Shades of Aaron Ramsey: Rohl must ditch “terrible” Rangers man after Hibs

Monday evening marked a much-needed win for Rangers boss Danny Rohl, with the German coach shaking off midweek Europa League disappointment by seeing off Hibernian at Ibrox.

That 1-0 win wasn’t without its problems – as we’ll come onto – although there was certainly reason for encouragement, not least with the returning Dujon Sterling putting in an assured display in the backline.

It was the 26-year-old’s delightful assist which teed up Emmanuel Fernandez to nod home the game’s only goal, with the Gers now moving up to third in the table following that narrow victory.

Back-to-back Premiership wins has helped to settle things down a bit for the Glasgow side, although even three points can’t totally paper over the cracks that remain for Rohl and co.

As will be the continual theme of the season, unless reinforcements are acquired in January, the club’s raft of new recruits deserve being put under the microscope.

Rangers' worst performers against Hibs

The obvious place to start would be with the much-maligned Youssef Chermiti, with the £8m summer signing putting in another mixed display on Monday evening, in the absence of the in-form Bojan Miovski.

The 21-year-old’s woes were epitomised when he lashed his effort remarkably wide from inside the area, with the ball ultimately heading for the corner flag rather than the Hibs goal.

Indeed, he failed to convert any of his five attempts, while having lost the ball eight times from his 33 touches, as per Sofascore, with it perhaps even more damning of substitute Danilo that he wasn’t even introduced to take Chermiti’s place.

It also proved to be something of a difficult night on the flanks for young Findlay Curtis, with the academy graduate replaced late on having lost the ball 16 times in all, while failing to register a single successful dribble down that left flank.

Encouragingly at least, Rohl has shown he is willing to give the likes of Curtis and Mikey Moore a chance, amid the woes of their more experienced colleagues, with there likely a frustration that the latter man will seemingly only be at Ibrox for the season.

They do say never fall in love with a loan player, although there is seemingly no hope of that occurring with regard to one of Moore’s fellow temporary captures. Aaron Ramsey 2.0, anyone?

Rohl needs to bench Rangers' new Ramsey

Heading down the loan route has been a particularly profitable venture for the Light Blues in recent seasons, notably first plucking Ryan Kent from Liverpool on a temporary basis, before signing the Englishman permanently the following summer.

Such a move has since been followed by impressive, brief spells for the likes of Malik Tillman, Abdallah Sima and Vaclav Cerny, the latter of whom proved the shining light last term, with 27 goals and assists in all competitions.

For every one of those moves, however, there is another loan swoop that fails to work quite as expected, be it from Amad Diallo, to Aaron Ramsey.

In the case of Ramsey, the midfielder’s arrival in January 2022 was viewed as something of a coup considering his prior work with Arsenal, Wales and Juventus, with ex-teammate Joe Ledley having even been of the opinion that he should have been starting for the Turin side, at the time of his Glasgow switch.

Frustratingly for all concerned, however, Ramsey went on to make just 13 appearances in all competitions, while missing the crucial spot-kick in the Europa League final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.

There was no hope, subsequently, of that deal being made permanent, with the same perhaps now true of another previously highly-rated talent, in the form of Max Aarons.

Currently on loan from Bournemouth, the one-time Barcelona target has endured a miserable time of things in Scottish football, scoring just once in 22 games, while picking up that early red card in the 6-0 thrashing of Club Brugge earlier in the campaign.

Things weren’t quite that poor on Monday night, although it’s fair to say that Aarons was far from his best yet again, with sports writer Michael McEwan describing the Englishman as “absolute embodiment of this Rangers team right now”, pointing to his “terrible decision-making” as a particular area of concern.

That was evident early on against the Edinburgh side, with the full-back’s errant attempted clearance teeing up a chance for the visitors, while he notably failed to find a man with any of his five attempted crosses, as per Sofascore.

Games

11

Starts

7

Goals

1

Assists

0

Big chances created

1

Key passes*

0.5

Pass accuracy*

88%

Accurate crosses*

20%

Dribbled past*

0.2

Possession lost*

7.6

Replaced on the hour mark, Aarons – whom McEwan also dubbed “soft” and “indecisive” – should surely have played his way out of the starting XI, with the Gers likely to have expected more from a 25-year-old with a raft of experience at Premier League and Championship level.

Like Ramsey before him, however, that prior impact in England – which has seen him rack up 93 Premier League games – has not translated to success in Scotland, with the defender looking like another player to have arrived with his career on the slide rather than on the up.

A permanent deal, despite being touted, should surely be unlikely.

Rohl must immediately drop Rangers flop who was as bad as Chermiti vs Hibs

Danny Rohl should ruthlessly drop this Glasgow Rangers flop who was as bad as Youssef Chermiti against Hibernian.

ByDan Emery