Chris Sutton mocks desperate Rangers and widely-criticised Fabio Silva in Celtic race
Chris Sutton has sarcastically claimed Rangers are now “world beaters” after overcoming Hearts to reach the Scottish Cup final.
The former Celtic striker reacted to the Light Blues’ “big win” in his Daily Record column on 27 April, after the title initiative was handed back to his former side thanks to a pair of “desperate” SPFL performances.
Sutton suggested that Philippe Clement’s side are flagging as the end of the season comes into view and singled out Fabio Silva, heavily criticised since his theatrical behaviour in the 3-3 Old Firm draw and mocked for his calamitous fall in the box at Hampden, to joke that the Portuguese was denied a “stonewall penalty” when he failed to convert Cyriel Dessers’ cut back.
Sutton wrote: “Rangers are back to being world beaters again after their Scottish Cup win against Hearts.
“They even managed to progress despite Fabio Silva being denied a stonewall penalty for his tumble in the box.
“But it was a big win for them under the circumstances, on the back of two desperate performances against Ross County and Dundee that handed the advantage in the league back to Celtic.
“In the first few months under Philippe Clement it was all about energy and intensity. But there has been signs of them running out of steam a little bit in recent weeks and the chopping and changing that helped them earlier in the campaign seems to be hurting their rhythm.”
Rangers now have no margin for error in SPFL and Scottish Cup
If the revival under Clement was increasingly stunning for a number of months the past couple have seemingly seen the Belgian’s substantial new-manager bounce wear off and Rangers revert somewhere closer to the mean.
A victory at St Mirren on Sunday (27 April) is non-negotiable if the Light Blues are to put any pressure back on Celtic, who go to Dens Park to face Dundee later the same day.
Baring a huge win in the final Old Firm derby at Parkhead it is going to require Brendan Rodgers’ side dropping points to let the Gers back into the title race.
Based on the season as a whole that is quite possible so Sutton perhaps shouldn’t get too comfortable, although Rangers will need to follow up their win over Hearts with another improved performance to prove they can take advantage if the opportunity does present itself.
Silva’s spell in Glasgow began relatively impressively while his side were beating everyone put in front of them through January and February, but he has been in the spotlight for increasingly negative reasons of late and there is surely no chance of anything other than a Wolves return in the coming weeks.
With Abdallah Sima hit by another injury set-back the Portuguese forward is likely to be needed before then though, while Dessers will be relied upon to build on his match-winning performance in the cup.
In other Rangers news, exit talks may have been behind an expensive player’s form collapse.
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