Speaking on the Official Rangers Podcast, on-loan Rangers winger Sheyi Ojo has made a surprising claim amid a spell on the fringes of Steven Gerrard’s plans.
The 22-year-old started brightly after arriving from Liverpool in June, scoring four times in his first seven competitive outings.
At that point, he was making the starting XI every week and looking like a good addition.
Yet, apart from some flashes recently at Ross County, ever since he scored a stunning winner against Feyenoord at Ibrox in September, he’s struggled. Ojo hasn’t netted for 12 matches and has come under fire from supporters for a perceived lack of effort and quality.
According to the player himself, though, the endeavour is there.
“Everyone’s hungry and ready for the opportunities that we get”, Ojo told the Official Rangers Podcast. “We are looking to try and help the team as much as we can.”
“Personally for me, I am hungry. I have never been more hungry than right now to try and affect the games and try and get as many goals, assists and just generally helping the team, even defensively – whatever it takes.”
Verdict
These comments from Ojo don’t seem to tally with his output on the pitch.
He’s struggled for game time recently, partly due to the return of Ryan Kent. Yet, it was well prior to that when a lack of work-rate was first identified as an issue.
Even in the first Feyenoord clash, where his strike was the difference between the sides, he was anonymous for large spells and often looked reluctant to track back to help out with the defensive effort.
For a winger who clearly has pace, at times this season, he has looked reluctant to take on his full-back, frequently slowing down counter-attacks when he gets on the ball rather than making things happen.
Perhaps these comments show a shift in attitude that’s been prompted by his recent shortage of minutes. It’s unlikely he’ll start in Rotterdam, but if he does feature, Bears will want to see a level of commitment which matches these words.
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