Verdict: 8/10 Produces a Masterclass, 4/10 Badly Struggles, and the Rangers Player Ratings Against Aberdeen
Two notes first. I could see only the opening of the article, not the full ratings table. The 8/10 “masterclass” is Badredine Bouanani, and the 4/10 who “badly struggles” appears to be Minsu Kim, though I’m inferring that from the way the piece is laid out. I haven’t invented marks for the other players, so the rest is written as prose verdicts. This also settles my earlier uncertainty: the 8/10 in the Scotsman headline was probably Bouanani as well, not Naderi, as I’d assumed
Some nights at Hampden are memorable because of the football, and some are memorable because of the result. Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final between Rangers and Aberdeen belonged firmly in the second category. It was a scrappy, jagged, nervy contest that bore little resemblance to a showpiece, and it was settled by a single late goal that arrived when most of the stadium had started to brace for extra time. Rangers won 1-0, they are in the final, and a three-year wait for silverware is suddenly a lot closer to ending. But if you want to understand how they got there, and who deserves the credit and the blame, you have to look beyond the scoreline and into the individual performances. The picture, as ever, is far more mixed than the result suggests.
The context for the evening is worth setting out, because it shaped almost every individual assessment. Derek McInnes made two changes from the side that had drawn at Hearts, with Djeidi Gassama and Dan Neil dropping out for Badredine Bouanani and Tuur Rommens. Neither decision was a surprise on its own, but together they sent a message about the manager’s willingness to tinker with a team that had been winning for weeks. Neil had been one of the heroes of the quarter-final win over Celtic, and Gassama had been a regular for most of the season. Both were left out, and the manager’s explanation is easy enough to imae. He wanted more creativity and more control, and he believed that the personnel he picked would provide th
The game itself, however, did not start the way anyone would have imagined. Rangers came into the game well and had the v at the end of the first half, but it looked as if they would fail to take advantage, and the closing stages were nervy. That is a fair summary of the whole evening. There were spells when Rangers looked comfortable, passages when Aberdeen threatened to take control and long periods in which neither team did anything memorable. A lot of the football was untidy and a lot of the chances were half-chances. When the match finally burst into life, it was thanks to a goal that had been coming for a while but arrived later than anyone wanted.
Start with the man who earned the best mark. Bouanani was, by common consent, the standout performer, and an 8/10 for a performance of that quality feels entirely justified. The Algerian international had several efforts on goal as he tried to be the difference-maker, and McInnes’s decision to put him in paid off, as he looked very dangerous at Hampden. The word masterclass might be a little generous for a game that was so ugly, but in the context of a match where almost everybody else struggled to impose themselves, it is easy to see why it was used. He was the one player who consistently looked capable of making something happen, and he did so against a defence that had set out to make something happen as difficult as possible.
What made Bouanani so effective was a combination of technique and intelligence. He had a smooth first touch, he found space in places where there appeared to be none, and he was never afraid to take a defender on. Against a compact opponent, those qualities are priceless. He also showed good judgement about when to shoot and when to pass, and although he did not score, he had enough efforts on goal to make Aberdeen’s defenders anxious. In his own post-match comments, he admitted that he should have scored one or two, which is true, but a player who gets into those positions repeatedly is usually going to be rewarded eventually. The goals will come if the chances keep arriving.
The other end of the scale is harder to write about, because nobody enjoys giving a player a low mark. Minsu Kim appears to have been on the receiving end of the harshest verdict, with the same outlet noting that he struggled again as Rangers secured a late victory. That word again is the sting in the sentence, because it implies a pattern, not a single bad night. Kim was also quiet at Hearts, where he had little influence on the left, and the fact that he was kept in the team despite that suggests that McInnes still believes in him. At Hampden, though, he failed to repay that faith, and a 4/10 reflects a night when his decision-making and execution let him down
It is worth being fair to Kim, because the problems that he faced were not entirely of his own making. The game was played in tight spaces against a team that defended deep, which does not suit every type of winger or forward. Players who like to run into space struggle when there is no space to run into, and Kim’s strengths do not always lie in the sort of intricate link-up play that a game like this demands. He also seems to be happier when playing in a more central role, as some commentators have noted, which raises the question of whether the manager is deploying him in the best position. A change of role might unlock more of his quality, and it is something the coaching staff will no doubt consider.
Ryan Naderi’s evening is perhaps the most interesting of all, because it combined a poor spell with a decisive moment. He struck late to secure their passage into the final after having a quiet game beforehand. That sentence captures the essence of what makes a good striker. A forward can spend eighty minutes struggling to get involved and then be the hero in a single touch, and that is exactly what happened. His goal, an eighty-third-minute finish from close range after James Penrice’s low ball into the box, was the type of chance that a poacher thrives on, and he took it without hesitation. A rating that reflects both the quiet evening and the winning goal would sit somewhere in the middle, and perhaps slightly above, because goals in semi-finals count for a great deal.
There was also a revealing moment earlier in the game that illustrates why McInnes was not happy for much of the evening. With the game level at 0-0, the manager was seen to be furious on the touchline, and BBC Radio Scotland’s Lamont noted that neither Kevin Kelsy nor Naderi had been communicating with each other as Aberdeen picked up possession. It was a small detail, but it said a lot about the problems Rangers had in the second half. The two strikers, who have formed a successful partnership in recent weeks, were not quite in sync, and the lack of understanding meant that promising attacks fizzled out. McInnes would have noticed it immediately, and he will have raised it with the players afterwards.
Kelsy himself deserves a fair assessment. He worked hard, occupied the centre-backs and showed good physical presence, but he did not get the service that he needed, and his link-up with Naderi was not as smooth as it can be. A forward in that position has a thankless task, particularly against a team that is happy to defend with ten men behind the ball. He contributed to the overall pressure that Rangers built up, and without the work he did in the build-up, the goal may not have come. It was not a standout performance, but it was a solid and useful one, and a mark in the middle of the range would be about right.
Penrice’s assist was the other major contribution, and it merits recognition. The defender-turned-midfielder, who had been deployed in a more advanced role than usual, found the pass that led to the winner with intelligence and accuracy. He later said that the team had turned a corner, which is a bold claim but not an unreasonable one given that they are now unbeaten in eleven games. His performance was not flashy, but it was effective, and he took the one moment that mattered. For a player whose role had been questioned beforehand, it was an excellent answer to his critics, and he deserves a good mark for it
In midfield, Nicolas Raskin was given the captain’s armband, and he responded with a calm, controlled display. He is not the type of player who dominates the headlines, but his ability to retain possession and keep the team ticking over is invaluable in matches like this. With Neil on the bench, the midfield lacked some of the late-arriving energy that has been so useful in recent weeks, but Raskin’s composure compensated. The partnership with whoever played alongside him did not provide much attacking penetration, but it did provide stability, and that was probably the priority. A solid, unspectacular mark seems right for a performance that did the basics well.ñ
At the back, Emmanuel Fernandez and Olwethu Makhanya will be pleased with the clean sheet. After the criticism that followed the draw at Hearts, particularly of Fernandez, it was important for the defence to show that it could be relied upon in a big game. They did that, and Aberdeen created very little. There were a couple of nervy moments, and the late booking for Fernandez was a reminder of how tense the closing minutes became, but overall the defensive unit did its job. The goalkeeper, Ivor Pandur, was rarely tested, and he handled what came his way with his usual composure. Good, dependable marks for the whole back line would be fair.
Dujon Sterling’s night was a little less comfortable. He was booked in the first half, which meant that he had to be careful for the rest of the game, and he did not offer a great deal going forward. That is not unusual for a right-back in a match like this, where the priority is to avoid mistakes, but it does mean that his contribution was limited. Rommens, who came into the side on the other flank, was replaced in the sixty-fifth minute, which suggests that the manager was not entirely satisfied with the balance on that side. Neither player will be remembered for their performance, and both would probably accept a mark that reflects a workmanlike effort.v
It is also worth remembering the role of the substitutes, who rarely get the credit they deserve in ratings. The manager used his bench sensibly, bringing on fresh legs when the game became stretched, and the late changes helped to protect the lead. Some players were withdrawn in the closing stages to waste time and add fresh energy, a common tactic that is part of the game’s pragmatic side. Their contributions were small, but in a game decided by a single goal, small contributions can matter. Anyone who helped to keep the ball, to run down the clock or to win a free-kick in a dangerous area deserves some credit
On the other side, Aberdeen’s performance deserves more recognition than the scoreline suggests. They defended with discipline, worked hard and did a good job of frustrating a team with far greater resources. Marius Müller was beaten only once, and the defensive line, led by the captain Kristoffer Nisbet, held its shape for most of the evening. The weakness was in attack, where they created very little and relied on set-pieces and long balls. That is understandable given their poor form and injury problems, but it meant that they were always one mistake away from defeat. In the end, that is exactly what happened
It is worth looking at what the performances tell us about Rangers more broadly. The positive is that the team won without playing well, which is the hallmark of a side that knows how to grind out results. The negative is that there were too many underperformers, and the lack of fluency will be a concern ahead of the final. McInnes will have a few weeks to address that, and the evidence suggests that he will use the time wisely. The squad has plenty of depth, and the competition for places will push the players to raise their standards. If Bouanani continues to perform at this level, he will be hard to leave out, and if Kim struggles, the manager will have other options.
The final, which takes place on 13 December against either Hearts or Hibernian, will demand more. Both teams are capable of beating Rangers on their day, and the pressure of a trophy decider can expose weaknesses that were hidden in the semi-final. The manager will want his team to be sharper in attack, more cohesive in midfield and just as solid at the back. If they can combine those qualities with the resilience they showed at Hampden, they will have a very good chance of ending the long wait for silverware. If they cannot, the questions that were asked after the semi-final will return, louder than before.
In the end, ratings are a snapshot rather than a verdict on a player’s career. An 8/10 for Bouanani does not mean he will always be brilliant, and a 4/10 for Kim does not mean he is a bad player. They simply reflect how each performed on a particular night, in a particular match, under particular pressure. What matters now is how they respond, and the next few weeks will tell us a lot about the character of the squad. For tonight, the numbers can be filed away, and the supporters can celebrate. Rangers are in the final, and that, more than any individual mark, is what
