Michael Stewart dismisses Michael Beale transfer business on BBC Sportsound after Rangers loss to Kilmarnock
Michael Beale has brought in a lot of “very similar” players at Rangers this summer and they don’t appear to have much “grit and determination”, according to Michael Stewart.
The pundit claimed on on BBC Sportsound, as per Football Scotland, on Sunday (6 August) that following the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock to kick off the season a day earlier the squad did not have the right “balance”.
Beale started five of his nine new signings on Saturday, with Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Abdallah Sima forming the attack, but the trio drew a blank along with substitute debutant Danilo, and Stewart believes the Light Blues now have “nice footballers”, but they can’t be relied upon in tough situations.
Stewart said: “That’s what they would hope but it was concerning from a Rangers perspective. It looked like a lot of the players they brought in are nice footballers but I didn’t see a lot of grit and determination when the going gets tough that they’re going to step up to the plate.
“There was an overhaul needed. The manager spoke about that himself but on initial viewings there’s a lot of players who are very similar. You need a balance and a mix and I’m not sure that was there.”
False start
After a summer of anticipation and hope as new arrival after new arrival came through the doors at Ibrox the opening day of the season succeeded in bringing everyone back to earth with a thud.
Beale’s business this summer looked pretty successful but despite the overhaul Rangers are already three points behind Celtic.
Sloppy defending from John Souttar to allow Brad Lyons to score the only goal of the game won’t have done anything to dampen down the questions that arose around the defence in recent preseason games.
And it is obviously a concern for the new-look attack to all fail to find the net when a lack of goals was one of the main issues that needed addressing after last season.
After so much change in the squad it is obviously going to take time for everything to come together perfectly, but when Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops scored four in a winning start that is time Beale doesn’t have.
The next few games will have to show a major improvement in order to prove Stewart’s verdict wrong and avoid the Gers going into the first Old Firm of the season under huge pressure.
In other Rangers news, the club have been backed to still complete “one of their best signings of the summer”.