Steven Whittaker

[belter 1]

Watching the game today i came to the conclusion that whittaker cannot defend i have always thought that he was better than broadfoot going forward and not as good a defender this player either plays right midfield or better still sell him in january the thought of him against mickgeady or the other lepreachun fills me with dread .The team we have just now is trying to win the spl not compete in the cl broadfoot does ok at the level were at just now so a right back imo is not a priority ,the problem i see is the managers inability to make "tactical changes" during the game as yet again he seemed oblivious to the fact that untd had put an extra man in the middle of the park in the second half thereforew negating our 2 midfielders ,fergie and pedro.

We need cb cover or we go with lee whos a better cb than a midfielder

And before all you firesale experts jump in if you get rid of all the players some of you posters want to get rid of who the fuck r we going to have as cover

[mark_ni 12]

of course we paid too much. Hes a pish defender. WTF were we thinking paying £2m for him? Strange that we were arsing around all summer not wanting to pay £2m for naismith yet payed the same fee for whittaker no problem. Hes decent going forward but hes an awful defender. Caught out of position far too often for my liking and didnt exactly close down the dundee utd player who crossed for their goals today. Broadfoot aint a great player either but hes a better defender imo. Rather have him for the celtic match than whittaker.

[adam2102 578]

we paid too much for him, although to be fair he was playing well for hibs at the time. would still rather whittaker than broadfoot in the team any day

[MikeBlue 136]

we paid too much for him, although to be fair he was playing well for hibs at the time. would still rather whittaker than broadfoot in the team any day

In fairness, Broadfoot was given a lot more chances than Whittaker who has been played all over the place. I was hoping that a run at RB might allow him to establish himself. We can't afford too many performances like that, though

[papaguy51 912]

I think people magnify Whittaker's mistakes about 100 times more than they do with Broadfoot.

I'd still have him in there over Kirk, Whittaker needs the same 30/40 game run as he got last year.

[simplythebest 11,453]

I thought he was exellent at Hibs so at the time i was happy with the transfer.

[jbm26896 995]

I thought he was exellent at Hibs so at the time i was happy with the transfer.

agreed , but he does not look confident at times when he is on the ball

he needs a run of games , but after today can we afford to play him against Hibs and Celtic

[thebeerhunter 0]

needs a decent run in the team and a fair bit of patience from the fans. If he just concentrates on his game he will come good. The fans could kill it for him though by getting on his back, the same sort of thing as Maurice Ross and in the early days Alan Hutton. Whittaker will def come good.

[ShootSpeedKillLight 0]

I quite like Whittaker. Not that he doesn't have his faults, but he's clearly a better footballer than Broadfoot. He's proved a number of times he has real ability (Lisbon away, Killie at Ibrox last season, Killie away this season) and I think given a run in the team he could cut out the stupid mistakes that he makes,

[LegendofCoop 17,427]

He's clearly a RM, not a RB. I have no idea why Smith keeps shoving players into positions they are not comfortable with and expecting miracles! I think SW's' problem this season is lack of confidence after injury, and a couple of shakey performances from being played out of position.

[Muff 245]

Never rated him and I was dissapointed when we wasted £2m on him. Today he was awful, the amount of times Craig Conway ripped him apart was embarrassing. The amount of times he got caught out, gave the ball away and commited a foul was a joke.

I think he and Broadfoot are just as bad - they'll never be good enough for Rangers. Who do we play at RB. Fcuk knows?

[chris_glasgow 2]

tell us something we don't know. a joke of a signing, plenty of rb in europe for that price and such a better player

[docspiderman 1,236]

we paid too much for him, although to be fair he was playing well for hibs at the time. would still rather whittaker than broadfoot in the team any day

He had lost his place at Hibs after costing them so many goals.We paid 3 times what was being asked for other clubs and we were the only club stupid enough to make a deal.

[J_RFC87 761]

I'm afraid we were sucked in by the very effective Hibs PR machine.

[docspiderman 1,236]

I'm afraid we were sucked in by the very effective Hibs PR machine.

Yes, Petrie and Co have made a lot of money from both sides of the old firm persuading them they were buying top class players despite their lack of any achievements other than losing in first rounds of the Intertoto.

[Steenmonkey 0]

I am loathe to criticize Gers players but with Whittaker I have little choice.

Firstly he shouldn't be allowing crosses to get into the box so easily (see Dundee Utd's first goal) and secondly he is all hit and hope with no composure.

He has a bit of pace but even when he gets into the positions he cannot cross a ball past the first man, his marking is dreadful, he cannot tackle (see Mendes' booking for mistaken identity) and he often looks nonchalent and indifferent to proceedings. I admit he has the potential to score great goals but ultimately, this is not enough.

Personally, I'd ship him off to anyone who would buy him in January as he is not good enough for Rangers. As I say, I hate to have a go at bears, particularly Scots but ultimately Whittaker is a classic case of the big fish in a small pond. As soon as he left Hibs he was out of his depth. Kirk Broadfoot is a player who does not have the same natural gifts as Whittaker but he has worked relentlessly on his game and shows true commitment every week. This on its own is not enough to be a Rangers player. Any one of us true blues would do exactly the same...you do have to show quality. I feel Big Kirk has done this. Often he provides the outlet on the right when Stevie Davis tucks in and he never ever hides. Papac on the left is nowwhere near as big a threat going forward and he, like Kirk, was a centre-back by trade. Kirk bombs up and down the flank, provides good delivery (see his performances at Easter Road and Parkhead for prime examples) and defends solidly.

Whittaker could learn an awful lot from Broadfoot but for me it's too little, too late...

[ShootSpeedKillLight 0]

I am loathe to criticize Gers players but with Whittaker I have little choice.

Firstly he shouldn't be allowing crosses to get into the box so easily (see Dundee Utd's first goal) and secondly he is all hit and hope with no composure.

He has a bit of pace but even when he gets into the positions he cannot cross a ball past the first man, his marking is dreadful, he cannot tackle (see Mendes' booking for mistaken identity) and he often looks nonchalent and indifferent to proceedings. I admit he has the potential to score great goals but ultimately, this is not enough.

Personally, I'd ship him off to anyone who would buy him in January as he is not good enough for Rangers. As I say, I hate to have a go at bears, particularly Scots but ultimately Whittaker is a classic case of the big fish in a small pond. As soon as he left Hibs he was out of his depth. Kirk Broadfoot is a player who does not have the same natural gifts as Whittaker but he has worked relentlessly on his game and shows true commitment every week. This on its own is not enough to be a Rangers player. Any one of us true blues would do exactly the same...you do have to show quality. I feel Big Kirk has done this. Often he provides the outlet on the right when Stevie Davis tucks in and he never ever hides. Papac on the left is nowwhere near as big a threat going forward and he, like Kirk, was a centre-back by trade. Kirk bombs up and down the flank, provides good delivery (see his performances at Easter Road and Parkhead for prime examples) and defends solidly.

Whittaker could learn an awful lot from Broadfoot but for me it's too little, too late...

Fair enough, but I think you've ignored some other good points of Whittaker's play. There were a couple of times today when he stuck the ball through DU midfielders legs and went on decent runs. Not that I think Whittaker is good enough as such, but he's clearly a better footballer than Broadfoot, and saying he hasn't worked as hard as Broadfoot strikes me as unfair.

[Tumshie 205]

will never make a rangers full back. doesn't have the quality (although neither does broadfoot in my opinion) he ran beside conway for 50 yards on sat then allowed 2 get two crosses into the box. pish defending

[Stardog 11]

He's got a weird knobly-knees running style. It won't help him outpacing people...

[Jimenez 1]

Walter Smith has ruined Whittaker. It's an absolute waste of £2million.

[Polo 1,435]

I think he's got a lot of talent, but seems to be seriously lacking in confidence. I reckon he needs a good run of games at right back. He's great on his day and I wouldn't give up on him yet.

[docspiderman 1,236]

He was nor good enough for a non achieving and non expectation club like Hibs so how will he ever be good enough to play for a title chasing team?

Same for Broadfoot, who Hibs shipped out years before as not good enough to wear their jersey.

Relying on this type of unbalanced low ability players is the reason we struggle to beat bottom of the table clubs and have to fight to win a point off others.

[Muff 245]

He's simply not good enough. Our lack of quality in defence and especially in the full back areas is very worrying - I can't believe that our manager is happy with Broadfoot and Whittaker, two pish footballers. Papac isn't good enough either. His performances this season have been mediocre(he's also a player I have never rated)

[TMWWBK 0]

Walter Smith has ruined Whittaker. It's an absolute waste of £2million.

It's ashame because out of the John Park reared crop of youngsters that came through at Hibs, Whittaker was probably the most professional/intelligent of the lot.

He's not improved one iota since signing for us.

[jbm26896 995]

whittaker appears to lack confidence at times