Pedro Caixinha has revealed that although he is thrilled with Declan John’s attacking style of play, he feels the youngster needs to work on his defending.
The 22-year-old, who is primarily a left-wing-back, has been deployed as a left-back by Caixinha since he was snapped up from Cardiff City on a season-long loan deal in the summer.
John has thus far managed to clock up 247 minutes over three appearances in all competitions for the Gers, scoring twice and providing an assist.
The Wales international’s attacking instincts was fully on display against Hamilton Academical last Friday as he netted a brace in Rangers’ 4-1 win at New Douglas Park before the international break.
And Caixinha, who counts John as a versatile player, wants the Cardiff City loanee to be stronger defensively so that he turns out to be a more balanced player.
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“Declan is a player who was never coached on how to play as a left-back”, he said on Rangers TV.
“He did it a couple of times with us and he did it very good because we’re a team who like to attack and like the full-backs to go up in attack.
“So we try to coach him a little bit more on not only to defend the wide areas, but the relationship with the winger in front of him, the midfielder on his side and also the centre-half.
“So he needs to know these relations and the places he needs to cover when he’s defending.
“But he’s also one player who can play as a winger.
“He can also provide us with those sort of approaches in a game.
“Also if in any stage of the game we play with three at the back, he can be a full-back and a winger at the same time.
“He’s growing in that position, we need to coach him on how to defend in that position.
“As you see, he’s getting in attacks and being involved by overlaps, he’s getting into the boxes, putting in crosses and even scoring.
“He’s doing all that and now we need to work on the other parts to have a balanced player.”
John, who is a product of Cardiff City’s youth system, previously had loan spells at Barnsley and Chesterfield.
