‘Hunted Everything Down’ – Rangers Star Lauded By Journalist | OneFootball

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Veteran journalist Tom English is of the view that Rangers forward Ryan Naderi hunted down every ball by putting in a terrific performance against Celtic on Sunday.

Rangers faced Celtic in the Scottish League Cup quarter final at Ibrox on Sunday and Derek McInnes’ side thrashed their rivals 3-0 to progress to the next round.

In the absence of Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti, McInnes put his faith in Kevin Kelsy, as predicted by Barry Ferguson, with Naderi behind him in a second striker role.

Captain Dan Neil opened the scoring with a 23rd-minute strike, with Naderi playing a key role in the build-up, and in the second half Kelsy doubled their lead with the help of the German’s assist.

Neil rubbed salt in Celtic’s wounds in the 75th minute, making the scoreline 3-0 and helping McInnes register his first derby victory as a manager.

English was left impressed with Rangers’ performance on Sunday afternoon, which he hailed by far as the best display of the Gers this season.

The journalist pointed out that 23-year-old German Naderi was terrific against Celtic and stressed that he showed brilliant energy and aggression during the game.

He feels that the forward managed to hunt down every ball for Rangers and also praised Neil and left-back James Penrice for their outstanding performances.

“This is by far and away the best performance they have played, by far and away the best performance of each individual player”, English said on the Scottish Football Podcast (5:20).

“A lot of them, Neil [was] outstanding, centre-backs outstanding.

“Ryan Naderi, I thought, was absolutely terrific.

“[He] hunted everything down.

“[His] work rate, energy, aggression, superb.

“Penrice, I thought, was terrific.”

Rangers brought in Naderi in January this year from German side Hansa Rostock for €6m and former boss Danny Rohl claimed that the forward reminds him of German World Cup winner Thomas Muller. 

Last week, Gers defender Dujon Sterling urged Kelsy and Naderi to step up in the absence of Shankland and Chermiti and the duo responded to their team-mate with having a huge impact on Sunday.