Former Rangers star blasts Wolves loanee for bizarre Ibrox incident despite Scottish Cup Annan hammering
The former Rangers, Hearts and Sunderland man was left baffled by an incident which took place before the game.
Despite Rangers’ comfortable 5-0 win over Annan Athletic in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup, Derek Ferguson is still not convinced about the defence.
A Bojan Miovski hat-trick, Thelo Aasgaard wonder free-kick and Kieran Dowell header saw The Light Blues put five past their Dumfriesshire opponents, who sit 36 places below them in the Scottish Football pyramid. However, with Danny Rohl resting the majority of his starting XI, the players on the pitch did what they had to do.
As expected, The Gers were never out of second gear on Friday night but Annan had a few half chances themselves, leaving question marks over Nasser Djiga and Clinton Nsiala at the heart of the defence. In the case of Djiga, he’s struggled with his consistency levels since joining Rangers from Wolves on loan in the summer, despite coming with a big reputation.
Former Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson still has doubts about the Burkina Faso international as well as his centre back partner. Speaking on BBC Sportsound’s Scottish Football Podcast he recalled a bizarre incident which happened before the game regarding the defender.
Defence ‘slack’ despite Annan rout
Ferguson thought the players that came in were far from convincing and was unimpressed by Djiga’s delaying of the kick-off at Ibrox because he forgot his gloves. The former Ger believes this foreshadows his lack of concentration on the park.
He said: “they [the defence] were poor, they set the wrong tone, they were slack and you can make a little joke about him [Djiga] forgetting the gloves. To me, and I might be nit-picking, but preparation is everything and as soon as the team is named, you go out for your warm-up and you’re switched on.
“I used to call it battle fever, obviously that’s changed now, but you know, you’re concentrated, you know your job and you’re ready to go out there. But now, he’s out on the park and he decides ‘I forgot my gloves’. Well can you not play 45 minutes without his gloves? It’s not that cold. He’s a big strapping centre half so come on...
“But then it just makes me think, is he as concentrated as he should be? And the proof was in the first 25-30 minutes that he wasn’t. Nsiala and Djiga, they didn’t look a good partnership, they looked slack and on another night against a team of better quality they’d have conceded a few goals.”
Chukwuani over the moon with ‘amazing’ debut
Rangers new boy from Sturm Graz, Tochi Chukwuani, was brought on in the second half to a loud ovation from the Ibrox faithful. Having been signed from the Austrian Champions for around £4.3 million, the midfielder has come with quite the reputation. Chukwuani was delighted get his first game under his belt and is ‘honoured’ to wear the royal blue jersey.
He said: “it was nice to feel the stadium and the atmosphere here and to get my first minutes here with all the boys was just amazing. Obviously, it’s a huge achievement for me [to sign for Rangers] because Rangers is a historic club.
“The shirt is heavy to wear and you feel it when you step on the pitch. So yeah, I’m honoured to wear the badge and hopefully I’ll be playing every weekend now. The manager here showed me the plans and how he wants to see me in the team, so he played a big part in signing me.”