JOE ARIBO CAN BE BIG PLAYER THIS SEASON
Aribo showed flashes of brilliance last season after signing from Charlton but perhaps didn't shine as brightly as he would have liked in his debut season as a Rangers player.
On yesterday evening's showing, against decent opposition in Nice, the playmaker made things look easy before he was brought off in the second-half.
Even considering a lengthy lay-off thanks to the coronavirus-enforced shutdown of football, Aribo appeared fresh and fit. His willingness as a runner, too, was on display alongside Ryan Kent who also looks ready for the new season - if he can maintain his discipline.
GERS POOL MAY NEED STRENGTHENED
With the league title Rangers' priority this season, it's clear Steven Gerrard will need reinforcements. It was, of course, good to see so many youngsters like Nathan Patterson and goal scorer Jamie Barjonas get a run out, as well as fringe players such as Jamie Murphy and Greg Stewart, but if the Ibrox men are to wrestle the Premiership away from rivals Celtic, they will need a deeper pool of players whom they'll expect to make an impact.
DEFENCE LOOKED SOLID WITHOUT KATIC
Fears over Rangers' potential defensive frailties without main man Nikola Katic may have subsided, somewhat, as George Edmundson had a decent game alongside presumed number one choice Connor Goldson.
Sure, it was only a friendly and, sure, Nice had a young squad on the pitch from the get-go. But it will have been promising for Steven Gerrard to see his players keep a clean sheet for the second match in a row without their Croatian defender. Edmundson looked okay and Calvin Bassey also stepped in from the left-back position to fill the gap beside Goldson towards the end of the match.
It would be understandable to see Gerrard dip into the market to shore up his defence, but at least there are building blocks in place should he decide against it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel