Rohl must drop Rangers flop who was even worse than Sterling vs Celtic

Glasgow Rangers suffered a big blow in the race for the Scottish Premiership title after they let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 at Ibrox on Sunday.

The Gers are now six points behind Hearts with nine games left to play before the end of the season, whilst their city rivals can still go ahead of them if they win their game in hand.

Two goals from Youssef Chermiti gave the hosts a 2-0 lead heading into the break, but second-half goals from Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate secured a point for Celtic.

A heartbreaking late penalty was awarded to the Hoops when Dujon Sterling went to block a header from Daizen Maeda and stopped the ball from going past Jack Butland with his left arm.

It was an incredibly unfortunate moment for the full-back, who won six of his ten duels and otherwise had a strong game, and the blame for the result should not be placed on his shoulders.

How Danny Rohl cost Rangers the win against Celtic

Days after questioning why Celtic did not go for more goals in their 1-0 win over Stuttgart in the Europa League, Danny Rohl failed to get his Rangers team to push for more goals in the second half.

The Gers were in a commanding position at 2-0 up at the break and knew that the Hoops would come out fired up to avenge their first-half failings, yet they produced a passive second 45 minutes.

Celtic made two changes at the break, bringing on Hatate and Sebastian Tounekti, but Rohl waited and waited until the away side pulled a goal back to make any changes to his team.

Stat	Rangers	Celtic
Possession	45%	55%
Shots	12	17
Shots on target	3	7
Big chances	3	6
xG	1.50	2.24

Rangers were losing the midfield battle in the second half and he waited until Tierney’s goal before bringing Mohamed Diomande on for Ryan Naderi, but the momentum had already swung and it was too late at that point.

Instead of stepping onto Celtic and ensuring that they remained on top in the game, Rohl opted to back off and his team allowed Celtic to control the ball and create chances at will until they eventually equalised, which is ultimately what cost the Gers the win.

On top of the manager’s tactical failings, there were several players who did not step up when the team needed them, including one flop who was worse than Sterling.

The Rangers flop who was worse than Dujon Sterling

As aforementioned, the versatile full-back should not be blamed for the draw because it was an unfortunate situation for the penalty call and he put in a dominant defensive display up to that point.

Central midfielder Nicolas Raskin, though, should be dropped by the German head coach after the disappointing performance that he put in for the Light Blues.

The Belgium international lined up alongside Tochi Chukwuani in the middle of the park and was particularly underwhelming in the second 45 when Rangers allowed Celtic to control the game with the ball.

Raskin did not do enough to disrupt the game, winning just three of his six duels across the 90 minutes, and offered very little to the team in possession, with no shots on target and no chances created.

The former Standard Liege star’s only offensive contribution in the second half was taking the ball off Mikey Moore’s toes in the box before lifting a tame pass that looked destined for Viljami Sinisalo’s gloves straight into Dane Murray’s chest.

Vs Celtic	Nicolas Raskin
Minutes	90
Shots on target	0
Key passes	0
Big chances created	0
Dribbles	0
Crosses	0
Pass accuracy	66%
Possession lost	12x
Duels won	3/6

Raskin’s struggles on the ball were disappointing because he gave the ball away far too many times, completing just 66% of his attempted passes, which played a role in the away team’s dominance and ability to create chances on a regular basis.

Whilst Rohl could have done more to put his team on the front foot, the German head coach cannot legislate for his central midfielder consistently giving the ball back to the opposition with his passes.

There was also a moment in the second half when Raskin wanted a ball through the middle and then turned his back to the ball, frustrated that it was not played earlier, allowing Murray to intercept the ball and play it forward under no pressure, which was met with frustration from some of the supporters at Ibrox.

With Mohamed Diomande available to come into the starting line-up for the SFA Cup clash with Celtic next weekend, Rohl should drop the Belgian midfielder from the team.