Barry Ferguson was concerned at half-time when Rangers were losing to Motherwell 1-0 in the Scottish League Cup semi-final, claiming it could have turned more toxic than it already is amongst the Rangers support.
It was a first-half performance to forget for the Ibrox club as it looked like they were set to be going out of the cup to a Motherwell side who were putting in a shift of their lives.
It’s not been a great start to the season for Philippe Clement’s men as they are trailing behind Celtic and Aberdeen by nine points in the league.
However, in the second half after taking off James Tavernier and goal scorer Cyriel Dessers for Dujon Sterling and Danilo, the Light Blues looked like a different side and went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to Nedim Bajrami’s lovely finish.
Rangers can look forward to a showdown with arch-rivals Celtic in the final on the 15th of December at Hampden Park.
Both teams have a trophy record of 118 and the Parkhead club have the chance to surpass them.
Barry Ferguson has his say on Rangers’ display against Motherwell
The Gers had already lost to Aberdeen in their last league game 2-1, and if they were to go out of the cup that they’re currently holders of – it would have been catastrophic.
Barry Ferguson was in attendance for the semi-final and he didn’t hold back on his criticism of what he was watching.
Speaking on GoRadio, he discussed the performance and how his former team need to do much better.
“It was concerning and being at the game I was worried at half time.
“I seen it a few days previous up at Pittodrie where the first half was pretty similar – very poor.
“They came out second half and was it better – yes it was.
“Did the substitutions make a difference? Yes they did.
“But you shouldn’t need to wait until the second half to put these performances on.”
What do the stats say about Rangers’ performance against Motherwell?
Ferguson’s claims that Rangers stepped on the gas in the second half are proven by the stats- via Flashscore.
Rangers had 70% of the ball in the second half compared to the 60% in the first half and would go on to finish the game with 19 shots and ten on target.
Clement’s side however were wasteful from set pieces – something that has been a common theme for a while as they ended the game with eight corners – not managing to score from a single one.
At the end of the day – it wasn’t a great performance from the current holders of the league cup but they’re into another final and have a chance to make it back-to-back Premier Sport Cup victories.
