The response to our Ryan Naderi article yesterday certainly was a colourful one, mostly civil, and there was a lot of agreement as well. Naderi, of course, has not had the best start to his time at Rangers. The former German third division striker, signed for £5M, has looked out of his depth, positioned incorrectly, He’s not understanding the league, and ultimately not scoring a single leagye goal, just a couple of easy ones in the cup against lowly opposition. We were against the signing here on Ibrox Noise, and it sits on Danny Rohl that he brought this man in. Naderi is a young lad, but he is a young lad who has been taken out of his comfort zone and put into the cauldron of Ibrox.
A step up and instant pressure
He was happy with the move, of course. It is a step up for him. It is a massive club compared with where he was at Hansa Rostock. But he is also dealing with pressure he never had to handle there. He is working hard, and he is trying, but his stats so far, with us being six weeks into his time at Rangers, suggest a player who is struggling with the league.
Fan reaction and divided opinion
Of course, the detractors to the comments that Ibrox Noise made, angry as per usual, talked about how we needed to give the boy a chance and he is two minutes in the door. Sorry, but he is not two minutes in the door. He is a month and a half into the door and he has played several times now. If that is two minutes in the door, then what really is two minutes in the door?
The reality is, he has been here long enough that we can start to form something of an opinion. Of course, the reality is that it is only those who mindlessly back everything Rangers who will say things like that. As we all know, the so called happy clappers will defend absolutely anything and use the most irrational logic to defend such and such.
Positioning confusion explained
As for Naderi, as we said, the response was mixed. While there were many saying give him a chance, there were also many who said he looked out of his depth. Ibrox Noise has said the same. He looks like he does not quite know what he is doing. He may be working hard. There were also a number of mentions about the position he appears to be playing.
Now we are very curious about the context of that positioning. How can some fans argue that Danny Rohl is playing him on the left wing when he is not? Ryan Naderi is himself choosing to drift to the left.
The last match, of course, was against St Mirren. It was a 4-4-2. Mikey Moore and Gassama were the wingers, left and right. Gassama on the right, Moore on the left. Ryan Naderi was up top alongside Youssef Chermiti. Naderi was choosing to drift to the left, just like he had in the previous match.
Drifting out of position
This is where he is going. As a two, you have freedom. You have a partner. You both play off each other. If Naderi is drifting out to the left, that is not a left winger, because Mikey Moore is playing on the left wing. At least he has been recently.
Naderi is himself being dragged out of position. He is naively going off to the left where he is not supposed to be to pick up the ball. That is pushing into Mikey Moore’s territory, or whoever is playing on the left. Danny Rohl in recent times has switched, as we know, to that 4-4-2. It is not really working overall and does not look exactly polished.
But Naderi is struggling, not only with the league, but with his own play. He is overlapping onto Mikey Moore, or whoever is on the left, where he should not be. He should be much more central off Chermiti.
Naivety and eagerness
So for fans defending him, to suggest that he is being played on the left tactically is not accurate. He should be staying in the middle, but he is drifting wide. That goes against instruction. We cannot understand why he is doing that, but he is clearly too eager to get on the ball.
He is obviously the left striker with Chermiti on the right, but he is drifting out and playing as a pseudo left winger at times. That is not what he is supposed to be doing.
Now Danny Rohl is not a great football manager, whatever many fans seem to think. He is not putting together the right system that gets the best out of the players. But Naderi is simply doing his own thing. He is too eager to please and too eager to impress.
Stats and reality
This is naivety at play. This is a young player who is out of his depth and too eager. It does not matter if you praise him by saying he works hard. Working hard does not matter if you concede goals and do not win matches.
Overall, Rohl is not doing that, and Naderi is not contributing enough in the right ways. His stats ratings so far have not been impressive at all. He has not even scored over seven on any of the stats sites, which is not a good sign for a striker. He’s managed just two shots since joining.
£5M is not promising in terms of what it has delivered, and it was a huge gamble. Some fans can see it, some cannot, but the debates will go on.