49ers hold key Rangers advantage ahead of summer rebuild as Danny Rohl future assessed by pundit
The Light Blues have all four of their fixtures since the league split
Former Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart isn’t surprised Rangers have capitulated towards the end of the Premiership campaign, claiming that even when things were going well at Ibrox, they were still vulnerable at the back.
Rangers 2-1 defeat to Hibs means for the first time since 1983, they’ve lost four league games on the bounce as the pressure continues to mount on Danny Rohl. A Thelo Aasgaard free kick cancelled out Martin Boyle’s opener before Dane Scarlett netted a late winner for the visitors. After the match, the manager spoke to ultras group the Union Bears for a debrief on the disappointing campaign.
Over the four games, Rangers have been sloppy at the back, conceding 10 goals overall against Motherwell, Hearts, Celtic and now Hibs. Before this, they went into the split with most momentum in the title race having won four on the trot, however Stewart believes the signs of defensive weakness were still there.
Rangers downfall has been a ‘recurring theme’
Speaking on Sportscene, he said: “It’s been a recurring theme (defensive vulnerability). There were period where Rangers were picking up results and it looked like defensively they’d make things a little bit more secure but when you watched a lot of those games, teams were still creating a lot of chances, but weren’t scoring them. I think latterly here, they’re starting to be punished and it’s showing. Clearly there’s a lot of work for Danny Rohl to do to get Rangers in a position where they’re challenging.”
Prior to the split Rangers had high-scoring results of 4-2 and 6-3 against Dundee United and Falkirk respectively, showing signs that the defence wasn’t up to scratch. With captain James Tavernier leaving in the summer, as well as loanees Nasser Djiga, Jayden Meghoma and Derek Cornelius returning to their parent clubs, a new look backline is to be expected for the 2026/27 campaign.
Michael Stewart on Danny Rohl’s future
The German boss has been linked with the VFL Wolfsburg vacancy back in his homeland but insists his full focus is on matters at Rangers going into next season. Stewart isn’t sure where the Bundesliga links have came from but has questioned whether Rohl himself is looking for a way out.
He continued: “They’re falling over the finish line here and everything’s sort of coming to a disappointing end for them. For Danny Rohl, if he does stay, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. The recruitment needs to be far better and I wonder whether he’s perhaps looking for an out as well, having obviously been linked with a few German clubs, but I don’t know whether that’s been driven on his side of things or not.
“I’m unsure, there’s a lot of uncertainty about the club. One thing that may work in his favour is that the current owners aren’t as emotionally connected with the the club as the previous owners. So the emotional decision that would maybe come after pressure from the fans won’t happen. So if he was to go it’d be more of a strategic call.”
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