Daniel Feliciano

Mon 27 February 2023 15:10, UK

Michael Beale was the man to blame for Rangers losing the Viaplay Cup final to Celtic at Hampden Park, according to an official club partner.

Rangers fell to defeat due to two Kyogo goals either side of half-time, with Alfredo Morelos’ strike not enough to spark a comeback as Beale tasted defeat for the first time as Gers boss.

But after opting to go with Fashion Sakala and Glen Kamara over January signings Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin from the start, club partner Four Lads Had A Dream said Beale “blew it” with his team selection.

“To be fair, we questioned it before it had even started,” they wrote on their personal Twitter account (26 February).

“Beale blew it today, completely wrong.”

Poor

There were plenty of question marks about the team selection before the game kicked off, considering the injury issues that we’d seen and heard about all week.

When Beale signed Raskin and Cantwell he said that he was signing players to be starters and not squad options, so it was baffling to see them named as substitutes.

Kamara really struggled throughout the game, while Sakala never managed to get into it either and missed an absolute sitter early in the second half.

As soon as Raskin and Cantwell came on we saw the energy levels raised and the quality on the ball improve, which immediately saw Rangers take over the game and cause Celtic problems.

Unfortunately it was too late and ultimately Beale has to take this one on the chin. But there are clear signs of progress since his arrival to the club, and this is his first mistake, so we all still back him to succeed.

It’s just a huge shame that the error had to come in the cup final against the enemy and couldn’t have been addressed beforehand.

In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton tells Rangers to “keep your mouth shut” after defeat to Celtic.