Scott Arfield

[LeoH037]

25 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Arfield is captain and his league is wrapped up. Meanwhile we get two key players from Besiktas who are in an actual title battle. How does that happen?

to each their own?

[SthMelbRed]

23 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Arfield is captain and his league is wrapped up. Meanwhile we get two key players from Besiktas who are in an actual title battle. How does that happen?

Hutch is captain, Arfield just wears the armband most games (when he's there).

I don't mean that as a slight against Arfield, to be clear. It's just that Hutch is always going to be the main man with this team. 

[LeoH037]

I think that's fair

[toontownman]

Arfield is approaching 33 and every player declines physically differently. If not coming now means he is refreshed to come for the Gold Cup or hopefully the next round of WCQ then so be it. We have plenty in this squad. At his age he has to balance. 

[LeoH037]

^^ Lets all remember that Atiba is an exception as far as physical endurance goes

[BrennanFan]

I don't want to point a finger at Arfield too much, but his absence does leave a bad taste in the mouth given he was the captain (of sorts).  I hope we see him in June.  If Arfield and Hutchinson can help get us to the final round, that is really all we can ask of them.  It will be up to the next generation to get us to Qatar.  Eustaquio, Osorio, Kaye and Piette need to take responsibility for our midfield now.  

[archer21]

To be fair to Arfield, I don’t think he’s really necessary for this camp anyways. Herdman even mentioned that if Atiba and Eustaquio weren’t available, they would have put the pressure on Arfield more. As long as Arfield shows up when we need him, I’m fine with it.

[CanadaFan123]

I love Arfield but it's just really hard to wrap my head around this one.

• He's captain (or was).
• He's essentially finished his league season.
• We are playing the teams put in front of us to get to a World Cup (!).
• He hasn't played for Canada in 16 months. 

This isn't how a leader behaves. And as someone rightly pointed out - he plays minnows all season in Scotland but now this is beneath him? He's passing up a trip to Florida to reunite with his national team for crucial matches? Minnows or not - it's WCQ, it's not like these are friendlies.

Call him up again if he's available but he better be bringing Old Firm intensity or you have to wonder what we're doing. We've never had a lack of talent but we have had a lack of desire at times.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, archer21 said:

To be fair to Arfield, I don’t think he’s really necessary for this camp anyways. Herdman even mentioned that if Atiba and Eustaquio weren’t available, they would have put the pressure on Arfield more. As long as Arfield shows up when we need him, I’m fine with it.

I'm not fine with it, but I recognize Scott is just back from injury and, from the form I saw in Europa league, not quite 100%. 

I think the best argument made here is that for Rangers in SPL you play teams that are very weak all the time, and beat up on them, no contest. But I bet Rangers thought that Prague was just a middling team as well, so maybe they should tone that argument down a bit.

[Kadenge]

It will come down to his relationship with Herdman and the players. The red line I have to think, is  june when we are hopefully playing 4 games to get to the Ocho

[Stryker911]

28 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

It will come down to his relationship with Herdman and the players. The red line I have to think, is  june when we are hopefully playing 4 games to get to the Ocho

I agree. With 4 games in 11 days we will likely have more than 23 player squad. We will need all our players as there will be alot of different lineups. If he comes in June than that likely means he will come to every game in the Octo.

[johnyb]

I think he was probably complaining more about the format than anything else. No doubt CONCACAF has long outgrown the Hex. Final Qualifying should have been at minimum an Octo and probably even a Deca. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/filip-helander-scott-arfield-suffer-24012698.amp

Arfield has an ankle injury once more. He will be out for the rest of the season.

It's not clear if this is what kept him out of the Scottish Cup match vs St. Johnstone last weekend (or if that was a different injury).

It's also not clear if this is the same ankle or is related to his previous ankle injury that kept him out at the beginning of the year.

[JamboAl]

Unfortunately, age and just sheer wear and tear are going to mean that we may not see him much longer in a Canada top.  Not everyone can be Atiba.

[Shway]

Playing in the SPL will only speed up the wear and tear too.

[Blackjack15]

When Anfield wasnt injured was he a regular at Rangers?

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

34 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

When Anfield wasnt injured was he a regular at Rangers?

Yes. A starter or sub for most games.

[costarg]

11 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Yes. A starter or sub for most games.

Not just a starter, he was also a solid contributor and a big part of their success.  4G 5A in 1142 minutes.

[jordan]

He was a starter between the end of September up until the Motherwell game in December. Injury or not he lost his place, and has mostly substituted into games since. One thing Rangers lack at times is the runs he makes, no one else really makes those runs into the advanced spaces. 

[Blackjack15]

Maybe he finds a new club, Livingston in the Scottish premiership wouldn't be a bad idea 

[jordan]

He doesn’t need a new club, he will still get minutes, just they will start decreasing.

[Blackjack15]

1 minute ago, jordan said:

He doesn’t need a new club, he will still get minutes, just they will start decreasing.

Depends what Herdman asks of him: If he wants to be in the 23-man roster i think he should be starting week in week out. What do you think @jordan?

[Obinna]

2018-19 started 43 games and subbed on for 3

2019-20 started 39 games and subbed on for 10

2020-21 started 25 games and subbed on for 19

For two years he was basically an every game starter and now in his 3rd year he's coming on in the 2nd half to close out games roughly half the time. He's got a year left on his contract and I bet he signs an extension before that.

I don't get the sense Arfield feels he needs to play every minute of every match at this stage of his career, so I don't see him wanting to leave Rangers for playing time elsewhere, nor do I see Rangers wanting to move on from Scott.

I don't think Arfield is leaving Rangers anytime soon.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Obinna

[Obinna]

14 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

Depends what Herdman asks of him: If he wants to be in the 23-man roster i think he should be starting week in week out. What do you think @jordan?

I think that's true as a generality, but I see Herdman making an exception for Arfield, so long as the minutes at Rangers are adequate (which they were this season).

If he's coming on in the 90th minute every match that may be a different story. 

[Corazon]

Arfield limiting minutes at Rangers is probably best case scenario from a Canada supporter standpoint.  If he's already starting to find it difficult to manage both club and country then remaining at Rangers and playing less minutes at a team also playing in European competition is probably best.  If he were to leave to a smaller club and feature in every starting 11, he's going to find it even more difficult to travel on international breaks.  That's my opinion.