A lot was expected out Nigerian striker Umar Sadiq when he landed in Glasgow. Coming from a club like AS Roma who were the Champions League semi-finalist last season, the Gers fan would have expected something special from the striker. However, we are just a few months into the season, and murmurs are doing the round now that he could be sent back to Roma in January. However, Gerrard has denied something like that is happening, but his desperation and loss of patience with the 21-year old is clearly showing.
The gaffer was quoted as saying,”It’s not something (Offloading him in January) that we’ve thought about, and it’s not something we’d try and do. What we want is the real, aggressive Sadiq. That’s we’ve paid for, that’s what we’ve asked for, that’s what we’ve got in. This is me trying a different way to get it out of him because I’ve tried other ways.”
Gerrard is clearly hoping that his public calling out of the striker affects the Nigerian. This is not the first time trying to get a reaction from him on the training grounds. The Gers would be without both Kyle Lafferty and Alfredo Morelos for the League Cup semi-final clash against Aberdeen.
Even then Sadiq’s place doesn’t seem to be guaranteed as Gerrard had claimed that the 21-year-old forward would have to do an awful lot to get in the team. 26 minutes of football is what Sadiq has got so far over three appearances.
There was another time when Gerrard added on the similar lines where he said,”He(Sadiq) needs to do more. We understand he is a young player. I’ve spoken to him numerous times one-on-one. He’s had individual training. We’ve done everything as a staff to help him. But you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work it out. He hasn’t had much game-time. He’s frustrated by that. But as a player, when that’s not happening, the only player who can sort it out is yourself.”
”The one person who can sort it out is Umar. He needs to push himself in every single department. He needs to realise he is at a big club. Competition for places is big in every single position. He needs to do the maths. If he adds them up, he hasn’t played many minutes. If he wants more minutes and more game-time, he has got to push. He’s got to show me he is the best in training, the best no.9. That’s not happening right now.”- Gerrard added further.
It seems that Gerrard is clearly miffed with the youngster’s attitude in training. Having not been picked as the preferred choice of a striker in the opening games made Sadiq lazy (it seems) and the gaffer is desperately trying to get a reaction from him on the training pitch. Only time will now tell how the striker is going to take the criticism and whether he would bundle down further or grow a pair to showcase his actual worth. The Gers fans would hope that it’s the latter.
