Hibs star Aiden McGeady reckons "static" Rangers were badly missing the creative spark Ryan Kent offers during their sobering 2-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise.
And the former Celtic man admits he has also been left unsure by the uncertainty between the sticks with Jon McLaughlin starting ahead of Allan McGregor in both competitive games this season. Rangers are needing a comeback for the ages as they trail the Belgians 2-0 from a harrowing first leg, which has Gio van Bronckhorst 's side staring at the Champions League exit door.
The Ibrox men know a comeback win on home turf will tee up a winners takes all clash with either Monaco or PSV in the playoff round. And McGeady reckons a swift return for Kent is a necessity after he watched the Ibrox side huff and puff on an error-strewn Euro night. Speaking to Go Radio, he said: "I think Kent's a top player. In terms of his numbers, goals and assists; I think it's definitely something he can improve on but in that Rangers team he is a top player.
"I think I'm reiterating what Kenny is saying there. There wasn't much movement. Very very static. The striker was very isolated, I thought, playing in front of the team. And I thought without Kent or a kind of individual who is going to take someone on and take someone out of the game. There wasn't much happening and that Union Saint-Gilloise - they were very very comfortable and I actually felt it could've been more than that. It could've been three, four or five which is not good reading for Rangers.
"On the flip side of it, if you come back to Ibrox and you've got the crowd behind you, you've played Champions League nights with Celtic and Rangers and anything can happen on those nights."
And McGeady was also quick to vouch for former Sunderland pal Jon McLaughlin who got in the neck for his role in the opener in Leuven. But the Scotland international did redeem himself with a host of key saves on a night the hosts passed up a gilt-edged chance. But the 36-year-old reckons a definitive decision needs to be made by Van Bronckhorst over who the No.1 is long term.
He added: "That's the only thing, I'm struggling to figure out, is Jon McLaughlin their No.1 now? No one really knows.
"I played with Jon at Sunderland, he done really well for us, it came off the back of a really bad season where we were relegated from the Championship, we had three goalkeepers who never covered themselves in glory. But we had Jon the next season, he was a steadying influence on the back, made a lot of good saves.
"A lot of people were saying he was our player of the year at one point, I don't think he was ever a player of the year and making loads of saves. But the difference is now, if you are Rangers No.1, the scrutiny is on you, you are not playing second fiddle and playing the odd game here and there, you are playing Champions League qualifiers, games where every shot (counts), you're saying the shot was in the middle of the goal, slight deflection, but if I'm a goalkeeper, and without slaughtering Jon McLaughlin, I'd expect him to save that, from knowing him at Sunderland."
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