Rangers legend Craig Moore has praised Calvin Bassey for his superb defensive work in the club’s 3-0 home win against Dundee on Saturday, reports Completesports.com.
Bassey, who is a left-back has been deployed as a centre-back in recent outings by manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst following injury to Leon Balogun.
The 21-year-old was highly impressive against Dundee with Rangers keeping another clean sheet , their third in the last four games.
Read Also: Rangers Boss Van Bronckhorst Talks Up ‘Flexible Player’ Aribo
Moore was delighted with how the Nigeria international has taken to his new role like a duck to water and backed him to make the left centre back position his own.
“He’s come in and done very well,” Moore told the Daily Mail.
“He’s athletic, he’s a competitor. He’s come in and done a good job and might end up sliding into that position.
“He’s given himself another option but most importantly he’s given the manager another option.”
10 Comments
Another example Of Rohr ineptness weak in weak out Rohr gets exposed as a unless coach infact he should disappear. Rohr invited Bassey gives him no look in drops hi m in the next qualifiers for a Bench Warmer Shehu. in the subsequent games ekong had a howler in the centre back rolr if rohr was efficient he should know What type of qualities Bassey has as, he is very close to him. Now Bassey has a standout performance in a role Ekong was ineffective last time but is not even in the squad as he is overlooked for Shehu of whom Bassey is also stronger than in LB. Rohr is a calamity really he is doing absolutely no ground work just recycling the same players because he is familiar with them and occasionally gives others a call up to please or rather quieting Frustrated fans. I mean Bassy is clearly an al round stronger player than Shehu I really wonder what is giving Rohr this shoot yourself in the foot Character of late and quite Arrogantly and stubbornly so. very unfortunate as it comes in a 2022 that we have waited for since Our Young guns burst on the scene. This is the World Cup I have waited for for 5 years when Osibobo, Iheanacho, Chukwueze and co would be Ripped and reaching maturity in Iheanacho matured. its not funny what is threating to happen here. now we have other exciting talents realising thier qualities and Rohr is just recycling the same ineffective players that are tried and tested with no stand out results. shamefull
**Week In Week out***Usless Coach* excuse typo’s
But our players clubs coaches are constantly exposing Rohr’s weakness as a strong coach. This is enough to fire Rohr if you need only one reason this is it. Ekong cost us a goal or two last time around. and look at this Rohr is no good really he is not!
Hahahahaha…..a player who has played 17 out of possible 20 matches this season, starting 14 of those matches is a bench warmer……LMAOOo…..pls clean the lies staining the left side of your mouth….LMAOOoo. He is indeed a bench warmer…..LMAOOoo. May your tribal hatred not kill you.
When Rohr converts players (eg Etebo, Akpoguma, Ajayi etc) to play in the different positions, he becomes stupid for doing so, when the club coaches convert same players to play in same positions Rohr played them, they become geniuses.
When Rohr plays an European born Akpoguma who is new to African football, and Akpoguma struggles to cope and flops, Rohr is stupid, he shouldn’t have played him yet, he should have given him time to adjust to his new environment first before doing so. But Rohr should have played Bassey at rightback ahead of Shehu….LMAOOooo. No wonder they say hatred blocks human ability to reason properly…..LMAOOooo
Dont worry, Rohr, the problem of Nigerian football will soon go….we will see how much of your acrobatics the next guadiola will adopt when he takes over.
Bassey is now better than Ekong as a CB…..pls tell him to go and play in the EPL and face the likes of Chelsea, Man U and Man City on weekly basis first….LMAOOOoo
Was it not ordinary Leicester city 1st team he couldn’t break into before heading to scotland….???? LMAOOoooo
Rohr is a mistake
No one is saying Bassey is better but if Rohr is doing his homework he will use Bassey and strong players to like this to keep Ekong on his toes when he has poor performances like he had against CAR and Cape Verde. It is better having genuine competition than ineffective players on the bench because when your starters under perform and there is no real threat to their place why will they shape up next up. It is common logic.
Rohr should have repeated the same “common logic” the led to a seasoned player like Akpoguma being ran ragged on the African terrain right…..LMAOOooo.
The only common logic I see here is not repeating the same thing that burnt your hands previously and that at crucial times and crucial games, the devil you know is better than the angel you dont.
We are all witnesses to how Aribo is still struggling to adapt. We saw how long it took Ola Aina to adapt to the african terrain, (Ola Aina was ran ragged by DR Congo defenders and missed 2018 WC as a result because of his poor performance), we know how long it has taken him to adapt now. We know how Ekong was berated by Oliseh when he first struggled on the african terrain. We saw it clearly when Akpoguma played home and away vs Sierra leone. So it was at the crucial tail end of crucial qualifiers Rohr should have thrown all those foreknowledge away and experimented with your “common logic” that has failed with all our new European bred entrants into African football before now……LMAOOooo. Talk is always cheap. He should have done this, he should have done that, he should have done that…..critics never do better……LMAOOooo……abi no be so Oliseh dey criticize Keshi for TV analysis before he was handed the role and all his he should have done this and done that suffered a ghastly motor accident….???? LMAOOoo
When you too start managing high risk assignments and roles you will learn….LMAOOoo. Talk is always cheap.
Let see what your BETTER guadiola will come and do differently. I’m really curious. I want to see the new coach that will come in and kick out all the experienced players in the SE because young players are emerging….LMAOOooo….especially now that AFCON is around the corner
Bassey is on his way to being a very good defender be it as a left footed central defender or a left full back. He has the skill and talents. Plus he is working under a good coach at club level that’s interested in grooming a young player like him. I won’t be surprised if after this season he continues to function as a centre back for rangers.
No one is saying Bassey is better than Ekong but, if Rohr is doing his homework he will use Bassey and strong players like this to keep Ekong and co on his toes when they have poor performances like, he had against CAR and Cape Verde. It is better having genuine competition than ineffective players on the bench because when your starters under perform and there is no real threat to their place why will they shape up next time around?. It is common logic.
How long did it take victor moses, iwobi and okoye to adapt to the African terrain. Seeing as v.moses is an afcon winner and has played two world cups scoring once for Nigeria, iwobi has played in one world cup and won a bronze at afcon. Okoye is currently super eagles number one goalie by default. Maybe some players take longer time to adapt than others or maybe some players are being used in positions that are not best suited to them. Aribo central defensive midfield instead of attacking midfield, akpoguma right full back instead of centre back. If they were played in the positions they are used too then maybe adapting to the “African terrain” may not take so long especially when does who are sooo experienced and sooo much better keep struggling during games against minnows.
Victor Moses debuted for Nigeria in February 2012 but many people can hardly recall his most meaningful contributions to the team till maybe late 2012 or during the a year later in 2013.
Iwobi’s earliest meaningful contributions to the SE was over 1 year after his debut when we played Zambia in Ndola. Though his talent was evident, but he struggled for a little while.
Okoye is till trying to get to the grips of being Nigerian no 1 on the African continent over a year after his debut. He’s still only getting to realize now that in Africa, Strikers shoot anyhow from anywhere, including angles you don’t expect. Nobody follows textbook rules in Africa. Most of them learnt football on the streets, not in academies like in Europe.
I recall when Anichebe was first invited to play for Nigeria (U23s) in a 2008 Olympic qualifier in Abuja, Siasia brought him in in the 2nd half and had to take him out again (if I could remember), when asked by journalists why he took that decision, Siasia said the poor boy complained the he was finding it difficult to breathe.
Its a fact that these Europe born players dont settle in immediately.
Even Nigerians who were born and raised in Nigeria including myself, struggle to breathe for the first 2-3 days on return to Nigeria.
Aribo has always played as a box to box CM since the first day he played in the eagles….same role he played in and sometimes still plays at Rangers too……its not a coincidence that his best games as a SE play were games played outside this continent against non African opposition.
Akpoguma is having his probably his best season since turning professional playing at Rightback in Hoffenheim. Was was best U21 player in germany at a time, playing as RB and captained Germany’s U21 team to the U21 world cup as a right back, so how playing him as a RB in the SE by Rohr is an aberration is what only folks like you can explain. Rohr will play him at RB and receive insults, the next week he is delivering assist and scoring from RB position at his club and then we hail the “tactical genius” of his club coach…..LMAOOooo. Even at that we saw how he has struggled so far in ALL the games he has played in the same RB position that has brought him fame and fortune. I make bold to say Akpoguma has played more games as a RB in his career than as a CB in a 2 man central defence. If Akpoguma would be eased into our CB, it will have to start being in a 3 man CB…..unfortunately, Awaziem is beginning to grow into that role of after initially being a disaster himself.
The fact remains that these guys struggle for while before they adapt. Aina struggled…..his performances leading to the WC especially against DR Congo in PortHarcout cost him a place on the team to Russia. Semi Ajayi is not left out too. We cant absolve him of 2 of the goals we conceded vs S/L in Benin and the one we conceded vs Lesotho in Maseru
Calving Bassey is not even a GUARANTEED starter for Rangers, he only plays when Barusic in injured/rested or when there is a Central defensive crisis as it the case at the moment otherwise He’s not even no 3 yet in the pecking order of Rangers CB lineup.
It would be foolhardy to apply the so-called “common logic” in starting a Calving Bassey who is not a guaranteed starter yet for Rangers, completely new to international and African football, in crucial WCQ just because some fans’ fantasies need to be pleased, knowing how others like him have struggled. The only common logic that was sensible to apply was not to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Ekong as horrible as his haters want to paint him was a star in Norway, a Star in Turkey, a Star in the Championship……but he is getting it hot in the premiership now, which is 10 levels higher, despite having played in the Serie A previously too. But this is the same premiership the likes of Omeruo, Balogun and this same Bassey couldn’t survive and had to go settle for less difficult leagues.
Singling out Ekong for scapegoating for our defensive woes in the SE in pure hatred. They all have had their equal share of gaffes and corresponding blames. Balogun an experienced professional defender clattering into a situation Ekong was jockeying harmlessly was what handed CAR and upset in Lagos. Till today some people still choose to blame Ekong as if youtube is lying.
When push comes to shove, who else apart from Akpoguma is facing the quality of Chelsea, Man U and Man city week in week out that we want to kick Ekong out of the SE for…? The so-called Izuchukwu that scored a hat trick of owngoals in 1 game in the Isreali league 2 weeks ago….?? or who…??? Olisah Ndah who has been conceding penalties for Orlando Pirates in South Africa…?