Martin must axe Rangers dud who lost 83% duels in UCL

Glasgow Rangers made their way through to the play-off round of Champions League qualifiers with a 4-2 win over Viktoria Plzen on aggregate.

The Light Blues traveled away from Ibrox to play the second leg in Czechia on Tuesday night and lost 2-1, but it did not matter in the end thanks to their 3-0 win in Glasgow last week.

Russell Martin will not be happy with the nature of his team’s performance in this match, despite it not mattering overall in the tie, because there were several players who did not play to the best of their ability.

Djeidi Gassama made a lightning fast start to life at Ibrox with four goals in his first five matches, but it is fair to say that this was a step down from what supporters have already gotten used to from the winger.

Djeidi Gassama’s performance against Viktoria Plzen

The overall team performance did not help the French forward, it must be said, but the former Sheffield Wednesday man failed to make a positive impact on the match.

In 87 minutes on the pitch, Gassama did not register a single shot on target or create any chances for his teammates, which shows that he offered very little, if anything, in the final third.

However, the 21-year-old talent did win four of his nine duels and completed two of his three attempted dribbles, as per Sofascore. He competed and tried to put himself around for the team, albeit it was coupled with ineffective play in the important part of the pitch.

Whilst Gassama was not at his bes in the final third in a fairly disappointing display, Mohamed Diomande was even worse than him in the middle of the park.

Why Russell Martin must drop Mohamed Diomande

Looking past the League Cup clash with Alloa at the weekend, Martin must ruthlessly drop the Ivorian midfielder from the side to face Club Brugge next Tuesday in the play-off round.

Diomande, who was handed a 4/10 player rating – lower than Gassama’s 5/10 – by IbroxNews, struggled with the physicality and intensity of the match in the middle of the park.

Viktoria Plzen’s players found it far too easy to get the better of him, which helped the home side to assert their dominance on the game, by winning five of their six duels against him, per Sofascore.

As you can see in the table above, Diomande lost 83% of his duels across his 68 minutes on the park, and was dribbled past more times than he made defensive interventions.

These statistics show that he was a lightweight out of possession in midfield, whilst Lyall Cameron won three of his five duels and Nicolas Raskin won four of his seven battles, and that is why he was even worse than Gassama, who at least put himself about for the team and showed his strength on and off the ball.

Diomande was the weak link in the middle of the park next to his midfield partners, which is why Martin must consider ruthlessly ditching him from the XI when Club Brugge come to Ibrox, as Joe Rothwell is waiting in the wings to take his place next to Cameron and Raskin.

It is now down to Martin to be ruthless with his decision-making by dropping the left-footed flop from the starting line-up for such a huge match against the Belgian outfit.