Rangers being top of the league is huge for the club, but the red card count this season is a huge concern.
Steven Gerrard’s men jumped up above Celtic to go top of the Scottish Premiership this afternoon. That came courtesy of a huge 2-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle in one of the toughest games on the Scottish football calendar.
Connor Goldson and Alfredo Morelos grabbed the goals to turn it around after a Gareth McAuley own goal had Hearts in front. Yes, the day ended with jubilant celebrations for the Ibrox side, and deservedly so.
But one of the big talking points from the game was Scott Arfield’s red card in the second half. Rangers were cruising at 2-1 and dominating the game. Therefore, Arfield’s petulance in his challenge on Zdenek Zlamal was needless to say the least.
The Hearts goalkeeper had the ball well under control. Whatever was going through Arfield’s head was nonsense, and it was the only sour spot of the day for Gerrard.
Not a one-off
So the Canadian will now miss a couple of games thanks to his exploits. But, the problem is, this isn’t a one-off this season.
In total, Rangers have picked up seven red cards this season unnecessarily. Sure, the Daniel Candeias one against St Mirren should never have been, but that’s now six outwith that which have been unnecessary.
Morelos, Ross McCrorie, Jon Flanagan, Candeias, and now Arfield have all walked for the Gers. Perhaps this is symptomatic of the aggression and determination instilled into the club by Gerrard. Just an unfortunate side-effect of the new regime’s shot of energy that they’ve provided the club.
Whatever it is, however, needs to be rectified and soon. Rangers saw the game out extremely well at Tynecastle this afternoon, and deserved their win. Added to that, they’re performing consistently well when they are a man down.
Out of the six games which Rangers have suffered reds (two came in one game against Ufa away), Rangers have gotten the result in most of them. The only games that didn’t end in victories were Villarreal, Aberdeen, and Ufa. None, however, have ended in defeat.
It’s a highly impressive statistic that will keep Rangers on the right track. If they want to keep risks to a minimum, however, better discipline is required.
