Rangers are preparing for a Hampden date with destiny against Celtic in the Scottish Cup and here we predict the XI to salvage the Ibrox club’s season.
It has been a disastrous campaign so far, with the only semblance of success coming in the shape of Champions League qualification, where the club’s injury-ravaged squad finished technically the competition’s worst-ever team.
Rangers fans have had to deal with churlish soundbites from a squad they are increasingly disillusioned with as well as the impact of incredibly poor squad management over the last 48 months.
The Gers team stagnated years ago and yet the club’s hierarchy stood back and watched Celtic spend the bones of £40m over two seasons whilst arrogantly expecting our squad of perennial let-downs to halt them.
That – as so many of us predicted – has failed to be the case.
But whilst there have been glimpses of redemption in this team – with 55, the Scottish Cup and the Europa League Final their only serious returns from five painstaking years – failure has been synonymous with this squad for half a decade.
Rangers squad needs victory to salvage Ibrox legacy
Rangers have to find a way to box clever with Celtic as the club continues to find its feet post-2012 but the decisions over the last two years have handed our Old Firm rivals Scottish footballing supremacy and set us back years.
Now, as the club prepares to rip up this team heading into the summer, this still Gerrard-stamped Rangers have one last chance to inflict Scottish Cup pain on Celtic. Anything less will see a salty end to their, shall we say, mixed tenure.
We’re backing Michael Beale to give some of the club’s top stars one final chance to steal the stage from Celtic whilst also handing opportunities to the fresh blood in this must-win Scottish Cup clash.
If this Rangers squad wants to end its Ibrox stint on a high, then it needs to achieve Scottish Cup victory over Celtic with anything but set to taint so many in this team long after they leave.
Rangers predicted XI v Celtic in Scottish Cup – 4-3-3
GK – Allan McGregor
DR – James Tavernier
DC – Connor Goldson
DC – Ben Davies
DL – Borna Barisic
CDM – John Lundstram
CM – Nicolas Raskin
CM – Todd Cantwell
RF – Malik Tillman
ST – Alfredo Morelos
LW – Ryan Kent
