It is hard not to feel a little bit sorry for Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl after he watched his team ship three goals for the second time in four matches, albeit after extra time.
The Ibrox giants were beaten 3-1 at Hampden Park by their Glasgow rivals in the semi-finals of the League Cup on Sunday, but it was fairly impressive that they even took the game to extra time after going 1-0 down and down to ten men.
Rohl, who arrived to replace Russell Martin in the dugout, will have learned a lot about his group of players after his first four games in charge, with two wins and two defeats.
The former Sheffield Wednesday boss should be pleased with the fight this team showed on Sunday, although his side seemed to lose their legs in extra time, as shown by how slow the defenders were to react to Callum Osmand’s goal in the clip below.
Celtic’s young striker scored his first goal for the club in his second senior appearance, both of which have come under interim manager Martin O’Neill.
That shows that a fresh pair of eyes in the dugout can unearth a talent that was overlooked by the previous management team, which should be a lesson to Rohl, with the players in the Rangers youth ranks.
The academy problem Rangers have at Ibrox
The Light Blues have a problem with their academy at Ibrox because there has not been enough of a reward for the work being done with their youth teams.
Billy Gilmour
£18m
0
Nathan Patterson
£11m
27
Greg Taylor
£5m
0
Ross McCrorie
£2m
55
Lewis Morgan
£2m
0
As you can see in the table above, the five most valuable former Rangers academy players all play for other clubs, and none of them made more than 55 appearances for the first-team before they left.
Only two of them, Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour, being worth more than £5m suggests that the club are not doing enough to bring in or develop high-value players in their academy.
On top of potentially not bringing the right players through their academy system, an issue could also be the lack of a pathway to first-team football at Ibrox.
Osmand for Celtic is the perfect example. He did not play a single minute under Brendan Rodgers for the Hoops, after signing in the summer window, and he made an instant impact in a huge match when brought in by O’Neill.
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If Rodgers had stayed in post and continued to ignore the striker, Osmand’s development may have stalled, and he could have gone on to leave Glasgow and thrive or fail elsewhere.
Instead, O’Neill provided him with a chance to shine and, after his goal against Rangers, he may kick on to become a star for the Hoops in the coming months because of the opportunity that he has been given.
Now, on the other side of Glasgow, Rohl could unearth his own version of Osmand by finally unleashing Findlay Curtis as a starter for the Ibrox giants.
Why Danny Rohl should unleash Findlay Curtis for Rangers
The Gers academy graduate was given a chance by Martin at the start of this season, with starts against Panathinaikos, and he showed real promise, with an excellent first goal for the club.
It was a terrific run and finish from the “Boy Wonder”, as shown in the clip above, but he has not started a game in any competition since those two games against the Greek side.
Curtis added to his goal tally for the club with goals against both St Mirren and Alloa Athletic, in the Scottish Premiership and the League Cup. Both of those strikes, though, came as a substitute.
Panathinaikos (H)
75
1
Panathinaikos (A)
59
0
Viktoria Plzen (H)
5
0
Dundee (H)
13
0
Alloa Athletic (H)
6
1
St Mirren (A)
14
1
Club Brugge (A)
45
0
Celtic (H)
8
0
Hibernian (H)
13
0
Dundee United (H)
14
0
As you can see in the table above, the 19-year-old attacker has only made ten appearances in all competitions this season, starting two games, and has scored three goals in that time.
Per Sofascore, Curtis has been an unused substitute in seven of his last eight appearances in the matchday squad, with his only outing in that time coming off the bench against Dundee United in Stevie Smith’s game as interim head coach.
Despite his frustrating lack of game time on the pitch, only Djeidi Gassama (five) and James Tavernier (six) have scored more goals for Rangers in all competitions this season, per Transfermarkt, than the teenage winger.
Curtis has scored one goal in 49 minutes of action in the Premiership, across four appearances as a substitute, so far this season, per Sofascore, which shows that he has been effective with the minutes that he has had.
The Scottish forward, who produced four goals and three assists in eight matches for the B team, has delivered quality in the Premiership, in Europe, and in a domestic cup. He has shown that he can make an impact with the first-team.
Yet, as has seemingly been the case for academy players for far too long at Ibrox, Curtis has not been rewarded with regular game time to develop and improve in the senior team.
Rohl must change that by providing the 19-year-old attacker, who can play on the left or the right flank, with more chances to show what he can do on the pitch as a starter for the Light Blues.
Rangers saw firsthand what can happen when a young player is finally given a chance when Osmand found the back of the net against them, and they should learn from that lesson by finally unleashing Curtis.
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