Barry Ferguson surprised by Aaron Ramsey omission in Rangers defeat v Celtic
Barry Ferguson was surprised to see Aaron Ramsey sat on the sidelines as Rangers lost 3-0 away at Celtic on Wednesday night.
Ramsey, 31, was a deadline day signing from Juventus and despite being such a massive name, he was left out of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad for the Old Firm earlier this week.
As Ramsey watched on, the Gers put in a dreadful performance at Parkhead and, as a result, lost their spot at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Ex-Gers midfielder Ferguson feels that a player of Ramsey’s quality had to be in the squad against Ange Postecoglou’s side.
“Ramsey, on the other hand, was sitting watching it from the stand. And I must admit, I was surprised he wasn’t on the bench at least,” Ferguson wrote on the Daily Record website.
“Listen, there’s no doubting his quality – the guy is a game-changer – and I’m delighted that he’s made the move on loan from Juventus.
“But he’s here to play and make a difference between now and the end of the season, not to sit on the sidelines waiting for his fitness to catch up.
“The bottom line is, Rangers now have three days to lick their wounds before they face Hearts at Ibrox. They need to send out a very clear message that they have the balls to go the distance in this battle.”
If he’s not fit, he’s not fit
Ramsey has played just five times all season for Juventus with his longest appearance, lasting 60 minutes, coming all the way back at the start of the Serie A campaign.
Since then, the Welsh international has had injury issues, been ruled out with COVID and has had to endure the fact he was out of the picture at Juventus.
You cannot sign a player on a Monday and then expect him to be ready to play in the biggest derby match in world football 48 hours later.
What does Ferguson expect?
It’s no secret that Ramsey is an injury-prone player so throwing him straight into a game like that would have been absolutely ridiculous by van Bronckhorst.
Ramsey’s omission is just being used as another stick to beat Rangers with when, in all truth, it’s van Bronckhorst and the players who play on Wednesday night he need to take the flak for that embarrassment.
Having a half-fit Ramsey on the pitch would not have stopped us from losing, it wouldn’t have stopped woeful performances from the full-backs or from the wingers.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart clashed with a BBC pundit over a controversial moment in the loss to Celtic.