Rangers star who can “bring fire” is Clement’s main man

Glasgow Rangers are falling further and further away from the title race in the Scottish Premiership after they dropped points yet again on Saturday.

The Light Blues were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee United, who took the lead in the match, at Ibrox and are now a whopping 11 points off first place.

Philippe Clement’s side are third in the division, eight points adrift of Aberdeen and 11 behind Celtic, as they have already drawn two and lost three of their opening 12 games in the top-flight.

Rangers are in the final of the League Cup, which is due to be played at Hampden Park against Celtic next month, and have won two of their four games in the Europa League.

However, their league form simply has not been good enough and Clement, who needs to turn things around to get supporters onside, will know that.

Despite that, some of Rangers’ players have stepped up and shown the fans that they are good enough and willing to fight to bring glory to Ibrox, including summer signing Vaclav Cerny.

Vaclav Cerny’s form this season

The Czechia international was signed on a season-long loan from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in the summer transfer window and has not had the smoothest of starts to life in Glasgow.

In a win over Hibernian in September, some supporters got on his back for not passing the ball forwards and he bit back at them on the pitch, before being substituted shortly after. Cerny has since come out and apologised for his reaction and acknowledged that fans just want to see progressive and forward-playing football.

Since that moment, the left-footed forward has established himself as a fan-favourite and got the supporters back on his side by producing a number of fantastic performances for the Scottish giants.

He has racked up seven goals and five assists in 19 appearances in all competitions for the Light Blues, including two goals and two assists in four outings in the Europa League.

As you can see in the table above, Cerny caught the eye with a strong performance against Dundee United in the 1-1 draw at Ibrox on Saturday, scoring the equaliser in the game.

His eight key passes were impressive but none of them represented a ‘big chance’ for the player taking the shot, which suggests that the quality of chances he created were not particularly high.

Whilst Cerny has provided a burst of attacking quality in recent weeks, as a scorer and a creator, another player has stepped up to be Clement’s main man in the middle of the park – Nicolas Raskin, who has had his struggles in a Gers shirt.

Nicolas Raskin’s struggles for Rangers

The Belgian central midfielder joined the Scottish giants from Standard Liege on a permanent deal in the January transfer window in 2023, at the same time as Todd Cantwell.

In his first five months in the Premiership, Raskin failed to hit the ground running with consistently impressive performances for the Light Blues. He registered zero goals and one assist in 12 league appearances and made 2.3 tackles and interceptions per game, which shows that he was not exceptional in or out of possession.

The Rangers number 43 then struggled for fitness in his first full season at Ibrox. He missed a whopping 22 matches through injury in the 2023/24 campaign, which meant that the young whiz only made 18 appearances in the Premiership.

As you can see in the table above, Raskin’s form did not improve too much in comparison to his first five months in Glasgow, as he struggled to stand out on or off the ball for Clement or Michael Beale.

The 23-year-old gem then missed the first nine games of the current season through injury and, because of his stop-start career at Rangers, supporters may not have expected much from him this term.

Nicolas Raskin’s emergence as Clement’s main man

The Belgian dynamo has emerged as a starter in recent weeks and his exceptional performances on the pitch show that he is becoming the manager’s main man.

Last year, former Standard Liege boss Luka Elsner hailed the midfielder in an interview with Rangers Review. He said: “Nico is able to bring fire to a game by himself and always gives his best. For me, those are the qualities that stand out and make him some kind of special player.”

Raskin is finally living up to that high praise and is bringing the ‘fire’ to the game with his dynamic and combative displays for Rangers this season.

Despite only starting two of his four appearances, the 23-year-old star is averaging more tackles per game (4.3) than any other Gers player in the Europa League this term, which speaks to his quality out of possession.

He also lead the team in tackles per game (3.1) in the Premiership and this suggests that Raskin is the best player at the club at breaking up play and winning possession back for the side.

As you can see in the table above, the former Liege maestro has significantly outperformed summer signing Connor Barron as a defensive force in the middle of the park, whilst offering a similar level of reliability in possession with his passing.

The midfield metronome has also completed 1.4 dribbles per game, with a success rate of 72%, and this shows that he can drive the team forward in transition to push the team up the pitch.

Overall, Raskin is impacting games in all phases by being outstanding defensively, reliable in deep possession with his passes, and a threat in transition as a dribbler, which is why he is Clement’s main man right now.

Cerny has made an impact in the final third at times but the Belgian star is putting in fantastic all-round performances week-in-week-out, and long may it continue.