Giovanni van Bronckhorst has praised Joe Aribo for his performance in the Dutchman’s first match in charge.
The Nigerian was deployed behind lone striker Alfredo Morelos in a 4-2-3-1 formation in the 2-0 Europa League victory over Sparta Prague on Thursday night.
This more central role really enabled the player to showcase his talents and create plenty of opportunities for the Ibrox side during the match, and he came close to scoring himself on two occasions.
Van Bronckhorst was obviously impressed by what he saw from Aribo, and he was asked during Friday’s pre-Livingston press conference whether the central role could be his best position going forward or if he could also come off the right and do a good job.
“Well he can do both of course, at times of the game he would play more on the wings when Hagi came inside,” said van Bronckhorst [RangersTV].
“But Aribo did really well and was always there to be dangerous in the box when we were dominating the wide areas, we had enough bodies in the box to score goals and Aribo had some good chances.”
Playing Aribo further forward consistently over the coming weeks could lead to more positive performances from the Nigeria international.
He’s arguably one of the club’s prized assets and performances like this show why it will be vital to hold onto him for as long as possible.
In other news, Rangers win over Sparta Prague gave the club a significant financial boost.