Such is the form of Philippe Clement’s team, the Rangers manager has quite the selection headache ahead of Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final against Celtic at Hampden Park.
Clement must pick between James Tavernier or Dujon Sterling at right-back. Does he re-call Danilo and Ianis Hagi – so integral during a run of four straight wins – after both missed the 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night?
Connor Barron started on the bench as Rangers took the lead through Hamza Igamane against Ange Postecoglou’s team, too. Expect Barron to return to the XI with silverware on the line.
And while Nico Raskin is almost certain to start against Celtic too – Philippe Clement is delighted with the Belgian’s ‘evolution’ – Mo Diomande and Nedim Bajrami therefore appear at risk of being left out purely down to the excellent recent form of their fellow midfielders.
Ridvan Yilmaz impressed against Tottenham in a new-look left-wing role, meanwhile. Does Rangers’ £3.4 million man keep his place, positioned ahead of Jefte Vital, in order to quell the threat of Nicolas Kuhn and the overlapping Alistair Johnston down Celtic’s right?
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Philippe Clement urged to start Rangers duo Danilo and Ianis Hagi against Celtic
Derek Ferguson, a three-time League Cup winner with Rangers in the 1980s, sympathises with Clement and the difficult decisions facing the Ibrox boss.
If it was him sitting in the Gers dugout, Ferguson would drop Diomande, re-call both Hagi and Danilo, and give serious consideration to installing Sterling in Tavernier’s place.
The Rangers captain has found himself starring in a fair few horror movies, after all, directed by the jet-heeled Daizen Maeda.
“I’m not putting Diomande [in the team]. It’s Raskin and Barron for me,” Ferguson says, while pointing out that Rangers must also be sure not to let Callum McGregor dictate the game from his playmaking role in the Celtic engine room.
“Hagi is playing. Hagi, [Vaclav] Cerny and Danilo [behind the striker]. Just let them play and be clever enough to go on McGregor at times because he sets everything up.
“They’ve got to be cute and clever enough. I think Hagi is clever enough to drop in [on McGregor].”
“I think the manager will go with Tav [over Sterling but] I think he’s scarred. There is history there. Maeda has pulled him apart at times. He is playing well at the minute but Rangers have not really been asked the question defensively.”
Clement warned he will ‘get slaughtered’ if Rangers selection goes wrong
Tavernier scored a stunner against Ross County, just days after he found the net in the 6-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock. The long-serving skipper also set up Igamane’s latest strike with 47 minutes on the clock against Spurs.
But, as Ferguson himself says, Ross County, Kilmarnock and a very below-par Tottenham team really did not challenge Tavernier defensively. Certainly not like Maeda is likely to do on Sunday.
Gordon Dalziel, who started his career with Rangers in the late 1970s, accepts that Clement will live or die by the decisions he makes against Celtic.
“[Danilo and Hagi] are fresh. You’ve played Kilmarnock and Ross County and you’ve looked a million times better [with those two in the team],” Dalziel argues. “It’s a hard one because, if he does [pick Danilo and Hagi] and it goes against them, he will get slaughtered.
“You are going to need some energy in there.”
