguese went back to screaming.

This is very much the gamesmanship psychology of South America, ‘simulation’ we politely call it, and Portuguese football, heavily-influenced of course by that continent, is rife with such play-acting.

And he could get away with such miscreancy if his play was any good. Thus far it falls miles short.

He is of course a loan, and these were of course friendlies, but the only defence even the biggest most positive Rangers fans have offered is ‘trust in the process’ and ‘trust the manager’. With a hint of ‘give him a chance ffs’.

Yes, it’s safe to say Silva hasn’t won anyone over yet, and at this moment looks like a thinner Sam Lammers. Who at least never play-acted.

Of course, we’re being harsh. He could well bestride the game like a colossus once up to speed, and naturally he hasn’t actually been playing a lot before his move north. He’s definitely rusty.

But equally even fans at large so far haven’t been overly-amused by his displays thus far.

Hopefully the club’s judgement in bringing him here is well-founded and the boy wins us over soon.