Glasgow Rangers recorded a fourth straight win in all competitions on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Hibernian at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership.
Tom Lawrence scored the only goal of the game in the first half with a stunning, curling, effort from distance to find the far top corner, after a VAR review deemed him to be onside.
Hibs had the perfect chance to equalise just before the break, though, after John Souttar was penalised for a handball offence in the six-yard box, but Mykola Kukharevych produced a weak penalty that Jack Butland saved with ease.
Despite giving away the penalty in the first half, the Scotland international did not have a terrible day at the office at the heart of the Gers defence.
John Souttar’s performance against Hibernian
The central defender could have no complaints with the decision from the referee, with the help of VAR, as his elbow was outstretched to block the shot, but it was a genuine last-ditch attempt to save what looked to be a certain goal.
It was more unlucky than it was a huge error from Souttar, who did more than enough to make up for that penalty concession with the rest of his display.
|
John Souttar |
Vs Hibernian |
|---|---|
|
Ground duels won |
2/3 |
|
Aerial duels won |
3/5 |
|
Pass success rate |
96% |
|
Clearances |
9 |
|
Tackles + interceptions |
2 |
As you can see in the table above, the former Hearts man made a whopping nine clearances and won five of his eight duels throughout the game.
His most important clearance came in the final throes of the match, as he rose above everyone in the box to thump a header away from a crowded box as Hibs pushed for an equaliser.
There was, however, a player who was worse than Souttar and should now be ruthlessly ditched from the starting XI by Philippe Clement – Vaclav Cerny.
Why Vaclav Cerny should be dropped
The head coach must brutally drop the Wolfsburg loanee from the starting XI after another poor display on the right wing for the Light Blues.
His performance was summed up by his exchange with some supporters at Ibrox just before he was substituted in the second half. A section of the fanbase were frustrated, seemingly with his lack of progressive play, and it led to gestures and some words from the winger, which did not go down well with the crowd.
He was worse than Souttar, who made positive defensive contributions before and after the penalty incident, as the forward offered very little in the game.
|
Vaclav Cerny |
Vs Malmo |
Vs Hibernian |
|---|---|---|
|
Shots |
4 |
4 |
|
Goals |
0 |
0 |
|
Big chances missed |
1 |
0 |
|
Key passes |
0 |
0 |
|
Duels won |
3/8 |
4/11 |
As you can see in the table above, Cerny has struggled badly in the last two matches for Rangers, with zero goals, zero chances created, and one ‘big chance’ missed.
More specifically, against Hibs, the underperforming winger gave away possession on 12 occasions, once every five minutes he was on the field.
The Czechia international did not record a shot on target or create a single chance in the 1-0 win over Hibs, and some of the supporters let him know how they felt about his lack of impact on the pitch.
Clement must now drop Cerny from the starting XI and offer another player, potentially Ross McCausland – after his strike off the bench against Malmo, a chance to shine on the right flank, with Nedim Bajrami on the left.
