Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday was justified in calling out three significant areas of concern with Derek McInnes’ team as it stands.
Off the back of the disappointing performance against Dundee United on Friday, the now-retired Halliday called it as it is when asked for his opinion.
It’s obvious that McInnes’ team is far from finished, with the boss urgently calling for reinforcements, and that sentiment was shared by Halliday.
Rangers need an injection of quality, immediately – otherwise Groundhog Day awaits. That can’t be allowed to happen and further spending is required, especially after the departures of Oliver Antman and Nedim Bajrami.
Andy Halliday calls out Rangers’ red flags
Halliday was honest in his response to the question – and totally justified. How can anyone argue with this?
Speaking on BBC Sport Scotland, Halliday said, “A. Creativity. I don’t think there is enough creativity in the squad.
“B. Pace. I think they are extremely devoid of pace.
“And C, I think the personnel of the back four is good but I see a couple of players who have really, really good attributes for a defender but they lack the willingness to defend.”
That is a problem in itself.
Biggest culprit of it, Fernandez
Halliday then went on to critique Manny Fernandez, who needs to find consistency. There is too much of a drop-off in his performances, from a very high level to poor lapses.
“Emmanuel Fernandez, for me, is the biggest culprit of it (willingness to defend),” Halliday continued.
“Far too many times you will see him caught out of position and he either recovers through his recovery pace or he doesn’t run fast enough for his recovery pace.
“There is no better example than last night. Somebody plays a pass to Lachlan Rose and he goes 1v1 with the goalkeeper because Fernandez is out of position. He gets back to make a last-ditch challenge.
“Two minutes later, Dundee United scored a goal by Emmanuel Fernandez being caught out of position and then no pace to get back in to defend the situation.
“I witnessed Derek McInnes pulling his hair out on three or four occasions with Fernandez last night. Not clearing the box, not emptying the danger area, doing Cruyff turns with his right foot on the touchline and it rolling out for throw-ins.
“That is the stuff that Emmanuel Fernandez has to get out of his game. See if he does, I think he has got all the attributes to be a top-level defender.”
Halliday is correct and justified in his assessment.
It is those problems and more that Derek McInnes needs to address very soon, and by that, we mean that the club needs to get incoming ransfer deals concluded.
As for Fernandez, the rest is up to him. He has all the attributes to go far, but until he sorts out the sloppy aspects of his play, that ceiling won’t be realised.
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