Thursday evening was a disappointment for all Rangers fans as we crashed out of the 2018/19 Europa League competition with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Rapid Vienna.
With plenty of fall out from the game, given arguably Rangers should’ve expected more but a lack of clinical finishing let us down, as ever, fans were quick to take to social media to discuss the performance and vent their frustrations.
I was going to ignore this as I find it overly negative, and there are plenty of positives from the clash against Hamilton but one target of said frustration was youngster Glenn Middleton and I think the criticism of him was very harsh indeed, even allowing for the fact that he has gone more off the boil in recent times.
Whilst I can see the comparisons of some to Josh Windass – who equally split the fanbase and was either on form, or off – Middleton is still learning his trade at 18-years-old and he was always going to have ups and downs and fans need to expect that as he continues his own development.
To me we all like to see our young players play but middleton reminds me so much of windass .
— Rangersviews (@RANGERSviews82) December 13, 2018
Rangers done well to get to this stage in Europe ????????. Glenn Middleton isn’t good enough. ????????
— Robbie Cochrane (@RobbieCochrane2) December 13, 2018
Garbage. Possession is terrible. Distribution is worse. Coulibaly and Middleton have been poor.
— Dintcha Tyrone (@Gazmar1) December 13, 2018
Middleton is a long way away from where Rangers need to be. He’s a League 1 player down here.
Gers are 3 decent players from being a good side. Look blunt at the moment
— Alex (@alexr8911) December 13, 2018
Middleton looks dangerous at times when he gets the ball, but he’s totally out of the game for far too long. Get Grezda on. #RFC ????⚪️????
— Tele (@telfer9) December 13, 2018
Need to take middleton off man hes been horrific so far
— Jamma (@JammaManRfc) December 13, 2018
Patience can be a wonderful thing.