Ibrox View: Rangers 23y/o fails to take chance to impress v Falkirk
Rangers were as dominant as expected during their Betfred League Cup tie against Falkirk on Sunday, winning 4-0 at Falkirk Stadium.
While Steven Gerrard did not fully rotate, he did give some of his fringe players including Ianis Hagi, Cedric Itten, Jermain Defoe, Bongani Zungu and Calvin Bassey the opportunity to start and stake a claim for more involvement going forward.
Hagi impressed with a couple of nice through balls, while Defoe and Bassey got on the scoresheet, but Itten largely failed to capitalise on the chance.
Starting slightly out of position on the right side of a 4-2-3-1 formation, Itten was wasteful in front of goal despite being afforded a number of decent chances. He also watched fellow striking option Defoe score impressively on the volley and perhaps push himself further ahead in the pecking order.
Itten’s best chance came from a nice through ball from Hagi, with the Swiss international free in the Falkirk box with just the goalkeeper to beat. However, he lacked composure and blasted the ball over the bar.
There were some nice moments for the youngster, with his header leading to Bassey’s goal and his footwork earning Rangers the free-kick with which Barisic scored.
However, he was sometimes a little clumsy with his final ball and failed to do the one thing a striker earns their reputation through – scoring goals.
Going forward, it is likely that Itten will remain Gerrard’s fourth striking option behind Defoe, Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos. He is still a very young player with decent pedigree and core attributes, while he will be afforded more opportunities this season with plenty of matches to go around.
Sunday’s match though was not his best showing and with the Swiss player given the chance to impress, he failed to fully capitalise on it.
In other Rangers news, Barry Ferguson has been impressed with one Gers player