Leon King in absolute shocker as Ryan Kent improves – Rangers player ratings v Ajax
Rangers crashed out of Europe in humiliating fashion as they lost 3-1 to Ajax at Ibrox on Tuesday night.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad will be etched into Champions League history as being the worst-performing side the group stages have ever seen.
Steven Berguis and Mohammed Kudus both scored in the first half as they made the most of shocking defending by Rangers.
James Tavernier netted a late penalty before Francisco Conceição rounded off the scoring against the Gers, who finish their Champions League campaign with zero points, six defeats, two goals and 22 goals conceded.
Here, Ibrox News rates the players out of 10 for their performances against the Dutch giants:
Allan McGregor – 5
He pulled off a great save to stop Steven Bergwijn’s shot in the 33rd minute after being pretty much helpless for the two Ajax goals before that.
James Tavernier – 3
We do feel a bit for Tavernier. Van Bronckhorst has run the right-back in the ground by playing him relentlessly when he doesn’t really need to. Adam Devine is there sitting on the bench. Play him, for goodness sake! Tavernier was exposed horribly for both of Ajax’s first two goals. He was caught ball-watching, probably because he’s so shattered that he cannot concentrate anymore. He did concentrate for the late penalty, however. Scoring that saved him from a rock-bottom rating.
James Sands – 4
It’s depressing seeing Sands in the squad. He’s clearly not good enough for the Scottish Premiership, let alone the Champions League group stages. We shouldn’t be taking up the option-to-buy clause to sign the American. Whether he’s a centre-back or a midfielder, we don’t know. He’s not good in either position.
Leon King – 2
It feels harsh to criticise King but he’s so far out of his depth in the Champions League that playing him in these games could actually be damaging to his progression. Does the 18-year-old look a better player now than he did against Ajax in the first Champions League group stage game? No, he doesn’t. He was absolutely shocking for Ajax’s two first-half goals, pretty much allowing the first one to go in before stopping McGregor from stopping the second. And for the third, he was way too loose to Conceição and should’ve got back better than he did.
Borna Barisic – 4
Rangers looked a lot stronger on the left-hand side of the pitch than on the right. Barisic supplied some good crosses into the box too and combined well with Kent. However, he was caught out by Conceição for his goal late on.
Steven Davis – 4
Ajax are one of the best teams in the world outside of Europe’s biggest leagues. They’re a team decked with youthful exuberance, pace and creativity. Davis doesn’t possess any of that and he was caught a mile behind play several times when Ajax got forward. It’s time to stop relying on the 37-year-old, who’s clearly past his best.
Scott Arfield – 5
Arfield’s in a similar boat to Davis. He offers more going forward than the Northern Irish veteran and almost scored in the second half. However, he’s also past it now and we shouldn’t be relying on him in matches like this.
Malik Tillman – 6
Tillman had a few moments where he looked bright but ultimately, he did very little of note before he was taken off after an hour of action. He had a shot at goal blocked and attempted a few dribbles but his best contribution was weirdly in the defensive area of the pitch as he tracked back quite well. We need Tillman performing better in the attack though.
Fashion Sakala – 6
Sakala huffs and puffs and works hard. But for all his energy and pace, his technical abilities are lacking. He should’ve done better to convert a wonderful Ryan Kent cross in the first half and couldn’t do any more than just track back for Ajax’s second. He gets up and down that wing well – a lot better than Tavernier. But we just need to see an end product from Sakala because he does deserve more goals and assists than he does currently get.
Ryan Kent – 6
For once, Kent wasn’t actually that bad. He looked lively throughout most of the match and provided Sakala with an excellent cross in the first half that was unfortunately missed by the Zambian. Kent worked a lot harder and while many will still want him gone in January or next summer, we have to say that he did quite well against Ajax.
Antonio Colak – 3
That has to be one of the quietest appearances Colak has had for Rangers as a starting player. He didn’t do anything. According to WhoScored he has just 11 touches of the ball but it’s hard to remember any of them as he failed to have a single shot before being taken off after an hour.
Substitutions:
Glen Kamara (on for Davis, 60′) – 4
Scott Wright (on for Tillman, 60′) – 4
Alfredo Morelos (on for Colak, 60′) – 3
An absolutely rotten miss when he has an open goal in the 84th minute.
Rabbi Matondo (on for Kent, 83′) – 6
Did well to win a penalty just after he came on.
Alex Lowry (on for Arfield, 83′) – N/A
In other Rangers news, a “crazy situation” has emerged at Ibrox that’s led to this star player being “gone” from the club.