Former Rangers stars join in the Micky Beale pile on!

Micky Beale has more than just keyboard warriors slaughtering him after Sunday’s Viaplay Cup defeat to Celtic.

After all of the pre-match hype the 90 minutes was something of a damp squib from the coaching genius with the white flag raised at 1.45pm when the team was announced without Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell.

Since that moment the stock of the January signings has soared, according to some on social media those two would have pure put Selik back in their box.

There seems to be no-one to back up the manager’s decision which is a worrying development in the Scottish media, leaving Beale isolated and under criticism from all sides.

Picking up on his Daily Mail column, the Record reports Laudrup saying:

Midfield was the biggest issue for Rangers. In my mind, one lesson is that the energy and positivity of new signings Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell must be front and centre for the remainder of this season. In the case of Raskin, in particular, I would have liked to have seen him involved much earlier against Celtic.

I really felt he had the skill-set to cause Ange Postecoglou’s side some problems and said so last week. I like him a lot. That opinion hasn’t changed after the way Sunday panned out. If anything, Raskin and Cantwell now appear even more important to the way ahead under Beale.

Leaving Hampden, I had this nagging feeling that if something had changed at half-time, with fresher legs from these newer players who don’t have a history of losing Old Firm games, then perhaps we might have seen more from Rangers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

Similarly, Ferguson told Record readers:

The overriding emotion, when I watched it back for a second time, was one of sheer disappointment. Even my wife could see it.

She pointed out that I’d usually be angry after an Old Firm defeat. But this time, the anger wasn’t there. I was just flat and empty.

It certainly wasn’t the show-piece that I had expected. I really believed it was going to be a real spectacle with two excellent sides going at each other hell for leather for 90 minutes.

But only one of them turned up. And they were wearing the wrong shirts. It probably took 25 minutes before Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Aaron Mooy got up to speed but when they did, they went on to control the middle of the pitch. And Rangers did nothing to stop them.

That frustrates me. I know I played in plenty of games when I wasn’t anywhere near my best. But when I realised I wasn’t going to be dictating the play, I made damn sure the guy I was playing against wasn’t going to either.

You don’t stand back and let him play his own game. You get right up his a*** and don’t give him a moment’s peace. Rangers didn’t do that. They allowed Celtic to get a foothold and then they suffered a boot in the sore ones when Kyogo Furuhashi scored before the break.

Beale will also be reflecting on his own choices and, in particular, the decision to leave Nicolas Raskin on the bench for 65 minutes. I’ve seen enough of the young Belgian over a short period of time to know that he’s a very talented midfield player and, yes, I was surprised that he didn’t start the match.

Slagging off Chelsea’s worst signing won’t cut it this week.

Rangers hero Barry Ferguson explains the ‘mistake’ Michael Beale made against Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final https://t.co/BGorBgHTGO

— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) February 27, 2023

Brian Laudrup reckons Michael Beale’s classy Rangers touch shows club is being led in the ‘right’ wayhttps://t.co/9iVwZawNq1 pic.twitter.com/cEbThBk6fT

— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) February 14, 2023

Brian Laudrup reveals nagging Rangers regret he can’t shake as he rues silly star who fell flat on his face ?https://t.co/7FwiDEPbXL pic.twitter.com/2cLOJCbEYl

— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) February 28, 2023