Glasgow Rangers slumped to yet another defeat under head coach Russell Martin when they were beaten 1-0 by Belgian giants Genk on Thursday night.
In front of their own fans at Ibrox, the Scottish Premiership giants were unable to win the supporters back over with an impressive performance. Instead, they failed to impress and could have lost by a greater margin.
To add insult to misery, it was former Celtic striker Hyeon-gyu Oh, who could have had three or four goals on the night, with the killer blow in the match, firing into the bottom corner on the counter-attack.
Rangers were also hit with a blow in the first half when central midfielder Mohamed Diomande was shown a straight red card for his challenge on El Ouahdi.
The Ivorian midfielder slid in to make the challenge, rolled his foot over the ball, and made contact with the opposition player above the ankle, which gave the referee no choice but to give him his marching orders.
It was an unfortunate situation, borne out of bad luck rather than malicious intent by Diomande, but it is a situation that Martin now has to deal with.
Why losing Mohamed Diomande is a blow for Rangers
The left-footed star’s suspension for the clash with Sturm Graz in the Europa League next Thursday is a big blow for Rangers because he is an important player in the middle of the park.
Diomande has not made the best start to the Premiership season, losing 56% of his duels and failing to register a goal or an assist (per Sofascore), but his form in the Europa League in the 2024/25 campaign shows that he can be a big player for the Gers on the European stage.
The 23-year-old star started nine of his ten appearances in the competition for Philippe Clement and Barry Ferguson last season, and showed off his strength out of possession for the Light Blues.
Tackles
19
Top 19%
Duels won
53
Top 11%
Duel success rate
54%
Top 35%
Interceptions
11
Top 23%
Ball recoveries
47
Top 22%
Blocked shots
3
Top 29%
Fouls won
18
Top 5%
As you can see in the table above, Diomande ranked highly among his fellow central midfielders in the Europa League last season when it came to contributing to defensive actions in the middle of the park.
These statistics show that he is an incredibly combative and defensively sound operator more often than not, as silly as that sounds to say after he was shown a straight red card against Genk.
Rangers will now have to reconfigure their starting line-up when they come to face Sturm Graz next week, because they will not have Diomande available to provide his energy and combativeness in midfield.
However, Martin could look for a creative solution to the problem instead of just putting Connor Barron or Joe Rothwell into the side as a direct replacement for the Ivorian star in midfield.
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That creative solution could be to deploy a brand-new formation against Sturm Graz, which should not be out of the question when you consider that the current set-up has led to four wins in 14 matches for the head coach to date.
Instead of unleashing another midfielder in Diomande’s place, Martin should bring Bojan Miovski into the starting line-up to play alongside Youssef Chermiti in a 4-4-2 formation for the Scottish giants.
Why Miovski should replace Diomande for Rangers
With exciting wingers like Oliver Antman and Djeidi Gassama available to play on the flanks, playing with two out-and-out centre-forwards could be a good way for Rangers to go against Sturm Graz, leaving Nico Raskin and Thelo Aasgaard in central midfield.
Chermiti made his full debut for the Gers against Genk, having signed in a deal worth up to £10m from Everton in the summer transfer window, but found himself crowded out too often.
One of the, many, issues that Rangers have had this season is that their lone centre-forward has looked too isolated and detached from the rest of the players on the pitch, which has made it too easy for opposition defenders to bully them out of matches.
Duels won per game
2.5
5.0
Ground duel success rate
40%
33%
Aerial duel success rate
9%
33%
Pass accuracy
79%
67%
Possession lost per game
4.5x
10x
Fouls committed per game
2.0
1.0
As you can see in the table above, Miovski and Chermiti have both been dominated by centre-backs in duels in their starts for the Light Blues so far this season, which suggests that the current system is not doing enough to give them the support that they need.
Therefore, switching to a 4-4-2 and having two number nines to occupy the opposition defenders could give the Gers more of an edge in their physical battles at the top end of the pitch, helping them to hold the ball up more effectively and to win more first contacts from balls into the box from wide areas.
As you can see in the graphic above, Miovski was a prolific scorer during his last spell in Scottish football with Aberdeen, which shows that he can be a lethal forward for the Gers.
The Macedonia international, who was hailed as a “complete” player by journalist Josh Bunting, scored his first goal for Rangers in the 2-0 win over Hibernian in the League Cup last weekend, which will hopefully be the first of many for him at Ibrox.
Miovski’s experience and goalscoring pedigree could make him the dream strike partner for 21-year-old Chermiti, who did not score a single competitive goal during his two-year spell with Everton.
They could complement each other well because the 6 foot 4 frame of Chermiti could put the hard work in physically, allowing the slight, more mobile, Miovski to make runs in behind to create chances for himself and his teammates.
Therefore, the red card for Diomande could end up being a blessing in disguise if it forces Martin to be creative with a brand-new formation that could turn the team’s fortunes around.