Mohamed Diomande shows his class, 4/10 awful – Rangers player ratings vs Kilmarnock
Rangers ran out 5-1 winners over 10-man Kilmarnock at Ibrox on Wednesday night.
Danny Rohl‘s side closed the gap to Hearts at the top of the Premiership table to three points, as the title race continues to heat up.
Rangers were held to a 0-0 draw with Hibernian last time out, but they were able to get back on the winning trail thanks in large part to an early game-changing decision by referee David Dickinson.
Just minutes into the start of the game, Djeidi Gassama was awarded a penalty after Kilmarnock defender Dominic Thompson was adjudged to have fouled him inside the box, for which he was shown a straight red card.
James Tavernier stepped up and slotted home the penalty, and from there, it was one-way traffic for Rangers, with Bojan Miovski getting the second on 58 minutes before Andreas Skov Olsen bagged his first Gers goal.
Oliver Antman then came off the bench to score Rangers’ fourth of the night before Mikey Moore made it five, as they took a big chunk out of Hearts’ goal difference advantage too.
Thelo Aasgaard offers precious little against Kilmarnock
In a game that saw Rangers playing with a man advantage for 86 minutes, it looked a prime opportunity for a player of Thelo Aasgaard‘s profile to run the show.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joined Rangers in the summer from Luton Town, and looked set to become the creative node in the heart of the Gers attack.
However, Aasgaard has not been playing particularly well of late, and against Kilmarnock, he just wasn’t really in the game at all, and looked a player devoid of any real confidence or energy.
As shown in the above graphic from Sofascore, Aasgaard made just one key pass in the whole game, and wasn’t able to win any of his duels either.
Ultimately, Rohl saw enough after Miovski’s second goal went in, and brought Aasgaard off with half an hour to play to allow Ryan Naderi to make his Rangers debut.
The Rangers boss now has a big decision to make on Aasgaard moving forward, as his recent performance must surely be on the verge of costing him a place in the starting XI.
Mohamed Diomande shows his class
Mohamed Diomande hasn’t been enjoying his best football in a Rangers shirt this season since arriving in Glasgow back in January 2024.
The Ivorian international has been in and out of the starting lineup in recent weeks, with his performances lacking consistency.
One week he’s looked like a top quality central midfielder, the next, nothing to write home about, causing him to be a divisive figure amongst the Ibrox faithful.
However, he was certainly the former of those two on Wednesday night, was seldom seen giving the ball away or losing a duel, and he created a handful of chances on top of his assist for Miovski’s goal.
If Diomande can keep up that level of performance moving forward, he could firmly establish himself as one of the very best in his position in Scottish football.
Rangers player ratings
Jack Butland – 5
Jayden Meghoma – 6 (for Rommens, 65)
John Souttar – 7
Nasser Djiga – 7
James Tavernier – 7 (for Aarons, 60)
Nicolas Raskin – 7
Mohamed Diomande – 8
Mikey Moore – 8
Thelo Aasgaard – 4 (for Naderi, 60)
Djeidi Gassama – 8 (for Skov Olsen, 60)
Bojan Miovski – 7 (for Antman, 76)
Subs
Ryan Naderi – 6 (for Aasgaard, 60)
Andreas Skov Olsen – 7 (for Gassama, 60)
Max Aarons – 5 (for Tavernier, 60)
Tuur Rommens – 7 (for Meghoma, 65)
Oliver Antman – 8 (for Miovski, 76)