Exclusive: Alex McLeish hails Rangers hitman Defoe as ‘one of the best ever finishers’
We’re delighted to welcome former Rangers manager Alex McLeish as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Alex McLeish has claimed that Rangers striker Jermain Defoe is “one of the best ever” in terms of his finishing ability.
Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, the former Gers boss heaped praise on the veteran hitman, and suggested that Steven Gerrard’s men missed his natural goalscoring capabilities at times last season.
Defoe was sidelined for a significant chunk of the second half of the 2019/20 campaign with a calf injury, and McLeish has argued that it’s no coincidence his side fell away in the title race during his absence.
Speaking to Ibrox News, he said: “What they [Rangers] lacked was possibly a striker who knows his way about the Scottish penalty boxes.
“In some of the games where Rangers struggled last year, you felt there was just somebody like that missing and when [Alfredo] Morelos was getting suspended – sent off far too many times – then Defoe maybe had his wee injury.
“Let’s face it, Jermain is one of the best ever finishers and still will be a top finisher until well into his old age, but he’s not quite got the legs there and I’m sure he’ll admit that himself.
“Also, he was suffering from injury so it was very difficult for Steven to replace him and to win those games where they were dropping points. Rangers were getting draws with some of the smaller teams like St Johnstone – I’m sorry but you’re expected to be winning them.”
Defoe signed for the Gers from Bournemouth in January of last year.
Since then, he has gone on to register 25 goals in 52 games across all competitions for Gerrard’s men.
In other Rangers news, McLeish claims Ryan Jack is becoming ‘more and more confident’ for the Gers.