Rangers dropped more points in the Premiership on Sunday.
Kris Boyd and James McFadden have praised Florian Kamberi and Joe Aribo for their performance for Rangers yesterday despite Steven Gerrard’s side recording a 2-2 draw against St Johnstone.
January signing, Kamberi, received most of the praise with Boyd claiming that he was playing like someone who had something to prove and a player who was sending a message to the Rangers fans that he is ‘good enough’ to play for the club, as he told Sky Sports Football (23/02/20 at 15:35 pm).
It was yet another disappointing day on the road for the Gers, whose title hopes took yet another blow because of more abject defending.
Despite some negativity because of that, both Boyd and McFadden were praiseful of the goalscorers on the day, with Kamberi coming on as a substitute and making an impact.
“I thought he was a bright spark today for Rangers when he came on,” Boyd told Sky Sports. “It was a fantastic finish and it’s one James McFadden would be proud of.”
McFadden added: “When Kamberi came on, he was so bright, he was so alert and he had intent. He left Jason Kerr for dead [his assist for Aribo’s goal] – he put it on a plate for Aribo, who I thought was excellent in the second half as well. And that’s all you can ask for, it was a real positive substitution and a great impact from Kamberi.
Boyd also stated: “Kamberi was playing as if I need to win over the Rangers fans. ‘I need to show them that I am good enough to be here’. The thing that stood out for me was that he was prepared to run. It’s the simple things in games.
McFadden added: “He came on to take control, not wait for opportunities. He came on and he was pro-active. He wanted to make a difference in the game, not hope that he could get a tap in. I thought he was brilliant when he came on. A lot of eyebrows were raised when Rangers signed him, but if he can keep putting in performances like that then he’ll turn out to be a shrewd signing.”
12 points separate Rangers and leaders Celtic in the table now, with the Ibrox club having a game in hand on their rivals.
Gerrard will be well aware that his players have to win that game in hand and beat Celtic in their up and coming matches in order to get the nervous going at Parkhead.
But before all that, they will be hoping to use the Europa League to boost the confidence levels up, as they travel to Braga on Wednesday night, with a 3-2 lead from the first leg.
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