Ally McCoist and Chris Sutton both slam Fashion Sakala after ‘shocker’ in Rangers v Celtic
Ally McCoist and Chris Sutton have slammed Rangers attacker Fashion Sakala for his poor miss in the club’s Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Celtic on Sunday (30 April).
Brought off the bench at half-time by Michael Beale, Sakala was presented with a golden opportunity to level the match just after the hour mark after Jota had put Celtic ahead in the first half.
But the Gers forward could only volley his close-range effort into the side netting, with Celtic going on to win the match 1-0.
Speaking on Viaplay 1 (02:56pm, 30 April), McCoist said: “It’s a brilliant effort from Tavernier. Sakala pushes them back, lays it back [to Tavernier who] puts his foot across it. He’s so unlucky. But Sakala’s got to score – it’s as simple as. Dear me. Deary, deary me.”
Sutton then butted in to say: “It’s a shocker.”
McCoist added: “There’s no excuse for not hitting the target there. That’s excellent from Tavernier but now just concentrate, get over the ball and hit the target. That’s all you need to do.”
Sutton said again: “Yeah, it’s a shocker. You can’t afford to miss chances like that.”
More Old Firm misery
It certainly wasn’t the worst Rangers performance in recent times, but it has highlighted once again just how far behind the club are when it comes to competing with their fierce rivals.
Michael Beale has done an admirable job since arriving at Ibrox, but his failures against Celtic continue to be a major issue.
The manager could have been helped, however, by his forward Sakala finding the back of the net when given the opportunity, but he wasn’t the only one to waste a good chance on a frustrating afternoon at Hampden Park.
As always, this Old Firm defeat will be felt for quite some time by all associated with Rangers, who now have to watch on as Celtic look like clinching the Scottish Cup and the Scottish Premiership in the very near future.
Rangers were their own worst enemies in the semi-final clash, with Beale now already able to look to the summer for fresh ideas given how his club have next to nothing to play for this season.
In other Rangers news, one Gers legend believes the club should not pay £5million to Bayern Munich for Malik Tillman and instead bring in someone like Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi.