Former Rangers star and current Sky Sports pundit James McFadden has been left drooling over Ibrox wing duo Ryan Kent and Daniel Candeias and insisted the pair need to be in the starting XI to bring the best out the side.
The Gers’ wide men had been mainstays in the team prior to the winter break, Candeias starting the last nine games before new year while Kent had nine starts in 12 with injury seeing him sent to the sidelines.
However they have now found themselves both coming in and out of the starting XI under Steven Gerrard, the arrival of Jermain Defoe shaking things up in attack, but McFadden insists they are both dangerous assets and should be starting as they did in the 3-0 win against Livingston.
He told Sky Sports: “I think their (Rangers’) best performances have been in a 4-3-3. Look at the Old Firm game before the winter break, their wide players were excellent, the pressure was brilliant and allowed them a good base to press.
“Even the performance at Livingston, there was high pressure and intensity and the wide players were the standout performers. I feel that’s where Gerrard is getting the best from his side, by using his wide players.
“Ryan Kent has been in excellent form and Daniel Candeias has done well. Morelos at the minute seems to be better on his own up front.”
Opinion
Defoe’s arrival was an exciting one at Ibrox but the impact he has had has not been positive for everyone in the light blue half of Glasgow. Candeias and Kent have been performing excellently for much of the season, as alluded to by McFadden, but they were the ones who found themselves in the firing line as Gerrard tries to put the English hitman into the starting XI alongside Alfredo Morelos. It looked like a real mistake when they first lined up alongside one another in the 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock but the win over St Mirren, which saw Candeias sacrificed from the starting line up, suggested they could be a dangerous pairing. Will Gerrard find himself settling on his new line up in the effective 4-3-3 formation? Only time will tell but at least he knows that he has quality options in reserve should he need to call upon a replacement in the near-future.