Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement has the opportunity to win his second trophy in charge of the club in the League Cup final at Hampden Park this afternoon.
The Light Blues boss won the competition last season, beating Aberdeen 1-0 in the final, and is now hoping to successfully defend the crown against Celtic.
Rangers held Premier League Tottenham Hotspur to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox on Thursday night in the Europa League, in their last match ahead of today’s clash.
Clement could look to make some changes to the starting XI from that game, though, and Nedim Bajrami is one player who could be brutally ditched from the side.
Why Nedim Bajrami could be dropped
The Albania international was selected from the start in the number ten position for the Scottish giants in the clash with Spurs in midweek, but failed to showcase the best of his abilities.
Bajrami, who joined on a permanent deal from Sassuolo in the summer transfer window, played the opening 68 minutes of the game and was not directly involved in the only goal for Rangers – from Hamza Igamane.
The 25-year-old midfielder only completed 76% of his attempted passes and made one key pass, without creating a ‘big chance’, and lost two of his three duels.
These statistics show that he was a lightweight out of possession and that the Albanian forward failed to contribute much at the top end of the pitch, with a lack of quality on the ball.
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With this in mind, Clement should brutally remove him from the starting XI for this afternoon’s trip to Hampden Park, and unleash Ianis Hagi in his place.
Why Ianis Hagi should start
The Romania international has been in impressive form since his return to the first-team squad and deserves to start this cup final clash, based on recent performances.
He was ineligible to face Spurs on Thursday, as the midfielder was not included in the Europa League squad at the start of the season, but had been thriving in domestic matches before that.
Hagi has started the last three games in the Scottish Premiership and played all bar three minutes across those outings, which speaks to how much faith Clement has in him at the moment.
|
24/25 Premiership |
Ianis Hagi |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
6 |
|
Starts |
3 |
|
Assists |
3 |
|
Key passes |
10 |
|
Duel success rate |
53% |
As you can see in the table above, the 26-year-old dynamo, who was dubbed an « absolute dream » to work with by Steven Gerrard, has been very productive in his limited minutes in the division this season.
Hagi has created ten chances and recorded three assists in just three starts, whilst it was also his fantastic cross that forced an own goal in the 1-0 win over St. Johnstone, so you could argue that he has created four goals in six games.
This suggests that he could offer far more to the team today than Bajrami, who has gone six matches for club and country without a goal contribution, as a creative threat in the number ten position.
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It’s a potentially huge blow for Philippe Clement.
That is why Clement must instantly restore Hagi to the starting XI after he was unable to feature against Tottenham in the Europa League on Thursday.
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