Great 'baller. No doubt the Celtic fans will give him their usual welcome that most of our black players get but hopefully he realises that not all Jocks are racist arseholes. please log in to view this image
Not sure Celtic fans will make his acqaintence? If posters can be banned for their username, you would be first
The Scottish Sun have gone a bit mental with their headline: please log in to view this image The defender obviously wasn't happy, but still. Not sure how he gets a foul given against him after the flick, to be honest. The ref probably didn't like watching a Southern invader humiliating his countryman or something: I fully expect Spurf to start a campaign about this soon. Freedom From Oduwa or Oduwa Independence, possibly.
Was just watching that on BBC site. Absolute nailed on penalty for me. Nothing wrong with the tricks - if they work.
He put an arm on the defender and that player then lost his balance. I can see why the ref sides with the defender and I'd be pretty annoyed The defender might not have liked it but their manager did. Although he's right that he might find himself on the end of some rough treatment if he persists with it. I remember some of the **** Robinho had to put up with in Brazil, he had goalkeepers trying to punch him and fly kick him Warburton's probably right to play it down and say he'll have a word but it's better to make your debut by playing some tricks and having fun than to be nervous and play within yourself.
If he's a success in Scotland, he's nailed on to make the bench for a League 1 side. Adam Rooney, Leigh Griffiths, Chris Killen - there are many who suddenly became goalscoring world beaters when they breathed in the Scottish air.
Oduwa played his second game for Rangers last night, as Mark Warburton rung the changes for their Scottish Challenge Cup visit to Ayr United. It's roughly the equivalent of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, so the fact that he left out roughly half of their team from the weekend wasn't a surprise. Both of our loanees were in the starting lineup and they played for the full game, which they won 2-0. The clean sheet and win will be a big positive for Ball in his first taste of football North of the border. Oduwa had a penalty call turned down in the second half, got fouled for bookings on a couple of occasions and was booed by the home fans. I think that might become something of a theme for his stay in Scottish football, for some reason. I've just found the penalty call: Think he might've been clipped!
Maybe that was Poch's plan. Dinamo Zagreb did similar during Modric's development, loaning him to a club in the Bosnian league knowing the league was more physical, so he'd learn to both toughen up while also improving his game to compensate for those sort of tactics.
This was always Tony Parks' policy with our keepers, to send them to a level where they'd get knocked about a bit and to hopefully return to Spurs both physically and mentally tougher.
Oduwa and Ball played another full game together, joined by a Goon loan in Zelalem, as Rangers won 5-0 at the Excelsior Stadium. Their opponents Airdrieonians FC are from the division below and were no match for their visitors in this Scottish League Cup tie. Three early goals put the game beyond them and two late ones finished it off. No goals or assists for either youngster this time, but it's nice to see them getting full games, even against such poor opposition. Another clean sheet will be good for Ball's confidence, but I don't think that he had too much to do, to be honest.
That nutmeg was during Rangers' latest win, another five goal stroll, this time at Palmerston Park, the home of Queen of the South. Neither Ball nor Oduwa started the game, but the ended up playing most of a full match between them. The defender was the first to be introduced, as Lee Wallace was removed just after the half-hour, due to injury. The score was already 1-0 via an Andy Halliday shot a few minutes beforehand. Our more antagonistic loanee had to wait until the 66th minute to come on and the game was already dead by then. The single goal was the difference at half-time, but a poor start to the second half lead to a collapse by the hosts. A red card early on was followed by a penalty, which was won by Ball and converted by Waghorn. Holt scored a third shortly after that and there wasn't long to wait for the fourth from McKay. A second penalty, this time for handball, put the score up to the usual number, though Queens of the Stoneage did nick one back before the end. The off-field antics of some ex-owners and shareholders seem to be making most of the headlines around the club at the moment. Probably not surprising, given how badly run they must have been in order to go under.
