Maurice Edu

It's great he'll be playing with Beasley and hopefully their success will translate to the US MNT! Congrats Edu. Any speculation as to how his performance in the Olympics affected this deal?

 

Per the Rangers website, it was due to Mo Johnson's influence/recommendation.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8 ... sgow-derby

...and he's debuting in the Old Firm derby!!! This guy's past two months have been a footie world tour.

Walter Smith's comments are very complimentary. I have no reason to think he'll do anything but succeed with the SPL seasoning, but I also thought Feilhaber was a no-doubter and his career, thus far, has landed in the lumber yard.

 

Maurice did indeed make the bench but did not take the pitch during Rangers 4-2 win.

 

Mo played the first 65 mins of Rangers game against Kilkarnock(?). He played very well, with a shot on goal and two passes that should have been assists. He received a nice ovation from the Ibrox faithful when he was subbed off.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/s ... -21164850/


this kid has his head on straight!

 

"Brave Little Maurice!"

- heh

 

Game is being replayed on Setanta later this week. I'm going to DVR it, just to watch Edu.

 

Will do, Don.

 

Nice article. Any idea what day the match is airing on Setanta Andy?

 

BarryP. 11am today.

 

The game recorded, but I haven't watched it yet - I couldn't bear to watch another minute of footee after the Fulham game...

 

OK, I watched the first hour or so of the game; I couldn't bear to watch any more because I am now firmly convinced that the average MLS team could finish 3rd in the SPL - the player skill disparity between the two teams was appalling.

Edu played a defensive mid role. In that role he performed well, breaking up some attacks and, a couple of times, holding up the ball in midfield to allow for Rangers to transition (I think he drew 2-3 fouls in doing so, which, considering you have a mug someone to get called in the SPL, is impressive). I felt that for the first 20 minutes or so, his teammates didn't really trust him - they weren't passing him the ball, even when he was in good positions. After he broke up a few attacks, that went away and he got a bit more involved, but was still seen as primarily a defensive player, sitting in front of the back 4 (or back 2 most of the time). Even on corners, where you would think his hops would guarantee him a spot in the box, he was placed at the top of the box, just outside by 10 yards or so, more positioned to stop a quick counter than to help score. He did get the ball in open space and move it into the attacking third a couple of times (considering that Hamilton's defensive tactic was to keep backing up until they reached their own 6 yard box, this wasn't tough to do), but was not exactly noteworthy in his results. He shanked on 25 yd shot way over the bar, had a couple of ok crosses, but generally lost the ball.

His one noteworthy moment was during one of the few times Hamilton had the ball in Ranger's box. The ball was popping up in the air, head to head, and Edu stepped in and calming headed it softly to his keeper - very nice composure.

I give him a B overall - his primary job was defensive mid and he did that admirably; I can see why he's been used as a center half in U23s.