Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl made it four wins from four in the Scottish Premiership since his move to Ibrox to replace Russell Martin in the dugout with a 2-1 win over Livingston on Saturday.
Goals from Emmanuel Fernandez and Mohamed Diomande scored the goals for the Light Blues at Ibrox to secure all three points for the German manager.
It was a game that was packed with controversial incidents, though, as Livingston’s equaliser and Diomande’s winner were both tight offside calls that were ultimately deemed to be legal.
The most contentious moment of the game came when Fernandez appeared to block a goal-bound shot with his arm, but his arm was in a natural position and VAR opted not to intervene.
That caused the official Livingston account to post on X that the officials did not get “a penalty for a blatant handball to the Lions” in their full-time post after the match.
Rohl, however, will be more concerned with the performances of some of his players, rather than the officials, and Thelo Aasgaard was one of the players who failed to deliver on Saturday.
Why Thelo Aasgaard must be dropped
The Norway international was given the nod to start the match in the number ten position, with Nico Raskin and Diomande behind him in midfield, but he was unable to justify his inclusion in the side with a strong performance.
Instead, the summer signing from Luton Town produced a dismal first-half display that caused Rohl to withdraw him from the match at half-time to bring Bojan Miovski into the game.
Per Sofascore, Aasgaard did not register a single shot on goal and created one chance, which was not a ‘big chance’, in 45 minutes on the pitch before being placed on the bench.
Thelo Aasgaard’s Premiership season
Opponent
Manager
Goals + key passes
Livingston
Danny Rohl
0 + 1
Dundee
Danny Rohl
0 + 1
Hibernian
Danny Rohl
0 + 1
Kilmarnock
Danny Rohl
0 + 0
Dundee United
Stevie Smith
1 + 4
Falkirk
Russell Martin
0 + 0
Livingston
Russell Martin
0 + 0
Hearts
Russell Martin
0 + 1
Celtic
Russell Martin
0 + 0
St Mirren
Russell Martin
0 + 0
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, the English-born midfield flop is yet to score a goal or create more than one chance in a game for any permanent Rangers head coach in the Premiership this season.
He has provided one assist in the league under Rohl, against Dundee, but that was a fairly simple pass from the halfway line that Djeidi Gassama turned into a wonderful goal, as shown in the clip below.
These statistics, including his poor display against Livingston, show why Rohl should ruthlessly drop the attacking midfielder from the starting line-up for the Europa League clash with Braga at Ibrox on Thursday night.
Unfortunately, the 23-year-old summer signing has not done enough with his opportunities on the pitch to prove to the former Sheffield Wednesday head coach that he deserves to keep his place in the starting XI moving forward.
Aasgaard was far from the only Rangers player who failed to deliver a good enough performance against Livingston, though, and is not the only flop who should drop out of the side for the upcoming clash with Braga.
Rohl must also ruthlessly ditch right-sided attacker Oliver Antman from the starting line-up for that meeting with the Portuguese outfit after his struggles in a Gers shirt of late.
Why Rangers should drop Oliver Antman against Braga
The German head coach may have hoped that the winger’s international performances for Finland during the international would provide him with confidence and positive momentum for the game against Livingston.
Antman scored, as shown in the clip above, and provided an assist for former Celtic striker Teemu Pukki in a 4-0 win for his country against Andorra on Monday.
Unfortunately, though, the summer signing from Go Ahead Eagles was unable to transfer his form for Finland over to his time on the pitch wit
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