Rangers will need another rebuild in the summer with even more pressure on Nils Koppen to get more right than wrong.
There have been a few successes from Rangers’ transfer business in the summer of 2024, but they need help.
Against Athletic Club, it didn’t take much for things to unravel, even if Barry Ferguson made several mistakes that compounded matters.
One of them was not replacing Ridvan Yilmaz with Clinton Nsiala and shuffling the defence.
As seen by his second half display, the former AC Milan youth player would have helped to shore things up for Rangers, rather than seeing several players play out of position.
Rangers fans impressed with Clinton Nsiala’s performance
It seemed like the sensible change to make only for Ferguson to realise 20 minutes later at half-time that he had got it wrong.
Ferguson wasn’t the only one who realised, with these Rangers fans encouraged by Nsiala’s display:
“Nsiala has cruised this btw. Makes the first half decision not to bring him on for Yilmaz all the more frustrating,” said one fan, “You never know if folk will agree with you on here but in Nsiala I think most agree there’s a player there,” said another after the young defender put his older teammates to shame.
This Rangers fan questioned why such an obvious change wasn’t made, “Nsiala was not only comfortable that second half but was excellent. Why he never came on when Yilmaz came off beggars belief. Was such an easy switch that maintained our defensive formation rather than wholly losing midfield positions. We lost any control at that point.”
“Nsiala’s performance when he came on makes this brainfart even worse, so daft,” bemused another after a very questionable call by Ferguson.
“Raskin was fuming with him (Dessers) and no wonder. Barry got it wrong tonight and seeing Nsiala play like this is a major reminder of how good he is in possession, and we have actually missed that in particular at home in the league,” a point well made about Nsiala’s passing and composure in possession.
Rangers fans unite at bizarre Ferguson call
Very rarely is a support united on an opinion, especially the Rangers support.
Unfortunately, at the 23-minute mark, there was a collective sigh when Ferguson replaced Ridvan with Connor Barron.
There was a collective swear word or two when they saw their best midfielder in Mohamed Diomande, moved to left wing-back to accommodate the switch.
It was a bizarre substitution, but it was made even more bizarre after the Rangers manager spoke about wanting more control in the second leg.
Nsiala should have been picked from the start never mind been the first sub.
