Rabbi Matondo suffering Rangers ‘crisis of confidence’, admits Beale

Michael Beale has admitted Rabbi Matondo is suffering a “crisis of confidence” but defended the winger over recent Rangers criticism.

The forward – signed from Schalke 04 in the summer – has struggled to nail down a starting spot at Ibrox this season.

Matondo, 22, has played in the Bundesliga, Championship for Stoke and in the Belgian top flight with Cercle Brugge. But so far, he’s yet to hit the heights at Rangers.

Matondo was a second-half sub for Rangers in the 1-0 win over Ross County and could have killed the contest as he broke free of the defence only to fail in his attempt to round goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw.

However, Beale has defended the winger from any criticism as he vowed to support Matondo through a difficult period.

“He’s a young boy,” said the Rangers boss. “He’s an international, played in the Bundesliga, played in the Belgian league, he’s here for a reason.

“He’s maybe having a crisis of confidence, it would have been lovely if he had scored that goal, for him and for everyone.

“He’s our player, we trust him, we bought him for a reason and we will help him out the other side of it.

“He’s one of us so I think at this moment in time it is clear to see that he is struggling for confidence and rhythm and that is my job and his team-mates to pick him up because we believe there is a player there.”

One player who isn’t struggling for confidence is John Lundstram who hit the winner in Dingwall with an excellent low drive.

The midfielder came back into the starting line-up for Ryan Jack with Beale spotting a tactical tweak to get the best out of the Englishman.

That’s not to say Ryan Jack won’t also play a key role under Beale for the rest of the season.

The Ibrox boss explained: “What I’ve noticed in the last two games is that there isn’t much space in the middle of the pitch for our No.10s so we try to stretch them out with our centre-backs going wider and John coming down just to get people facing forward and bringing the ball out.

“I thought John did that really well. When he drops down he can obviously go a little bit further with his passing. It was a key aspect to the first half, how many times we got Adam on a cross-field ball.

“We’ll get better, we’ll get more rhythm. It is a changing room that realises it needs to keep getting three points. We have to keep winning so are we going to be our free-flowing best while that’s in their mind?

“I’m encouraging them. At the moment it is important to be functional and get the results. Over time we will hopefully improve.

“John coming in tonight for Ryan Jack was managing the minutes through the week. Both are going to be very, very important moving forward. They give us a bit of bite in midfield, pass the ball well, leaders within the team.

“I thought Ryan did particularly well at Pittodrie and John tonight with the winning goal.”

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