When even Celtic legend Neil Lennon is putting his green-and-white allegiances to one side and singing the praises of a Rangers player, you know he’s performing pretty well.
Lennon, watching on from the commentary gantry at Hampden Park, knows from experience what it takes to play that ball-winning midfield role on the biggest of occasions.
The former Northern Ireland international was a fine footballer in own day, after all.
A Celtic captain and two-time Hoops Player of the Year. And the performance Nico Raskin produced in the heart of the Rangers engine room was one even Lennon, while praying for his old employers to pull through in a thrilling Scottish League Cup final, could appreciate.
Philippe Clement has been full of praise for Raskin of late, insisting that a change in his diet has led to his ‘evolution’. Kris Boyd feels Rangers’ number 43 is playing his best football since arriving at Ibrox from Standard Liege.
This, then, was a continuation of a recent trend.
Neil Lennon hails Nico Raskin in Rangers vs Celtic cup final
“He has been excellent in midfield,” Lennon said during Premier Sport’s live coverage, Raskin shuttling out to the right to stop the rampaging Nicolas Kuhn in his tracks early in the second-half.
“You can see Kuhn wants to come inside and he just blocks it off. He has done that a few times. He’s done really well.
“He has been terrific. He’s winning a lot of loose balls, he’s been excellent for Rangers.”
The irony, typically, was that Raskin would inadvertently deflect Greg Taylor’s speculative volley past Jack Butland just moments after Lennon singled him out. Four minutes later, it was his rather slack header which sold James Tavernier short, Daizen Maeda nipping in to put Celtic ahead for the first time just before the hour mark.
So while Raskin must take his share of the blame – Celtic winning on penalties after the game ended all square at 3-3 – it is still difficult to imagine Philippe Clement’s team nullifying Brendan Rodgers’ runaway Premiership leaders to such an impressive extent without their Belgian battleaxe setting the tone.
Alan Hutton agrees with Lennon in Raskin praise
“Celtic [found it] really difficult to play through the lines,” Lennon added, Mo Diomande also justifying his selection ahead of Connor Barron with a well-taken goal to cap a tigerish display of his own.
“Celtic haven’t been at their fluid best, but maybe that’s down the way Rangers have played. They have been nice and compact in their midfield shape but they’ve been aggressive as well. You’ve got to give Rangers credit for the way they are set up.”
Raskin and Rangers tired as the game went on, Celtic finding space easier to come by. Perhaps, after Rangers outplayed Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League only three days earlier, this was a classic case of one match too many.
Yet, Clement certainly appears to have found a system which suits his players. Rangers were much improved from September’s 3-0 trouncing at Parkhead, after all, with former right-back Alan Hutton delighted to see Raskin put those recent injury issues behind him.
“I think the system helps him but he’s had his injury problems,” Hutton explains, Clement easing Raskin back into the side before cementing him in the heart of his first XI. “I think we are seeing the best of him [now].
“At one point, we were thinking he’s probably not going to play much under this manager!”
