Rangers can’t turn to John Lundstram if they want to win Celtic midfield battle

Rangers can’t turn to John Lundstram if they want to win Celtic midfield battle

There aren’t many Old Firm games in recent memory that one group

of supporters has approached with such fear. Instead,

they have such little faith in their players to produce a desired outcome.

This is the situation Rangers find themselves in ahead of Saturday’s

Scottish Cup final against Celtic at Hampden, though,

with everything from misplaced social media posts to injury

woes – especially in the backline – undermining their remaining

faith in this team to defeat their city rivals when it matters most.

The league has vanished, and many of these Rangers players will follow shortly after.

Of course they are able to. Rangers still have enough talent in their

ranks to cause Celtic some issues, even though it is a one-off game.

However, a lot will depend on Philippe Clement’s choice of players.

He might not have much of an option at the back, as was mentioned.

And it might limit what he can do in the midfield, where Dujon Sterling

might have to return to fill in for John Souttar or Ben Davies.

While he will undoubtedly now realize that Rangers’ greatest

chance of winning is to select a midfield that can at least come

close to matching Celtic’s outstanding three of captain Callum McGregor,

Matt O’Riley, and Reo Hatate, Clement will be praying that isn’t necessary.

In the most recent victory at Celtic Park over Rangers, McGregor

and O’Riley in particular had a field day. And that was before

John Lundstram suffered his (second) stroke of bad luck

and was sent off for his reckless challenge on Alistair Johnston.

That incident succinctly illustrated why Lundstram shouldn’t start

the game at Hampden, but it would also be unfortunate if it became

the only recollection of his time at Ibrox. He was never on pace,

he could not affect his direct opponent, and finally his irritation got the better of him.

Since moving to Glasgow, Clement has proven to be a highly competent manager,

but it was a grave error for him to refuse to make any kind of compromise

to Celtic by coming up with a strategy to prevent McGregor from running the game in the final minutes.

Despite all of their shortcomings, Celtic’s final league table clearly

indicates that they are the superior team, even if they now have better players.

Therefore, to reject the fact under such circumstances would be a duty dereliction and hubris.

So, if at all feasible, Sterling should be assigned to play in the middle

of the pitch and should be responsible for at least laying a glove on McGregor in order to limit his influence.

This is just common sense.

Although Mohamed Diomande didn’t have the best of games at Celtic Park either,

he has proven enough since coming to the team to hold his position in the middle alongside Sterling.

My choice to form a combative and dynamic trio would be Nico Raskin,

who Clement hasn’t shown much interest in yet.

Given that Rangers lack confidence going into this test and are low on important players,

that might not be enough for them, but theoretically it could

at least provide players like Todd Cantwell, Fabio Silva,

or Abdallah Sima a platform to influence the game higher up on the pitch.

It will be interesting to see if the top two players on that list can perform in a match like this,

but Rangers’ best bet is to try to neutralize the Celtic midfield’s

influence and then try to find a way to get the ball to their creative

players more frequently. Perhaps Clement’s decision to virtually avoid that

area of the field during the game at Celtic Park speaks volumes

about his feelings about his midfield options, but if Rangers

can find a way to have some more controlled possession,

that should ease some of the pressure on what will undoubtedly be a makeshift defence.

Despite having Lundstram in the lineup the previous game,

Rangers’ control was inadequate in both his ears and between the boxes.

Lundstram’s play has relapsed to the lower level he was exhibiting

in the early part of the season under Michael Beale,

despite an initial uptick in form after Clement’s appointment.

Has his attention been impacted by his contract predicament

and the uncertainty surrounding his future? He alone knew the answer,

but what he demonstrated at Celtic Park was an incapacity to

manage both his emotions and a game like that.

At Hampden, Rangers’ midfield needs to be disciplined,

focused, and full of energy; Raskin, Diomande,

and Sterling would provide these attributes.

Unfortunately, it appears that Lundstram cannot currently be claimed

to be a wonderful servant to the Rangers, based on recent data.

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