Pundit goes studs up on Rangers star as he brands Clement recruit with a brutal claim over Ibrox quality
The Rangers defender has been served up a harsh verdict by one pundit.
One pundit reckons that one Rangers star isn’t living up to the billing of what should be expected as an Ibrox man in one certain position.
The Light Blues have had criticism from all angles this season under Philippe Clement and the Belgian finally paid the price last weekend after a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren. He was sacked, despite progress to the Europa League last 16, as domestic form had toiled with an embarrassing Scottish Cup exit to Queen’s Park turning many fans against him.
He had his hand in the summer recruitment and pundit Stephen McGinn has not been impressed by one of those recruits. Barry Ferguson is now interim manager and won 4-2 away at Kilmarnock midweek in his first game, where they found themselves a couple of goals down inside the first half.
In the firing line
Clinton Nsiala was the man Ferguson drafted out of defence before the half-time whistle but McGinn has saved his ire for Robin Propper, who arrived last summer from FC Twente. He has had his critics and McGinn thinks the Dutchman has been bullied a time too often in matches.
The former midfielder told Go Radio: “I think Robin Propper has really, really struggled as a Rangers player. I was at the game last time when Kilmarnock beat Rangers down at Rugby Park and I just thought, fair enough, he's had an excellent career in the Dutch league, but he's not a Rangers centre-half.
“When you think of some of the Rangers centre-halves over the years, big physical dominating, he was bullied last time Rangers went down to Rugby Park. By all accounts, the same thing happened again on Wednesday night.
“I understand they are still in the Europa League but the league is gone. Scottish Cup is gone, transfer window is gone, it’s not even as if they can say what centre-backs can we get, who can we sign in the last week of the window to help us out.”
Looking for response
Propper has been looking ahead to the game on Saturday vs Motherwell, where the club are looking to avoid a shocking third defeat on the spin at Ibrox against a provincial club. He said: “The gaffer won a lot of trophies here. He is a Rangers legend for the fans, so I knew a few things about him. It was disappointing that Philippe lost his job but that is football. We were all in it, it was disappointing the results weren’t there.
“We have a new manager, he has made some small changes as he has his own ideas and we are trying to do the best we can. The gaffer wants to play fast football and press teams. There are some differences and we play with energy. We owe our fans a performance in every game. They follow us in big numbers and we want to make them, and ourselves proud. We always go for the win. It has only been one game so we have to do it consistently, but we can take confidence from Kilmarnock.”