Tom English raves over what Jefte did in Rangers v Celtic, it seemed impossible
Tom English was impressed by the way Rangers full-back Jefte kept Nicolas Kuhn quiet in the Old Firm derby, stating most thought it was “impossible” to do so.
The defender was deployed in his natural role of left-back in Thursday’s Old Firm derby despite the amount of injuries the Gers have suffered so far and was excellent up against the Celtic winger in the 3-0 win at Ibrox.
Philippe Clement’s men still trail their league-leading rivals by 11 points but at least earned bragging rights for now.
English, writing for the BBC Sport website (2 January) shared why he was impressed with the Brazilian defender as he also shared his praises for Ridvan Yilmaz, playing out of position at right-back.
“Clement doesn’t have the squad depth to play the tinkerman all that much,” he wrote. “In defence, perhaps. He’s just won a resounding victory without some key operators.
“Ridvan Yilmaz, the emergency right-back, was terrific. Maeda scarcely got a kick. Jefte did what most thought impossible when he silenced Nicolas Kuhn.
“Dujon Sterling and Robin Propper, second-choice centre-backs, took care of Kyogo and Adam Idah with ease.”
Jefte is finally coming into his own at Rangers
Although Jefte was on the Gers’ radar for some time before he eventually arrived in Glasgow during the summer, it’s felt like it’s taken him a decent amount of time to get used to the physicality of the league.
He’s been used at both left-back and left-wing already this term and has often been a fairly useful outlet of attack when called upon.
At the moment, Rangers are going through a massive defensive injury crisis with Dujon Sterling having to turn into a jack of all trades and try and perform to the best of his ability in centre-back.
While their victory over Celtic on Thursday will have no doubt bought the Belgian some extra time in his role, it feels like more needs to come from his team if they want to mount a late title challenge.
Indeed, there’s still a rather long way for Rangers to go if they want to be taken as serious contenders but if they can find the form they showed against Celtic and repeat that for the rest of the campaign, there’s no reason why they can’t make their way up the standings.
In other Rangers news, a Sky Sports pundit has completely disagreed with what Chris Sutton said about one of Philippe Clement’s men.
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