Philippe Clement must wield the axe on Rabbi Matondo as Rangers take on Real Betis in the UEFA Europa League after his disasterclass against Dundee United.
The Gers travel to Benito Villamarin on Thursday (14 December) needing to either beat Betis or match Sparta Prague’s result against Aris Limassol to advance to the knockout stages.
Betis are themselves not assured of progression, meaning Manuel Pellegrini will name as strong a side as possible, which means Clements will not allow any stone to be left unturned for Thursday’s crucial tie.
The Gers maintained their progress under the Belgian as they came from behind to beat Dundee 3-1 at Ibrox on Saturday (9 December) and narrow the gap to Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.
The Ibrox side – who remain unbeaten under Clement – are now five points behind their Old Firm rivals with a game in hand after their Old Firm rivals lost at Kilmarnock on Sunday (10 December).
However, Clement’s men face a different and much more difficult test altogether when they take on a Betis side who have so far only tasted one defeat from their last 17 games in all competitions [SofaScore].
As a result, the Belgian will be looking to pick his strongest side possible given the dire injury situation in his squad but a few underperformers from the Dundee clash could face the axe, and that certainly includes Matondo.
Despite being overwhelming favourites and dominating possession against Dundee, Matondo failed to have a huge impact on proceedings.
As per SofaScore, the 23-year-old failed to win 100% of his ground duels, failed to complete any of his crosses or long balls, failed with zero per cent of his dribbles, lost possession eight times and registered one key pass from his position on the right flank, he was also dribbled past before being dragged off at half-time.
McCausland who replaced him, again had a better output, winning 66% of his dribbles, winning 66% of his ground duels, recorded more touches than Matondo, a better pass success rate at 83% to his 76% and also had one shot on target.
Clement may well be battling with a depleted squad right now, but even that doesn’t mean Matondo deserves a place in the team in such a crucial and tough encounter against Pellegrini’s fluid and technically sound team.
The former Schalke forward has proven a crucial component on the European stage before, during Michael Beale’s days but his latest performance against Dundee on Saturday suggests he’s not up to the task this time around.
Clement could well be tempted to recall McCausland to the starting XI on Thursday.
