Gers branded ‘hopeless’ by Dutch pundit
Rangers have been labelled “hopeless” by former Dutch player turned TV pundit, Johan Derksen, despite beating Feyenoord in the Europa League.
Steven Gerrard last week revealed he would use the opinions of the Dutch before the opening game in the group to fire up his players and they responded with a deserved 1-0 win.
But that performance failed to impress one of Holland’s most-famous football pundits.
Derksen, a journeyman player for five Dutch clubs before becoming a controversial presenter in the media, reckoned Feyenoord and Rangers were as bad as each other.
He said: “Feyenoord were hopeless, but the sad thing was Rangers were hopeless, too.
“The atmosphere at Ibrox was very intimidating and Feyenoord allowed themselves to be scared of the atmosphere.
“If you can’t deal with pressure then you have no chance against Rangers. Feyenoord were overwhelmed, physically.
“Rangers can’t play football, but they are physical.
“The players of Rangers had a passion when they went on the park that you just don’t see in Dutch football. I don’t think Feyenoord won a tackle in the first half. “And if you don’t do that, you fail.” Meanwhile, Feyenoord skipper Eric Botteghin has backed team-mate Rick Karsdorp after he was threatened by his own supporters following that loss to Rangers.
Karsdorp became involved in an altercation with a section of the Rotterdam club’s fans after they went to acknowledge them after the game and claimed he’d even been sent threatening messages online to him and his family.
And Botteghin said: “Of course, we understand the fans were frustrated by our performance, but this goes way too far.
“When you start involving his family and threaten him through social media, it affects the whole team.
“I spoke to Rick and he is really disappointed about the whole episode.”