Leon Balogun a gives damning interview admitting he’s ‘mad’ at Rangers’ display in the 2-1 pre-season loss to Birmingham City in midweek.
Two goals in the first-half were enough to give Chris Davies’ side victory at St. Andrew’s, with quite the crowd in for this friendly.
Birmingham were ahead on 10 minutes, a wonderfully delivered corner from Koji eventually resulted in an own goal from James Tavernier.
On 38 minutes, some brilliant tenacity from Ethan Laird allowed him to pull it back for Alfie May and he fired it hard and low past Liam Kelly.
Scott Wright could only get a consolation goal for the Scottish Premiership outfit on 68 minutes, and it’s fair to say Leon Balogun was unhappy with his side’s performance, as you can hear in his post-match interview below…
🎙️ Leon Balogun spoke to @RangersTV following this evening’s match against Birmingham City. pic.twitter.com/g5rgudspIA
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 24, 2024
He said to Rangers TV: “Not good enough, quite frankly. If we come here and we play the way we played in the first half then you seriously have to question yourself. I don’t want to get into panic mode or anything, but that’s just a very honest assessment, there’s not much to say other than it was not good enough. I think in the second half we showed a bit more but still…
“We can say Birmingham are a good side, they got relegated, I don’t really care because when you play for Rangers you can’t present yourself like that. That’s just plain and simple. It’s just after the final whistle, so I’m quite mad right now but I’m pretty sure there will be good things from the second half, even though right now this is hard to imagine.
“But obviously we are still learning, we still have a lot of young players and a few new players in the team. There will be mistakes made, we made a lot today, and we just need to make sure, because there’s 10 days until the kick-off of the new season, that we eradicate them, and even throughout the season there will be mistakes but we have to minimise them. We must make sure we don’t make the kind of mistakes that we did in the Birmingham game.”
On a return to Germany this weekend, where his career began, he added: “I think the atmosphere will be great, our travelling support will enjoy that stadium. I’ve played there once before in my career, it’s a very special club. For me, it will just be nice to be back home and see a few family members, a few friends I’m going to meet out there. The main focus is, of course, the pre-season match and we need a good performance there for the confidence heading into the Hearts game the following week and show a different face over the 90 minutes.”
Rangers boss Philippe Clement said: “I was totally not happy with the first half. We missed aggressivity and it’s a very good lesson for several players. Of course, it’s a preseason game, so we have players like Danilo, who’s been seven months out. We cannot expect wonders of him now for the moment. So he misses a little bit the speed and the power that he had before. We need to build it up that we knew for the moment. Also, we need to find solutions at the number ten position. Alex Lowry played there, but he also needs to make steps to get in the first team squad and to be more aggressive in this way of playing.
“But, okay. A while ago, Todd [Cantwell] came to my office to say he wanted to look for another adventure and to make another step. We had a long talk because we have a good relationship. I told him to think really well about that because Rangers is a fantastic club and that I would give him time. But he has come back to say that’s what they want.So I need to focus on the moment, all the players who, who are here in the building with their minds to play in August, to play the qualifying games and the league games. So we need to find solutions there.”
Interviewer to Phillipe: “You touched on the lessons. Is it important at this stage for the players to maybe have these moments and learn from them at this crucial stage of preseason?
Phillipe: “Yeah, of course. And if you see how many young players that play today, and even the first time at this level, we had 13 players out of our academy playing today. So that’s a lot of. They miss the experience and they miss also the power that’s necessary at this level. But it’s the only way to make them better and to let them grow and to have the feeling about this level also. It will only make their hunger bigger, to become better and to adapt, to become hopefully a ranged player for the future.
“But that’s preseason. You need to give chances on young players also in a week where you play three games. So we kept a lot of players in Glasgow to train hard because they needed that also and to be ready for the game on Saturday night. Yeah, you touched on that there. One final preseason test on Saturday, Union Berlin, another good challenge and a final game for the players to show what they can do too. Yeah, that is. And everybody had their chances in pre-season. Everybody got minutes, so they all had the chance to show themselves. And now we’re going to go tighter in the squads towards the important games and the game support.”
Birmingham’s Chris Davies said: “It was a really good performance, I was really pleased with the first-half in particular. The way we played with the ball, our pressing, our intensity, our energy, our reactions, I thought they were really good.
“We, obviously, scored two good goals and could have probably had more. Second-half, we did lack a bit of the same intensity I would say and the subs lacked a bit of cohesion in terms of everything when they came on.
“But we had to dig in at the end and see it out, and it was a really positive performance and, obviously, result, which gives us confidence.”
See more of the latest football news HERE.
🎙️ Philippe Clement spoke to @RangersTV following this evening’s match against Birmingham City. pic.twitter.com/tk5zrTFtA4
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 24, 2024
This is how fans reacted Leon Balogun gives a damning interview admitting he’s ‘mad’ at Rangers’ display in their loss to Birmingham…
@ibroxdaily1872: proper interview
@steve__72: Great guy that speaks well and always gives a consistent performance on the pitch, good bit of business keeping him for another year
@Paullund2: 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 great away support from Rangers good luck for the new season.
@DeeksL2003: Brutally honest assessment of that woeful performance
@RossMar86947421: Big guys one of few with a good mentality and balls to say when were rotten!
@Rangerslass1872: Say it louder leon.. so the clowns can hear u big man
@happymummy1973: Says it how it is and never shirks away from criticising bad performances. Comes out in tough times unlike our captain!
@AlxFUNK: Does anyone else constantly make mistakes in their work that need eradicated week after week? The dressing room is gone for me… sadly this is the beginning of the end for big Phil…..
@LoganC1872: Least we’ve sent someone out who can actually admit this
@Scientifixx: This football club is an absolute mess. And no end in sight. We are seeing nothing positive.
Be lucky if we are second place this season.
@cjnovo992:
“if you play for Rangers you can’t present yourself like that”
No media training guff from the big man
Telling it how it is, it’s been pish
@rossco72_: Refreshing to hear someone tell the truth instead of mr “Yeah Disappointed” whenever he has the balls to speak to media the coward
@howie8206: Well said and very honest 👏👏👏
@_William72: Grown a real affection for this man. Always says it how it is, no scripted bs just the black and white. Well said Leon!
@_Brian72: If we had a dressing room full of characters like this man we might not be in such a mess. No sugarcoating, says it exactly how it is.
@craigsneddon82: Best defender we’ve got 🇬🇧
@MissypRfc: Spot on leon 👏🏻
@howie8206: Well said and very honest 👏👏👏
@johnstonio2013: Honesty finally, just wish he was 10 years younger as still the best defender in our squad for me even at his age!
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