George Overhill

Mon 27 February 2023 16:00, UK

Michael Beale won’t regret his decision to leave both January signings out of his Rangers line-up to face Celtic because you couldn’t argue with the team, says Kenny Miller.

The Light Blues lost the Viaplay Cup final 2-1 to their Old Firm rivals on Sunday (26 February) in a deflating first defeat for the new manager, after he opted to bring John Lundstram and Mailk Tillman into the starting XI from the 3-0 win over Livingston.

With Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell introduced alongside Ryan Jack just after Alfredo Morelos had pulled one back at Hampden Park the Gers looked a different side, leading to questions over Beale’s team selection, but Miller has defended the Ibrox boss.

Asked if Beale would regret not starting the January signings Miller told Sky Sports on Monday (27 February): “Honestly, I don’t think so.

“Going into there was a lot of speculation on who would play, who wouldn’t play, who was going to be fit. And I think Lundstram coming back in, for me he does add physicality to that midfield.

“If you look at the Raskin, Cantwell and [Glen] Kamara, might look a little bit lightweight. And going into this game with the experience that Lundstram and Kamara have got, I wasn’t surprised to see the two of them in midfield.

“I think if you’re playing that way it would have been a straight choice between Tillman and Cantwell in the more advanced position, so I think most Rangers fans would have expected Tillman to get the nod.

“The Raskin situation, maybe looking back Michael will feel, ‘Maybe I could have thrown him in,’ but I don’t think you could argue too much with the team.”

Hindsight

There is no doubt that this is a disappointing blow to what had been a definite upward trend under Beale’s management, and given how he had spoken about adding starters in the transfer market it was a surprise to see both new arrivals on the bench on Sunday.

Tillman’s return to the line-up after injury made sense given his impact recently, but Lundstram was more unexpected.

It can’t be overlooked that the fact the substitutions were made immediately after Morelos had halved the deficit clouds the matter of whether the changes made the difference to the performance or the psychological lift from scoring.

In addition, everything is easy to see with hindsight, and Beale had started Lundstram and Kamara for the improved showing against the Hoops on 2 January.

But even in light of that context it seems regressive to take over a squad that had noticeably fallen behind their rivals domestically, make two positive signings in January who began life at Rangers well, and then still revert to the men who were here before for the biggest test so far.

The wheels haven’t come off the Beale regime with this defeat, but it was a huge opportunity missed, and demonstrates how much work still has to be done to reel in Celtic.

There is no guarantee things would have been different with the new men in from the start, but leaving them both out didn’t tie up with the message the manager has preached since arriving, and appeared to have shown with his use of both before the final.

In other Rangers news, a major transfer coup has been pulled off to land a player ahead of other interested clubs.