Glasgow Rangers lost their hopes of a first Scottish Premiership title of the 2020/21 campaign after being held to a draw on Sunday.
The Light Blues have not lifted the trophy since Steven Gerrard led the club to glory almost five years ago, playing behind closed doors, and are now six points adrift of top spot with nine games to play.
Danny Rohl’s side were 2-0 up against Celtic at Ibrox at half-time on Sunday thanks to Youssef Chermiti’s double, and a win would have kept them within four points of league leaders Hearts.
Unfortunately, the Gers couldn’t hold on in the second half and had to settle for a 2-2 draw with one point, their third draw in three league games.
Ultimately, these slip-ups from the Gers against Celtic, Livingston, and Motherwell could be the difference between winning the title and finishing second or third.
What went wrong for Rangers against Celtic
Despite the heroics of Mikey Moore and Chermiti, especially in the first half, Rangers could not hug the three points in front of their fans on Sunday.
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One of the reasons why the Gers failed to win this game was that they held their own after the break, allowing Celtic to get more balls, meaning that they had more opportunities to create chances and score goals.
That Celtic finished the game with 55% of the ball at Ibrox after Rangers went 2-0 up at half-time. There wasn’t enough control of the ball to see the game out.
Rohl can take some of the blame for that because he didn’t bring on Mohamed Diomande and Ryan Naderi to add more body in midfield until after Kieran Tierney had pulled a goal back, but the players must take responsibility for not taking enough care of the ball.
Several players failed to step up and deliver what was needed to get the game going in the second half, and one of the Gers flops looks like Cyril Dessers’ new Ibrox.
The Rangers flop looks like the new Dessers for Ibrox
It’s fair to say that Dessers divided opinion during his two-year stay at Ibrox, as he scored many goals and missed many chances to earn the club important points.
The Nigerian centre-back scored 34 goals in 73 Premiership games for Rangers, but missed 47 ‘big chances’ along the way. He was very wasteful in front of goal and not a reliable striker, which is why he was a liability for the team at times.
Now, John Souttar is becoming Ibrox’s new version of the former Gers player as he has not been honest about his defensive mistakes in recent weeks.
The Scot was one of the Rangers players who made up for a sloppy second half against Celtic, giving away unnecessary free-kicks and kicking the ball away from play under little pressure on several occasions.
Souttar finished the game with two fouls and an 80% pass accuracy, 10% lower than his season average. When the Gers needed their centre-back to be honest and calm, he put the pressure on his own with poor passing and poor play.
|
Souttar |
Vs Livingston |
vs Celtic |
|---|---|---|
|
Minutes |
73 |
90 |
|
Ground duels won |
2/5 |
2/4 |
|
Knockdown won |
1 |
0 |
|
Mistakes have been made |
2 |
2 |
|
He passed |
1x |
0x |
|
Continuous carriers |
0 |
0 |
|
Pass accuracy |
92% |
80% |
His passing wasn’t as good for Livingston as it was against Celtic, completing 92% of his passes, but the defender conceded two free-kicks which saw the team score at the bottom of the league at 2-2 in the previous game.
Souttar, described as “absolutely sloppy” against Livingston by Kai Watson of RangersJournal, failed to prove a reliable presence at the heart of the defense when Rangers needed a strong presence to earn them crucial points in the title race.
Just as Rangers couldn’t rely on Dessers to be effective in front of goal, the Light Blues can’t rely on the Scotland defender to avoid giving away ‘sloppy’ free-kicks in order to avoid free-holding in big games.
Although it is not perfect for him, the Gers have not won a league title since signing Souttar from Hearts in 2022, and that may not change this season due to the points that have fallen due to his defensive mistakes of late.
With this in mind, signing a new defender to partner Emmanuel Fernandez for the 2026/27 campaign and beyond should be a priority for Rohl and the recruiting staff.
Rohl must bring down the Rangers flop which was worse than Sterling vs Celtic
Danny Rohl must throw away this Glasgow Rangers flop who was worse than Dujon Sterling in the draw against Celtic.
