Glasgow Rangers crashed out of the League Cup at Hampden Park on Sunday afternoon after they were beaten 3-1 by their city rivals.
Danny Rohl lost for the second time in four matches since his arrival at Ibrox, but it did take extra time for Celtic to eventually clinch their victory after a hard-fought 90 minutes.
The Gers had to dig in and fight for the majority of the match because they were sent down to ten men in the 38th minute when Thelo Aasgaard was given his marching orders.
How Thelo Aasgaard let Rangers down
The Norway international was in the team to provide creativity and flair in the left-sided central midfield position, but he had little impact on the match in his time on the pitch.
Aasgaard’s biggest contribution to the game was how his red card changed the match, as it meant that Celtic had an extra man advantage for the rest of the 90 minutes and extra time.
It was an unfortunate situation for the central midfielder, rather than a malicious challenge, as he caught Anthony Ralston whilst turning and attempting to control the ball.
Regardless, Aasgaard let his side down by putting his foot in that position to control the ball, which gave the referee a decision to make.
The former Luton Town man was far from the only underwhelming performer on the pitch for the Light Blues, though, as Youssef Chermiti was just as bad.
Why Danny Rohl should drop Youssef Chermiti
The Portugal U21 international had registered a goal and an assist in his last two outings in the Scottish Premiership for Rangers, per Sofascore, which earned him a place in the XI for this semi-final clash.
After his goal against Kilmarnock off the bench, Chermiti started in the 1-0 win over Hibernian earlier this week, but struggled outside of his assist for Danilo’s brilliant goal.
Vs Hibernian
Youssef Chermiti
Minutes
77
Shots on target
0
Big chances created
0
Assists
1
Dribbles completed
0/2
Possession lost
14x
Duels won
8/19
As you can see in the table above, his all-round play left plenty to be desired, as he lost the majority of his duels and lost the ball 14 times without registering a single shot on target.
The Portuguese centre-forward was then just as bad as Aasgaard in the 3-1 loss to Celtic because he missed two huge opportunities to find the back of the net in the first half when the score was 0-0.
Mohamed Diomande played a perfect ball across to the striker, who was unmarked in the middle of the box, but his effort veered wide of the target when it seemed harder to miss. It was a miss that caused Premier Sports TV pundit Michael Stewart to describe him as “so poor” during their live coverage.
The summer signing from Everton then evaded his marker at the back post to attack a sublime free-kick delivery from James Tavernier, only to fail to find the target from two or three yards out.
Chermiti’s lack of composure in front of goal ultimately cost Rangers because they could have been one or two goals up with those chances, but, instead, they failed to take the lead, then they went down to ten men and one goal down.
It was a dismal showing from the £8m summer signing, whose performance was as poor as Aasgaard’s, and that is why Rohl should ruthlessly ditch him from the starting line-up.
