Originally published at: https://www.rangersnews.uk/columnist/the-rangers-squad-gap-gerrard-and-wilson-must-fill-in-january/
On Friday afternoon, Steven Gerrard provided a transfer update, with the January window on the horizon. He predicted that there wouldn’t be large numbers of signings like there have been during his first three windows at the club, but that if the right player came along, the club would look to do a deal [Rangers…
Agree with your assessment that the right side is currently or weakest link, Jordan. But I would also hasten to add that its too early to be thinking of dropping the likes of Barker and Ojo in favour of signing a right-sided midfielder/winger in Jan. For me and many others, our fans are too quick to write players off, and we always have been. Charlie Adam wasn’t good enough, then he ripped up the EPL. Gattuso wasn’t up to par, then won a move to AC Milan a year after he left us and won a World Cup, Champions League and is an Italy/Milan legend. More recently, Cardoso was useless…but is now being chased by big clubs. Borna wasn’t up to it, but we sing his song in the shower now. Surely as a fanbase we can stop being so negatively reactive at short-term individual performances? Without 100% unity in the stands, towards the players, and throughout the Club, murmurs of discontent will filter through to team performance. Look across the river to our rivals… Christie wasnt performing like a first team player for the first couple of seasons, was written off in many quarters, but is now arguably their best player. Patience and support for young players who are playing below par, more often than not (for highly rated young talent), pays off in the end. Good men like you are in a strong position to influence and educate our younger fans into showing that patience. I believe Ojo and Barker will come good, but only if we treat them right and give them positive encouragement. 
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If Kent is going to play on the left , why not play Jordan Jones on the right , he is right footed so it shouldn`t be a problem .
Cheers for the comment @JorgCooper, plenty of good examples in there of guys who have proven supporters wrong in the past. Barisic’s transformation has been massive this season and as you say, is now a fan favourite. Sometimes it is easy to get carried away and write people off too soon.
However, I would say that a lot of this is borne out of a desperation to get back to winning things, which won’t go away until there is some genuine success. I also think the issue on the right side is slightly different than other cases, and is bigger than just a case of short-term form.
Ojo’s problem is that he is a loan player and he is highly unlikely to have to sort of time that Barisic had to get things right. He was brought in to do a job straight away and it’s one he hasn’t been able to manage so far.
With regards to the others, there’s no natural right winger in there. I agree that Barker hasn’t had enough opportunities to be properly judged, but he prefers the left and played there for both Hibs and Preston. It’s the same for Jones who people are touting to fill the void when he comes back, as he’s played all his best stuff for NI on the left.
Arfield is an experienced and quality player but has looked lost for most of the season. For me, Stewart has looked the best of anyone on the right, but again is more of a natural no.10 than a wide player.
I just feel like, given how strong we are in other parts of the pitch, if we had a genuine proven performer on the right side, we’d be very hard to stop.
Hi Jordan, thanks for the reply mate. Great points and well explained. If we could get the quality of delivery from the right that we get from Borna on the left, we’ll be hard to stop as you rightly say. With Celtic having to be stopped from getting the 9, it of course puts added pressure on us to fix it quickly, no doubt. Hope Ojo comes out of his shell in the next couple of games and starts to show the consistency/commitment we need. A goal or 2 could be all the confidence boost he needs, I hope. Anyway, thanks again, Jordan, top man
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