NACHO Novo has called for patience amongst the Ibrox support to allow some of Pedro Caixinha’s foreign signings to adjust to the Scottish game.
While the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Bruno Alves have hit the ground running in the Ladbrokes Premiership, the same cannot be said for Mexican duo Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera, who have featured only fleetingly this season.
Novo, who has been helping out with first-team coaching duties at Auchenhowie for the last few weeks, draws from his own personal experience moving to Scottish football and feels the team which went down 2-0 to their city rivals Celtic on Saturday needs time to gel.
Even in the title season of 2004-05, Novo’s side under Alex McLeish won just two of their first eight games in all competitions.
“Players and managers always need time,” said Novo. “It is too early. We have played seven league games. I remember in my time here we had eight or nine games without great results, that was my first year in 2004. To be honest, it is taking time. But I am positive that everyone will try and push through to get better and better.”
Compared to the 5-1 defeat in their previous meeting with Celtic in April, Novo feels there are signs of progress.
“It’s a hard one to take but I saw some progression in the team,” the Spaniard added.
“I know people will always talk about managers, but I’ve been with Pedro a lot in the past three or four weeks and have watched training. I think it has been brilliant and it has really improved everybody.
“I know that’s an easy thing to say, but if you look at the game it was a couple of slips that led to the goals,” he added. “The players just need to focus on the next game and build from there.
“We’ll need to see as there have been a few players who have been injured as well. That’s not an excuse, but Bruno [Alves], [Lee] Wallace and [Declan] John were missing.”
Novo took pride in how 19-year-old Ross McCrorie fared on his Old Firm debut and revealed that he had phoned the Ayrshire-born youngster on the eve of the game to pass on his best wishes – and a few hints and tips.
Having worked with him in close quarters, he feels the defender could make it to the “top level”.
“The other thing I was proud to see was young Ross,” said Novo. “I think the kid has been tremendous. To come out in a game like this, with such high intensity, I think he was outstanding.
“I’ve been with the first-team for a few weeks and Ross has been with them a lot as well as the Under-20s. I think he’s been tremendous. He has a good chance of going to the top level.
“I made a wee sneaky phone call to him on Friday night just to tell him to relax and show what he can do,” Novo added.
“It will only be good for him to have played in such a huge game as this. While I’m quite pleased about that, I’m not pleased about the result.”
Also at the centre of attention on Saturday was Alfredo Morelos, the Colombian who forced a fine save from Craig Gordon immediately after Tom Rogic’s opener, being involved in a controversial penalty incident – and also being on the receiving end of Scott Brown’s attentions under a high ball in the lead-up to half time.
Novo, a man with a similar stature, says that getting treatment up there in these matches is simply a fact of life.
“In these games, that is what you need to get used to, isn’t it? There is a lot of contact, a lot of aggression and you need to deal with that. If you can’t deal with that, you can’t play for this club. I think he is a goal scorer and you need to realise that he is just 21 years of age. So he has a lot to learn as well. I think he has a good future.”
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