Deliberate Rangers ‘ploy’ works big time as Michael Stewart blasts ‘lazy’ Aberdeen and Hearts on BBC Sportscene
Michael Stewart slammed Aberdeen for falling into Rangers’ trap “big time” in giving away a late penalty with “lazy” defending just like Hearts did.
The BBC pundit reacted live on Sportscene on 26 November after Connor Goldson’s shirt was pulled to give the Light Blues a stoppage-time penalty in the 1-1 draw at Pittodrie, although he criticised the defender’s “theatrical” fall after Stefan Gartenmann had let go.
Barry Robson was furious that the Dons man had been blocked off by Sam Lammers during the incident and while both Stewart and Kenny Miller agreed he had been, with the former suggesting it is a deliberate “ploy” from the Light Blues, they blamed the defender for committing the first infringement.
Miller said (7.33pm): “Players nowadays just have to realise you cannot pull another player’s shirt like that… it’s just going to get pulled up.
“I can understand what Barry’s saying about Lammers, you can see him here just moving in the way of Gartenmann. He’s not overly aggressive but the pulling’s already started and you know what? It’s a penalty, it’s as simple as that, you can’t get away with that these days.”
Stewart added: “They’re obviously looking at the fact that Lammers has stepped across to block him, but fortunately for Rangers the pull happens just before the step and the block occurs.
“The pull doesn’t send Connor Goldson down, that’s theatrical, that has to be said… It’s borderline for me but I think your frustration has to be with the defending because if Goldson runs away and gets a free header you know that VAR’s going to be looking at it… you’ll get the free kick for that.
“As soon as you see the jersey coming away from the body like that you’re running a major risk of giving away a penalty kick. It falls into the same category as what happened at Ibrox with Hearts, clearly Rangers are working on that as a ploy…
“Hearts and Aberdeen have fallen into the trap big time there, on two occasions, and on both occasions it’s just lazy defending.”
Escape
Just as with the 2-1 win over Hearts on 29 October it took a late spot kick from James Tavernier to avoid defeat, and while Philippe Clement’s men dug out a win on that occasion they couldn’t here.
They therefore failed to close the gap on Celtic after the Hoops’ draw with Motherwell a day earlier, while adding fuel to the fire of the argument over the Dandies’ effort against Rangers over other opponents.
Twice it was Goldson who was fouled for penalties, and twice VAR reviews were used to spot the shirt-pulls, but while Robson raged against the block just as Steven Naismith the defender each time made the first mistake.
If Rangers are indeed training for this outcome as it appears they deserve credit for rescuing multiple points using that method already, and while it is no doubt infuriating for opponents it is down to them to react.
As Stewart said, if they didn’t grab the shirt and just ran into a block they would probably get the decision, and while Goldson’s flop to the turf does look ridiculous it is potentially that which got the attention of the VAR each time.
Even so Clement is going to need to find a way for his side to not be relying on such late escapes if he is going to make a title race of the season, as a flat performance saw him lose his 100% SPFL record.
Against the Jambos when he was facing his first loss he got away with a win, and this time it was only a draw, so his side have had two warnings now and need to find a response.
In other Rangers news, a “100%” update has emerged on a high-profile mooted January signing at Ibrox.