WES Foderingham will not change his style and resort to rudimentary tactics when he faces the more considerable challenge of St Johnstone at Ibrox on Tuesday night, seeking what he perceives will be the third major cup scalp of his career.
Playing out from the back has been one major aspect of the often thrilling style of play that manager Mark Warburton has imposed upon Rangers and it has led to one or two anxious moments in a virtually flawless start to the season.
Foderingham is under orders to play the ball short to his centre- backs or full-backs rather than risk an aerial clearance which increases the probability of gifting possession back to the opposition. It is a style the former Swindon Town goalkeeper embraces, being very much a disciple of Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer, whom he not only considers the best goalkeeper in the world but the leading exponent of starting attacks from the back.
Although perennial top six Premiership finishers Saints stand between Rangers and the quarter- finals of the League Cup, Foderingham insists they must retain their principles. The 24-year-old Londoner said: “There are teams that play out from the back at the very top level who do very well with it. Overall, the more chances you create, the more chances you have to win a game and you will create more from playing out from the back than lumping the ball up the pitch. We aren’t that sort of team. We are a passing team, we have good gifted technical players and playing out from the back will help us create more chances and win more games.
“Neuer is the best at it, but he’s just brilliant overall. He’s good with the ball at his feet, distributes well, makes really good saves and is commanding as well; he is definitely one of the top keepers for me, in fact the best overall.
“At my previous club, it was similar to here; I was involved with the ball at my feet, so in recent years I have become confident with it and it’s all going well.”
Looking ahead to the St Johnstone game, he continued: “It’s a big game we want to win. Obviously they are a Premiership side and the fans are keen to see us put on a good performance and we will go out and approach it the same as we have the last few games and try to get a win.
“It will be good to come up against a Premiership side and see where we are and how we are doing.”
Foderingham was at the heart of fantastic English League Cup wins at Stoke in 2012, when Swindon won a thrilling tie 4-3 in extra time, and then in London against Queens Park Rangers a year later as his side won 2-0.
However, if Rangers fail to beat St Johnstone on Tuesday, the bookmakers will suffer as they have Warburton’s side as clear favourites.
“I didn’t know that,” the Rangers manager said. “We’re at home, in good form and looking forward to it. I think it’s important to go as far as we can in the competition. It gives us the chance to test ourselves and the more matches we have the more we can utilise the squad and change it.
“They [St Johnstone] will be a good measure of the Premiership. We will be very respectful because we know all about their experience.”
Validating the bookies’ view of the tie, Warburton feels there is little to separate the top flight from second tier sides in Scotland.
“I don’t see the gulf between the Premiership and the Champpionship that I see between the Premier League and the Championship down south,” he said. “That is in no way disrespectful to anyone. The financial gap is much smaller, that is the reason why. Look at some of the wages and fees paid down south. They are not right. They are not appropriate.
“But it is what it is. The value of something is what someone is prepared to pay for it. That gap is getting wider and wider and that is not the case in Scotland.
“We know that many people will see this as our first real test but I’d say to the players it’s a bit unfair when we’ve had Hibs at Ibrox, dealt with Alloa’s surface and won at Queen of the South.
“St Johnstone will be a very good team, in very good shape and it will be another challenge for us.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here