Ferguson wowed by ‘absolutely perfect’ moment in Rangers win v Hearts
Derek Ferguson has been left in awe at an “absolutely perfect” moment from Ianis Hagi in the Scottish Premiership clash between Rangers and Hearts on Sunday.
The Gers’ playmaker was one of Philippe Clement’s best players on the day and proved why the Belgian was silly to leave Hagi out of his plans at the start of the season.
Hagi helped lead the Gers to a 3-1 victory at Tynecastle which was a decent result considering how poorly they performed in the first half.
But, there was one moment in particular from the Romanian international against Neil Critchley’s men that took Ferguson aback while he was co-commentating on BBC Radio Scotland (16 February).
Ianis Hagi has come into his own at Ibrox this season
Hagi’s reintroduction into the Gers’ first-team has been one of the best moves that Clement has made this season.
Indeed, his exclusion wasn’t down to a lack of talent or anything like that but instead, it was due to the massive hike in wages Hagi would have been due had he made 100 appearances for the Ibrox outfit before the terms of his contract were re-negotiated.
So, the fact that the attacking midfielder has become a pivotal part of the Belgian’s style of play isn’t all that surprising.
Hagi had a hand in the Gers’ third goal of the game when he managed to pick up the ball just after the halfway line.
He then carried it forward, saw Cyriel Dessers on the move and then pulled off a perfect dink over Hearts’ defensive line which allowed the Nigeria international to outmuscle Jamie McCart who was forced into scoring his second own goal of the game.
Speaking live on BBC Radio Scotland (16 February, 13:33pm), Ferguson shared his thoughts on the goal.
“Dessers outmuscles McCart but it’s a wonderful ball from Hagi, that ball’s brilliant because it’s got to be absolutely perfect,” he said.
“It’s a little dink, there’s not many players that can produce that type of pass but it’s the physical presence of Dessers, there was only one winner and it forces McCart to reach out and stick the leg out and it’s into the back of the net, it’s incredible.”
Philippe Clement has a lot to make up for at Ibrox
The fact that Clement still has his job at Rangers is quite remarkable.
Now that the Gers have been knocked out of the Scottish Cup thanks to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat against Queen’s Park on 9 February, the only competition the Govan-based outfit likely still have a hand in is the Europa League.
While it would be incredible for Rangers to add the Europa League trophy to their cabinet, if we’re being honest, it’s highly unlikely.
And, due to their 13-point gap to league leaders Celtic, it feels like the Gers have nothing left to fight for.
If Clement wants to stay in charge at Rangers beyond the end of the season, he’s going to have to not only out-do expectations in the Europa League but try and win fans back over too which, at the moment, feels like a fairly difficult thing to accomplish.