Michael Beale blew first Rangers big opportunity with two decisions

The burning question pre-match was who makes the team with John Lundstram, Ryan Jack and Malik Tillman all injury doubts in the week.

The actual selection took us all by complete surprise. The back four and goalkeeper picked themselves and even the front three was a no-brainer but I t was in the midfield that this game would be won and lost and the duo selected made this an uphill battle from the off.

When the team was announced, my Rangers Review colleague Derek Clark and I were underwhelmed at best by the inclusion of Glen Kamara instead of Nicolas Raskin. The midfield Beale picked lacked the energy to really press the life out of Celtic. 

Raskin has looked like the determined midfielder this squad has needed in his outings to date. To not play him at all from the start was the wrong call and one Beale got completely wrong.

As a result, a midfield with no legs lost the first-half battle. Celtic tucked their full-backs in and flooded the centre. We could not get out, couldn’t win the territory and subsequently spent the first 45 minutes chasing shadows.

As the game edged closer to half-time the Rangers midfield was stretched, Celtic pounced as they’d threatened to do all half and Kyogo tapped home from close range.

Not making any changes at half-time was baffling on the basis of the first 45. Celtic scored again when James Tavernier’s pass into Ryan Kent was intercepted, strolling through the midfield and scoring another goal that originated from a ball across the face.

Now, I don’t see certain tactical details like others but it seems to me that both strikes were nearly identical in their origin. With Rangers losing possession, the midfield unable to recover and a Celtic player tapping the ball into the net.

Then we did get one back and discovered some momentum. But the subs were too late to make any difference and we failed to create real chances. In fact, Celtic were guilty of not wrapping it up as Rangers became disjointed while chasing a winner.

Today hasn’t suddenly taught us anything we didn’t already know. This is not a squad of serial winners and they don’t have the killer instinct needed to truly win games like today. Their cup record shows as much.

Michael Beale got his team selection wrong and followed that up by not changing things quickly enough from the bench.

But this is a squad and team that is tired and urgently needs a revamp. It’s stale, lacks pace and has zero drive from key areas. Ironically everything that Nico Raskin, and arguably Todd Cantwell, can provide.

When Beale spoke to the press last Tuesday he said Rangers had to go up 20-25 percent no matter what happened come Monday morning.

I’m afraid it’s a lot more than that, sitting here on the mentioned day. Yesterday’s game confirmed deep down what every Rangers fan already knew. This squad still needs plenty of work.

I asked the manager post-match about his previous comments when he said this squad wasn’t as “broken” as people think.

“Revamp is a better word than rebuild,” he said.

“The job was always going to be big regardless of this result. It’s important we bite down on the gum shield and take out medicine. It doesn’t taste too nice right now but when I look at the team with the promise that Malik Tillman, Raskin and Cantwell have shown there is enough for me to be super optimistic about the future. Is it going to be plain sailing? Of course, it isn’t.

“If we had won the cup final today would everything have been rosy? No, we would still have that work to do and it’s my job to do that from tomorrow. I don’t mind being judged on that but at this moment in time, it’s probably not the right time for me to be worrying about the greater future. It’s more, ‘okay, what didn’t go right in this fixture and what have we got to do to fix it against Celtic?’ because against everyone else it seems to have been fine so far.”

Despite this, Rangers are staring down the barrel of their nearest rivals winning yet another treble. This reaction isn’t knee-jerk or reactive.

Sadly it’s predictable. Beale got it wrong but the players have been getting it wrong for much longer. Whether it’s a rebuild, refresh or revamp, something needs to change.