As one Rangers player starts to rediscover the form that once made him a nailed-on starter at Ibrox, the phrase ‘class is permanent’ comes to mind.
And, for former Ibrox stalwart Andy Halliday, seeing the £1.7 million man start to climb back towards his 2023-peak was another massive plus in what has been a good few days for the Scottish Premiership giants.
Bouncing back from that horror defeat at Kilmarnock, Philippe Clement’s Rangers hammered FCSB in the Europa League.
And, forming a fierce partnership with Connor Barron in the middle of the park, Nicolas Raskin’s most impressive Rangers appearance in recent memory could yet prove to be a turning point in a career which appeared to be heading in the wrong direction.
No player made more than Nicolas Raskin’s nine tackles as the club formerly known as Steaua Bucharest were torn apart by a ferocious, ruthless Gers outfit. He then topped the ball-winning statistics again as St Mirren were edged past in Glasgow.
Raskin earning RangersNews’ very own Man of the Match award on the back of another bullish, belligerent display from the Belgian battle-axe.
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Andy Halliday glad to see Nicolas Raskin kick-start his Rangers career
“Do you know who was really good? Raskin,” says Halliday, the Motherwell veteran who spent five years at Rangers until 2020. “I loved Raskin when he first came in.
“Clement clearly seemed as if he didn’t fancy him because he didn’t play him for so long. And, when he’s become in and out over the last few months, you’re like; ‘does he look as if he’s that powerful player he was at the start’?
“But maybe that was down to [the lack of] games. I thought he was excellent [against St Mirren].
Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd argued that Raskin looked ‘a shadow’ of his old self a month ago. The former Standard Liege ace had been hauled off at half-time for Kieran Dowell in the uninspiring 1-0 win over Hibernian at the end of September.
A performance which felt like potentially the beginning of the end of his Rangers career.
Four weeks on, with Raskin finally back to full fitness after some niggling injury issues, the 23-year-old continues to prove that rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated with every full-blooded tackle.
Nedim Bajrami also shines in Rangers’ St Mirren win
For Halliday, Raskin was one of two stand-out performers as Rangers got back to winning ways domestically against Stephen Robinson’s side. Matchwinner Vaclav Cerny continued his own resurgence – the Czech winger hit a brilliant brace against FCSB too – but it was the man on the opposite flank who caught Halliday’s eye.
Halliday initially had concerns over Nedim Bajrami’s lack of pace wide on the left. But what he lacks in acceleration, the £3.5 million signing from Sassuolo certainly makes up for with vision and craft.
“I think Bajrami will be really good,” Halliday adds, feeling that the Albanian playmaker will improve even more in a flowing, dominant Gers side.
“I think when the team is doing better and supplying him with the ball more, I think he will really start to thrive.
“I thought he was really good in the second-half. [Raskin and Bajrami] were the two main positives.”
