TNT Sport pundit speechless at what he saw from John Lundstram and teammates as Rangers slumped to defeat at Aris Limassol
Kevin Thomson was stunned by the ease with which Aris Limassol took Rangers apart to score their second goal, which proved to be the winner in Cyprus.
The TNT Sport pundit said live on the match coverage on 5 October that he wasn’t sure he could even say a lot after Shavy Babicka swept his side into a 2-0 lead, as the Gers midfield and defence put up little resistence.
John Lundstram was shrugged off the ball by Leo Bengtsson just inside the hour, who put a ball round Connor Goldson to Babicka who had got ahead of Ben Davies to fire past Jack Butland, as Steven Davis’ caretaker spell in charge got off to a miserable start.
Thomson said live (7.03pm): “Wow, just wow Rory [Hamilton]. I’m not so sure I can say much apart from all the credit has to go to Limassol.
“Brilliant counter-attacking football to start with down that left-hand side. We’ve said all game that Rangers’ back four don’t like running back towards their own goal and they don’t like teams down the side of them, they look very vulnerable.
“John Lundstram initially, it’s just so simple, Connor Goldson and Ben Davies not defending the box, not stopping the cross.
“But it’s a brilliant goal and a brilliant finish.”
Dismal
It was quite plain that Rangers were struggling before Michael Beale was sacked but the board, the fans, and the caretaker management team would have hoped for a response once he had gone.
Abdallah Sima, who pulled a goal back with his head in the second half, was just about the only Light Blues player showing any sort of urgency on a miserable night.
Lundstram looked like he had already given up when he was beaten in the build up to the second goal for the home side, while Davies had let his man get ahead of him to score just as Goldson had when Alex Moucketou-Moussounda headed home the opener.
If there was pressure to get the next managerial appointment right there will now be urgency to get it done sooner rather than later thanks to the complete lack of a bounce in the wake of Beale’s departure.
A few more outings like this one and whoever comes in next will be doing so with the campaign out of sight, starting the Beale cycle all over again, so while the board can’t rush into something inadvisable they don’t have the luxury of plenty of time.
However, if Frank Lampard is in fact heading for the job then they are arguably doing something inadvisable anyway, but either way it is clear that after a summer overhaul manned by Beale that he has left big problems behind at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, fans have been tipped to be “very disappointed” by what they see from a man who is “definitely” getting an interview to be the next manager.