Pundit shares what he noticed about ‘Stop-start’ Rangers ace behind the scenes at Auchenhowie
RangersTV pundit Kevin Thomson has revealed that he was invited to watch first-team training at Rangers during the pre-season and saw then how big Joe Aribo can be for the Gers this season.
Aribo, 24, has struggled to hit the ground running this season due to an ankle injury that left him sidelined for around two months.
He was one of the stand-out players for the Light Blues during pre-season friendlies and offered glimpses that he can relay that form into competitive matches in his first three Scottish Premiership outings.
However, Aribo’s only just returned from that ankle injury he suffered in August having played as a substitute against Celtic and Standard Liege.
The former Charlton attacker was handed his first start since mid-August when Steven Gerrard named him in his starting line-up against Livingston on Sunday.
Aribo scored Rangers’ opener in a 2-0 win at Ibrox and Rangers B coach Thomson went on to talk about how vital the attacking midfielder can be for Gerrard if he stays fit this season.
“Joe Aribo’s in the right place at the right time. He could be a massive player moving forward for us, he really could,” said Thomson on RangersTV during the first half on Sunday.
“He was the main man through pre-season but he’s been a wee bit stop-start. The manager will be delighted to get him up to speed as quick as he possibly can.”
Thomson added: “We watched the first-team training, we watched the boys and that’s how I got a wee bit [of inside info] on Joe Aribo with how well he was doing.
“We covered a lot of the games in pre-season and he was one of the best players in training every day so the manager will be keen to get him back to that level as soon as possible because he will be a real asset for the club moving forward.”
Aribo’s back and Rangers have won an Old Firm game 2-0, their opening Europa League group stage match 2-0 and moved six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table by beating Livingston 2-0.
Aribo’s played varying roles in those wins and, as Thomson says, the sooner he can get up to full speed the better because we still feel as though the ex-Charlton ace can offer more to Gerrard’s attack.
The Nigeria international was super against Livingston on Sunday.
He showed that if he is not completely fully fit, he is almost there and that’s a massive plus point with a rather hectic fixture schedule over the coming weeks.
Rangers play Thursday and Sunday for each of the next two weeks and they’re big games against Lech Poznan, Kilmarnock, Benfica and Hamilton. Matches they need to win in the league to keep Celtic behind them and matches in Europe where they’ll be hoping to take major strides towards qualification for the next round.
In other Rangers news, fans were drooling over this “unreal” player’s performance against Livingston.