Glasgow Rangers made the race for the Scottish Premiership title even more interesting with a big 4-2 win over Hearts at Ibrox on Sunday.
The Gers are now two points behind the league leaders with 11 league matches still to go before the end of the season, whilst their city rivals are one point behind them with a game in hand.
Youssef Chermiti powered the Light Blues to all three points with a stunning hat-trick at Ibrox, the first hat-trick of the 21-year-old striker’s senior career.
Of the Portugal U21 international’s seven goals in the Scottish Premiership this season, six of his goals have been scored against Celtic and Hearts, which shows that he turns up in the big games.
If Danny Rohl can get the Everton forward to score more goals against the rest of the teams in the league, Chermiti could become a superstar for Rangers.
The tactical move that allowed Chermiti to shine against Hearts
Rangers, albeit against Championship opposition, demolished Queen’s Park 8-0 in the SFA Cup earlier this month with a 4-4-2 formation, playing Ryan Naderi and Bojan Miovski, who both scored, as a front two.
Rohl, though, moved back to a 4-2-3-1 formation for the trip to Motherwell. It did not work, as they were held to a 1-1 draw and Chermiti blanked as a starter.
For the clash with Hearts on Sunday, the German head coach went back to that 4-4-2 formation that worked so well in the cup, with Naderi and Chermiti leading the line for the Gers.
It worked brilliantly because it meant that the Hearts centre-backs were constantly occupied. Naderi and Chermiti challenged for 44 duels in the game, the most by two Rangers attackers combined in any game this season, which speaks to how much pressure they put on their opponents.
The German forward’s presence gave the ex-Everton striker even more space to work with, which he used incredibly effectively to score three goals on the day.
This tactical change looks to be hugely beneficial to Naderi and Chermiti, possibly Miovski as well, but there are some players who could be negatively impacted by it.
The Rangers flop who should not start again this season
After the four January arrivals, there were always going to be players who would miss out on making the squad on a regular basis in the second half of the season.
It looks like Nedim Bajrami is one of those players after he was excluded from the squad and played zero minutes against Hearts on Sunday, with the likes of Thelo Aasgaard, Oliver Antman, Mohamed Diomande, and Djeidi Gassama preferred to him as wide options on the bench.
The Albania international, signed for just over £3m (£3.4m) from Sassuolo in the summer of 2024, also failed to make the matchday squad against Motherwell, after playing 45 minutes against Queen’s Park in the SFA Cup earlier this month.
Bajrami is in an unfortunate situation because he has had a nightmare campaign for the Light Blues, and a lot of it has almost been out of his control.
Russell Martin did not give the attacking midfielder a single league start during his tenure in charge, only scoring in a League Cup start against Alloa, then he made three starts under Rohl, scoring against Falkirk, before picking up a muscle injury that kept him out for around a month.
Now, just when Bajrami may have targetted a run of matches in the side, Rohl has found success with a 4-4-2 formation that almost makes the Albanian star redundant, because he is a natural number ten, rather than an out-and-out winger or centre-forward.
This means that he does not really fit with the new formation, should it become a regular thing after the big success that Rangers had with it against Hearts.
|
25/26 Premiership |
Bajrami |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
11 |
|
Starts |
3 |
|
xG |
1.90 |
|
Goals |
1 |
|
Big chances created |
2 |
|
Assists |
0 |
As it stands, Bajrami should never start again this season for Rangers because of the change in formation, his struggles for fitness, and because Diomande and Aasgaard may be ahead of him in the pecking order if Rohl goes back to a 4-2-3-1 system at any point.
This means that it could be a frustrating end to the season for the £3m attacking midfielder, who may find game time hard to come by, and that could throw his long-term future at Ibrox into doubt ahead of the summer window.
£4.3m Rangers star is fast becoming even more important than Chermiti
This Glasgow Rangers star may be even more important to Danny Rohl than hat-trick hero Youssef Chermiti.