Josh McPake of Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers attracted a bit of criticism on Monday.
Graeme Murty couldn’t hide his disappointment after Rangers’ Development Squad lost to a late goal on Monday.
Murty’s side went down to Aberdeen yesterday, as the Dons grabbed an 84th-minute winner to seal a 1-0 victory over the young Gers.
Rangers still had chances to level up the game and Josh McPake spurned arguably the best one when his effort hit the side netting.
And Murty has admitted that it was ‘really poor’ from the 18-year-old attacker on that occasion.
He told Rangers’ official website: “We give a stupid free-kick away 25 yards out that they have then moved to 20 yards out, hit the bar gave the corner away and we have got the ball from the corner and we get robbed in our own 18-yard box and it is a tap in from four yards out it is just doing the basic stuff.
“Then we actually go up the other end, create the best chance that we have and really poor shot selection from Josh after just conceding the goal so we had chances to get back in it.”
This was Rangers’ development squad, as noted, and the D word is key here.
McPake isn’t the finished article and nor are any of his young team-mates, but Murty will obviously know that.
The 45-year-old, who spent six months managing the senior side at Ibrox following Pedro Caixinha’s axing in 2017, has done a great job with the youngsters and he’ll continue to do so.
For McPake, this criticism is all part of the learning process and he’ll undoubtedly get better with age.
According to The Record, Liverpool were sniffing around him last season and you don’t court teams like that unless you’re a very exciting prospect.
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