pete 2,499 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 NACHO NOVO last night insisted Rangers must sign a replacement for crocked Barry Ferguson quickly. The Spaniard spoke out after Gers finished their pre-season tour of Germany with a 1-0 defeat to Bundesliga giants Schalke. Walter Smith's men struggled to create chances in the Veltins Arena and Novo reckons they missed the creative spark of Ferguson. The Ibrox skipper has had surgery on an ankle injury which could keep him out for up to four months. Novo wants to see the void filled in midfield and reckons Gers must act before their crunch Champions League qualifiers. And the deadline for signing players who can feature in the first qualifier is midnight on Thursday. Nacho said: "Barry is a right-sided midfielder and we don't have anyone. "We have Charlie Adam but he's left-sided just like Kevin Thomson so we need someone else. "We've picked up a few injuries and there aren't many players left. DaMarcus Beasley and Barry have picked up knocks and are important players. "It's a big squad and we'll do everything we can to compensate because we need to be ready for the European qualifiers. "It's quite tiring and that's the third game we've played in Germany. It's always hard at this stage of pre-season but the most important thing is the fitness. "We need more games until we get up to speed. But I'm positive - it's nearly the same team as last season plus some new signings. "We just have to keep going and work hard. I like to win every game but we didn't lose anything when Schalke beat us." Summer signing Andrius Velicka came closest to scoring after bulleting a header off the post and Novo has been impressed with him. He said: "Andrius has been playing in Norway so he's looking fit. "He's a clever player and I've always admired him. "His movement is good and it looks like he will be a top striker for us." Despite Novo's concerns boss Smith insists he won't be rushed into signing a new midfielder. He said: "We've been looking for a midfielder from the end of last season but one who will raise our standards is difficult to find. "I won't take someone just for the sake of taking them. "It has to be a player who can improve our team and you have to remember Barry will be back - albeit three months down the line." Smith was denied the services of Kris Boyd yesterday with a hamstring injury but the striker should be available for Tuesday's friendly at Clyde. Carlos Cuellar is also set to resume training and should be fit for Saturday's match with Raith Rovers. Then it's time for the Euro crunch and Smith reckons facing Schalke will help them. He said: "We know the standard we're going to have to achieve. Over the last few seasons Schalke have been chasing the German title." Meanwhile, Smith hit back at Cardiff boss Dave Jones' claims that Gers had made a "derogatory" bid for defender Glenn Loovens. He said: "I didn't know anyone had been in touch with Cardiff so if that's derogatory then fair enough. "They've been in touch with us regarding Kris Boyd but that has been it." Nacho seems to forget that Fergie played last season and the creativity wasn't that great either. Smith saying we are in no rush for a midfielder. Help! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whosthedado 1,499 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 On the evidence of last season and yesterdays poor display we desperately need somebody in midfield even if it's just on loan. Surely Walter can't be happy to be going into the CL(Qualifiers) with a midfield of Mcculloch and Dailly:confused: If we go with what we have - no more signings - I fear the worst for the season ahead 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyk 158 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 On the evidence of last season and yesterdays poor display we desperately need somebody in midfield even if it's just on loan. Surely Walter can't be happy to be going into the CL(Qualifiers) with a midfield of Mcculloch and Dailly:confused: If we go with what we have - no more signings - I fear the worst for the season ahead It's not that I fear for us next season, just if we don't sign creative midfielder/s it will be more of the same, not good to watch but pretty effective...... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Where is Nacho getting this from, Ferguson is not creative at all when in the final 3rd. He is much more suited to a deeper role now of picking the ball up and passing it wide etc. Unless we hurry up and get 2 midfielders in then we will be struggling 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wija 0 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Why can't someone step up to the plate and take over then... FFS these players are professional. Is WS not doing his job in the dressing room? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexscottislegend 2,064 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 On the form v Shalke we won't even get past Kaunas. Now that really would be disaster. If we don't score first against teams I fear the worst. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF2008 0 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 We were already 4 midfielders down from last season (Davis, Faye, Burke & Buffel) before Ferguson & Beasley got injured. That's six midfielders we're short of for the start of the season. Even though Beasley should only be out for a couple of weeks, I wasn't counting Naismith and Gow then, who were both played on the wing at times last season. I think we are clearly looking a bit thin in the midfield dept. As much as I agree with what Walter's saying about looking for players who can improve the team, I think we really need to get this sorted. At the very least, one midfielder needs to be brought in and I think Davis has already shown that he CAN improve the team. If there aren't any other options ATM why are we messing around with the Davis transfer?. This is dragging on for way too long and Fulham don't look like they're going to budge. These kind of signing tactics may have worked for us on a couple of occassions, but more often than not, they've worked against us (i.e. a certain SPL top scorer springs to mind). Also, let's face it, we're hardly dealing with Kilmarnock here. Fulham are just trying to recoup most of what they paid for Davis. I think it's time that we either pay up or admit defeat and say we're no longer interested. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wija 0 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Fulham don't need to budge, they have money to burn. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF2008 0 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Exactly. We're not dealing with Kilmarnock here 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF2008 0 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 When we say 'we're not going to pay over-the-odds for players', to me that translates to 'we're only going to offer �£1-2m less than what the player's worth and if at first we don't succeed...'. Business-wise that may be quite shrewd but in our current situation I think we simply need to make sure we have enough midfielders in the squad. If that means ending our interest in Davis and bringing in 1 or 2 other options instead then that's fine by me. However, as things stand it's just not good enough. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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