'Absolutely Horrendous' - Tam McManus aghast as Rangers player does something he's never seen

Tam McManus couldn’t fathom how bad Emmanuel Fernandez’s defending was during Rangers’ 2-1 loss to Ferencvaros on Thursday.

Rangers were dumped out of the Europa League by Robbie Keane’s Hungarian champions on a night which started in such promising fashion.

Bojan Miovski’s acrobatic finish was cancelled out by Bence Otvos’ strike on the cusp of half-time before Barnabas Varga scored his 20th goal of the season by outmuscling Fernandez with ease to score a free header from five yards out.

McManus was furious with the defending for Varga’s goal, and took to social media to vent his frustrations over how costly Fernandez’s mistake proved to be.

Tam McManus slams Emmanuel Fernandez’s weak defending

Fernandez’s £3.5million move to Rangers from Peterborough raised several eyebrows in the summer, and it’s safe to say he hasn’t lived up to expectations.

He only managed two appearances in the first four months of career in Govan before being recalled to the starting line-up out of necessity in recent weeks.

Fernandez was given a let-off early by Ferencvaros when they missed a gilt-edged chance in the opening minutes of the match, and they eventually punished the 24-year-old’s sloppy defending.

As the cross came in, Fernandez kept his eyes solely on the ball and lost track of Varga, who peeled off the back of him and ended up facing in the opposite direction.

After the game, McManus posted on X: “Fernandez, that is absolutely horrendous defending. Not sure I’ve seen anything like that from a centre half defensively from a cross. Somehow ends up facing the wrong way.”

The injuries to John Souttar and Derek Cornelius have certainly taken a toll on this Rangers team, and Danny Rohl will be dealing with a headache when it comes to selecting his defence.

• Read more: Max Aarons shares what Danny Rohl’s told him that Russell Martin didn’t

What Fernandez did vs Ferencvaros is unacceptable

Nasser Djiga will join up with the Burkina Faso squad on 15 December, leaving Fernandez as the only fully fit centre-back in the squad.

The English centre-back lost 10 duels throughout the match, something that is completely unacceptable for a Rangers player to do in Europe.

The Bears will be slightly boosted by Dujon Sterling’s return to the team, although Rohl will still have to come up with a makeshift solution.

Despite having a net spend of £20m in the summer transfer window, defensive frailties have been an issue all season, and Rohl hasn’t been able to fix what his predecessor Russell Martin did at the start of the season.

What’s even worse is that Fernandez looks set to play a starring role at the back for the foreseeable future, and Rangers’ progress is undoubtedly harmed with him in the team.

Enjoyed this article? Stay connected with all the latest Rangers news, updates, and behind-the-scenes content by following us on our new Instagram account –@ibroxnews247

The post 'Absolutely Horrendous' - Tam McManus aghast as Rangers player does something he's never seen appeared first on Ibrox News.