Steven Whittaker and Tom Hateley

[Overanout 0]

another slightly poor performance from whittaker today . he doesnt seem to be carrying the same goal threat going forward as last season and as we know, his defensive cappabilities are not that great althuogh there seemed to be an improvement last season.

there is no doubt that he was at fault for the motherwell goal today , opposition players are allowed to get a ball into the box far to easily against him . i just wonder if the red card against the spanish has possibly knocked his confidence a wee bit .

on the other hand , i was impressed with hateley today as i have been on the few occasions ive seen him play . he managed weiss well in the first half , restricting his opportunities to get any really dangerous crosses into the box and although young wylde beat him for pace late on , that can be expected against a fresh pacey player .

he seems strong in the tackle , isnt afraid to get forward ( although not as good as whittaker ) and perhaps his most appealing point , has a terrific delivery from set plays and free kicks .

i know some will think im only talking about this lad because of his surname but i think he is a decent prospect .

any thoughts on these two after todays game ?

[Grandfather_Huck 5]

If his name was Tom Cleland, not a single person would claim he would be worth us signing

[marinho1982 0]

I've watched Hately wishing he was a better player, so's we could sign him, but he's just not Rangers quality at the moment

[Scott-RFC 308]

If his name was Tom Cleland, not a single person would claim he would be worth us signing

Alex son?

We should sign him!

[ScottBF2 3,540]

there is no doubt that he was at fault for the motherwell goal today

Eh?

[Stu1993 101]

Eh?

I Was right behind him when Murphy took him down the line Scott, he never got tight, he never stuck out a leg and he never matched his run, for me he is a defensive worry.

[maxwellrfc 6]

He let Murphy get the ball into the box far too easy.

[pcbear 10,924]

We lose loads of goals down the opponents left with him getting skinned time and time again, not from just quality players either, he is not even chipping in with the classy goals at the minute either that got us on side with him, he is a poor defender showing little sign of improving.

[supermac 115]

We really need competition for Whittaker, he has never been the best defensively decent going forward though.

[Papa Sasac 164]

We have an odd choice of right back. Do we go for the defensively stable yet poor going forward Broadfoot, or the attacking but shite defensively Whittaker? If we could find a balance we'd be laughing.

[Muff 245]

Steven Whittaker, defensively, is a liability. He improved last season, but so far this season he has gone backwards.

Never been impressed with Tom Hateley, not good enough for Rangers at this moment in time.

[Jocky Broon 207]

Whittaker can't be blamed for an unmarked man backpost.

Sure but he can be blamed for allowing the cross to come in.The very basics of defending at fullback is to stop crosses coming into the danger area.Papac can be just as guilty at time but too often he is caught out ball watching.

[StrongbowLoyal. 36]

One of our worst defenders recently... Going forward he is ok but at the back he is murder

[aptrm80 0]

phil bardsley,just a thought,with whittaker in front of him, not seen anything yet from whittaker that tells me he is capable of defensive duties,he is better going forward

[Smile 26,622]

Papac was at fault for the goal its the usual Papac mistake.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

He is very inconcistant. I do like him, in past seasons he has scored many important and cracking goals for us, but he does get skinned far too many times and too easily playing at the back for us. I think he suffers from confidence issues and if his first touch in a game is off, he just gets worse and worse as games progress. Such a strange player, he is capable of flashes of brilliance and hints of schoolboy defending at times.

I wouldnt mind 2 new full backs if im honest. Something tells me the club dont/wont see that as a priority though.

[Goianegra 4,704]

Both our full-backs are great going forward, but Weir and Bougherra (and Edu/McCulloch) are relied on too often.

[LegendofCoop 17,490]

Whittaker is NOT a right back.

[Amac9 2,060]

Whittaker has been a bombscare since the season began.

[Ozblue 4,332]

Whittaker has been a bombscare since the season began.

Whittaker has been a fucking bomb scare as a full back ever since he was put in that position when it comes to him leaving opposing players more space than an astronaut sees

Game after game we get crosses whipped into our box on that side of the park due to his inability to keep tight on opposition wide men, which of course causes us grief eventually.

I really would like to know how many goals we have conceded from these crosses when our central defenders have their backs to our goal due to Whittaker not being able to defend properly.

There isn't much wrong with the way he attacks,but I would never have him in my team as a "Defender" because he is absolutely shite in that particular skill.

[thebooler 4,509]

If it hadn't been for the fact that he scored a few goals last season, some of them pretty decent goals too, we would have been shouting from the rooftops for the Club to sign a right back.

Whittaker is possibly the worst right back I can ever remember seeing at Ibrox, and I include "Pele" Broadfoot in that..............seriously.

He gets caught wrong side of his opponents far too often, and allows far too many balls to be whipped into the area time after time after time.

To be honest, he's not really that good going forward either, just a wee bit fortunate that nobody knows what he's going to do next, including himself!

The amount of times he is going forward with the ball, only to either stop dead not knowing what to do next, turn back the way, or just lose it, is an all too regular occurence.

The fact he has no real competition for that position doesn't help either as there is no real pressure on him to perform to a high standard in order to keep his place.

[Thermopylae 15,288]

He used to drive through with Kevin Thomson perhaps he's feeling a bit out of sorts without his chum? Don't laugh Scott Brown was never the same without KT around

[Clemdog 39,389]

Your a fool if you think Hateley was the one keeping Weiss quiet. It was either ill discipline from the young lad, or very poor tactics. In the first half he was forever in the middle of the park.

To be fair as was Naismith, but he does do that more often anyway. I think Walters plan was to play Whittaker and Papac as wingers when we were attacking and Edu to sit with our CB's, meaning Naismith and Weiss had to tuck inside. It didn't work.

Weiss did so much better in the second half running to the by-line, but he needs to play on the right for me. It's so predicitable when he cuts back in.

As for Whittaker he's had a shocking start to the season, when Broadfoot gets back to full fitness I expect to see him starting with Whittaker on the bench.

[RangersKenny 0]

If his name was Tom Cleland, not a single person would claim he would be worth us signing

This is a GREAT point.

Most of us probabley really want Tom to be as good in quality as his Father, to follow his footsteps to us, but its just not happening.

At Motherwell he has found his level, and nothing more.

Shame - but hes nothing more than 'workmanlike'.

Good point.