FROM appearing to be suspended for both instalments of the Old Firm double-header in the minutes after his sending off in Dingwall last week, Scott Brown, following a man of the match display in the Scottish Cup tie at Hampden last Sunday, has now been cleared to play in the second leg tomorrow.
However, I really find myself wondering how that could happen. Every tackle or challenge should be taken on its merits and for me, as far as I was concerned, his tackle on Ross County’s Liam Boyce was worthy of a straight red.
Just why it would have been rescinded is a puzzle. However, I really do hope that the response of the appeals panel wasn’t based around other elements, such as the incorrect awarding of a penalty kick for County, or trying to draw some kind of comparison with what happened in last week’s game between Celtic and Rangers when Andy Halliday was given a yellow card for his lunge on Patrick Roberts.
Trying to draw parallels between different tackles, in different games, and within a different context would be a very dangerous precedent.
But the jury has decided to overturn Brown’s red card – and what a bonus that is for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers as they attempt to keep their long, unbeaten run intact and make it a winless season for Rangers over their old rivals.
Brown strolled through the cup semi-final, always in space, always willing to make or take a pass. It was a brilliant performance. The question that has been asked all week, however, was just how much Brown’s display was down to him again stepping up on the big occasion, or how much of it was down to the near-shambolic efforts of Rangers, especially in the first 45 minutes?
Well, here is my take on it. Pedro Caixinha quickly held his hands up after the game; he’d got his formation, tactics, line-up, team selection and team talk horribly wrong. Only one man to blame then? Wrong.
His 4-4-2 formation came as a surprise to me, even after he explained it. It just didn’t work and Jason Holt and Andy Halliday, the central midfielders, had no protection in front of them and were just overrun up against the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Brown and Callum McGregor.
Caixinha, between his arrival and when the transfer window opens in a few weeks, is having to work with what he’s got, a make-do and mend exercise with a squad of players he inherited from Mark Warburton. For me, ahead of many other things on the day, the folly of Warburton’s recruitment and transfer policy was exposed.
Now, I know what it is like to play up front on your own and not get the service you require. But while I have every sympathy for Joe Garner, he is really having a torrid time of it and I’d be surprised if he got another chance this weekend.
In terms of what they’ve been able to spend at Ibrox in transfers over recent times, he is a big-money buy. But he just hasn’t given enough. On Sunday, he had something like eight touches, and only two of those were with his feet.
If you are being asked to hold the ball up, you can’t be doing that if it is in the air and you are against a couple of giant centre backs.
Pedro Caixinha’s team selection was utterly baffling – Kenny Miller is not a left midfielder and Emerson Hyndman is definitely no right winger. But the reason the latter ended up there was because Warburton, in two years, never signed a wide-right player. Martin Waghorn isn’t a natural winger, neither is Michael O’Halloran. When your only other option is James Tavernier, that tells you everything you need to know about what Mark Warburton created.
Warburton couldn’t make his team work, Graeme Murty struggled to make it work, and now Caixinha is toiling to get anything out of them.
That, however, doesn’t let those who did play off the hook.
You can hide behind nerves, or not understanding the tactics or team talk. Rangers fans will never, however, accept a lack of heart or commitment, and too many were invisible at Hampden. You need players – leaders – to step up.
When I was at Burnley, there were about eight players in the starting XI every week who were born captains, leading by example, lifting others, spurring people on. I don’t think Kenny Miller was in the right part of the pitch to make his influence count. For me, the bossing and bullying usually comes from guys at the back: pushing the team up the pitch, pressing the midfield to make the middle of the pitch more compact.
Clint Hill would have done that. But he couldn’t influence anything sitting on the bench.
So, just what can Rangers do to give themselves half a chance on Saturday?
Personally, I’d expect more from some of those who are playing for their future. But I would just go for broke and start Barrie McKay with the simple instruction to stay wide and have a go at Celtic by getting crosses into the box. Make the Celtic defenders turn, and make them work.
A win over Celtic in the cup would have put some shine on a torrid season for Rangers. They might still do it this weekend, albeit that it won’t mean quite as much – other than ending Celtic’s undefeated season. But are Celtic even that concerned now, having reached the Scottish Cup Final and with the domestic treble in their sights?
Somehow I don’t think so – but they’ll still give 100 per cent. And if they do that, it will be a very long summer for the Ibrox support.
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