Official club partner baffled by Nicolas Raskin decision after Rangers 2-1 loss v Celtic
Rangers official club partner, Heart and Hand podcast was left baffled by Michael Beale’s decision to drop January signing Nicolas Raskin from the starting line-up against Celtic.
The Bears lost 2-1 at Hampden Park in the Viaplay Cup final on Sunday (26 February) as Kyogo scored two near-identical goals either side of half-time, while Alfredo Morelos pulled one back for the Gers.
Beale made two changes to the starting line-up from the side that won against Livingston. Malik Tillman and John Lundstram came into the side in place of Raskin and Todd Cantwell.
David Edgar, the man behind Heart and Hand podcast, wrote on Twitter he “can’t get over” why Raskin didn’t start the game. Both Lundstram and Glen Kamara were poor, and what’s “worse” is that they delivered exactly as fans expect them to do.
“Can’t get over him not starting today. Worse thing was Lundstram and Kamara delivered exactly what every supporter thought they’d deliver,” Edgar wrote on Twitter (26 February).
Team selection
It’s a massive psychological blow for Rangers. They are already nine points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, and winning cup trophies could have given the necessary impetus for rebuilding next season.
It was also Beale’s first defeat since taking over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst. He got his team selection wrong on Sunday, and Raskin should have started.
Both Tillman and Lundstram were doubtful for this fixture, but Beale included them in the starting line-up. Lundstram was very poor, and there was hardly any spark in midfield.
Beale said that he signed Cantwell and Raskin to improve the starting XI, but it is indeed baffling that he dropped both of them on a huge game like this.
It is no coincidence that Rangers looked sharp when they came on. Raskin has made a big difference to the side and in retrospection, it can be said that the decision to axe him was wrong.
Once again, the players failed to lift their game against Celtic in a big game, and this is a big learning curve for Beale as well.
In other Rangers news, the club have pulled of a major transfer coup with a deal already signed for a player who was interesting two English giants.