Glasgow Rangers lost in the Scottish Premiership for the first time since Danny Rohl replaced Russell Martin in the dugout as they were beaten 2-1 by Hearts on Sunday.
The Light Blues were unable to get one over the league leaders, who continue to march towards an unlikely title, and the German head coach has now won six, drawn two, and lost one in the division.
Rangers found themselves 2-0 down by the break and that convinced the ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss to ruthlessly withdraw Mohamed Diomande from the pitch to bring on Youssef Chermiti.
Why Mohamed Diomande was unlucky to be taken off
The Ivorian central midfielder, who is available because he did not make his country’s AFCON squad, was unfortunate to be the one who had to go off at the break, because he was far from the worst performer on the pitch.
Per Sofascore, Diomande won 100% of his tackles and 100% of his aerial duels, and was not dribbled past a single time. He only made one foul, which he was fortunate not to receive a yellow card for, and recovered the ball twice.
In possession, the left-footed star only lost possession five times from 20 touches, completing 90% of his attempted passes, and created one chance for the side.
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These statistics show that he was far from horrendous in or out of possession in the middle of the park, which was also the impression from watching the game live. He was not playing amazing and dominating the midfield, but Diomande was not a liability who had to be taken off.
Meanwhile, a poor Rangers performer who should be ruthlessly dropped from the starting line-up by Rohl is an experienced star who has started every game under the new boss.
The Rangers flop who must finally be dropped
The Light Blues head coach should finally drop Jack Butland from the team for the clash with Motherwell at Ibrox next time out, after a disappointing display against Hearts.
Per Sofascore, the former Stoke star has started every single game under Rohl in all competitions so far, but the English shot-stopper showcased the worst of himself at Tynecastle.
Firstly, it was his poor distribution that led to the set-piece that brought the first goal, as his telegraphed clipped pass was easily read and intercepted by Cammy Devlin.
Then, as shown in the clip above, he had a nightmare for the second goal as Lawrence Shankland, astonishingly, found a way to beat him at his near post from a tight angle.
Heart & Hand content creator David Edgar described it as an “unforgivable” error and journalist Jonny McFarlane noted that Butland “will always make three or four howlers a season”, which speaks to how frequent his mistakes have become.
The former England international was even worse than Diomande on Sunday because his two errors were costly for two goals, whilst the central midfielder simply put in an average display and was slightly harshly withdrawn at the break.
Butland’s errors have become far too frequent in the 2025/26 campaign. His mistake against Hearts is the fifth error that has led to a shot or goal in the Premiership, the most he has ever made in one season for Rangers, despite the fact it is only December.
Jack Butland’s Rangers regression
Season
Error led to shot
Error led to goal
25/26 Premiership
3
2
25/26 Europa League
1
1
24/25 Premiership
2
2
24/25 Europa League
0
1
23/24 Premiership
1
0
23/24 Europa League
0
0
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, the 32-year-old flop has already made more errors in the Premiership and the Europa League than he did last term.
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His regression between the sticks is perfectly illustrated by these statistics because they show that he has made more errors each season since he signed in the summer of 2023. To put it simply, he is getting worse.
Liam Kelly showed himself to be an able deputy in the 2024/25 campaign, with five clean sheets in 12 appearances, and should be given an opportunity to make his first league appearance of the season against Motherwell next time out.
Then, the Light Blues can take a look at the situation when the January transfer window opens for business to see if there is an opportunuity for them to move Butland on and bring in a new number one who is less prone to making significant errors.
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