Rangers Aberdeen reaction: big Ibrox stat needs altered, captaincy change, VAR and the flustered teenager

Rangers and Aberdeen served up a captivating Viaplay Cup semi-final at Hampden Park. The Ibrox side came out on top in extra-time. Joel Sked looks back at all the excitement, from a winning mentality to Graeme Shinne, Anthony Stewart to the pitch and VAR.

Winning mentality

It’s early days in his reign as Rangers boss, but so far Michael Beale is refreshing in that he doesn’t try to pull the wool over the eyes of fans. He is someone who analyses games well and is largely quite honest with how his team have played and if there are any issues. For example, he sees an anxiety at times. Rangers have fallen behind five times during his seven-game spell and led only twice at half-time, against Ross County and Motherwell. Yet, they have won six of seven and are through to the League Cup final. It may be too early to say Beale has transformed the team but he is doing the most important thing, winning. A winning mentality is massive at Ibrox and the reason Giovanni van Bronckhorst's reign came to an end. Beale will want much more and better, in terms of performance level, but the building blocks towards that are there.

Rangers and cup finals

When Rangers meet rivals Celtic at Hampden Park on February 26, it will be only the fourth domestic cup final – excluding the Challenge Cup – out of 23. Even when you take in the club's time outside the top tier into consideration, it is nowhere near good enough. “We need to win trophies every season, that’s what the demand is," Beale said. “Where we are at the moment, we need to demand that from each other. Sunday was a good step in that direction as we get to come back and compete here again in a final against our biggest rivals in what will be a fantastic day out for everybody.”

Shinnie influence

As a collective, Aberdeen should be pleased with their efforts. For the vast majority of the game they defended resolutely, ensured there was plenty of threat in attack with fast, direct play in possession and competed, even when down to ten men, for the 120 minutes – more than 130 when you take into account added time. One player, however, stood out more than anyone else and it was returning hero Graeme Shinnie. The all-action midfielder brought a thrust to the midfield against St Johnstone even if his passing was wayward. He was even better against Rangers and was a key reason why Aberdeen stifled their opponents so well. Michael Beale was keen for his wide men to move central but there simply wasn’t the room or time to get any sort of control due to the tireless work of Shinnie and midfield partner Ylber Ramadani. The former’s return to the club should take some of the responsibility of the latter. And that is one of the key benefits of Shinnie’s game, a willingness to take responsibility, whether it is in or out of possession or leading by example.

The Dons captain

Michael Beale has taken Rangers to just their fourth domestic cup final out of their last 23 attempts. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Which leads onto the Aberdeen captaincy. Shinnie will surely take on the armband while Anthony Stewart serves his suspension after a crude and excessive challenge on Fashion Sakala. There can’t and shouldn’t be any complaints, from anyone, about Nick Walsh’s decision. Even if the Aberdeen centre-back got the ball first he would likely have been sent off due to the challenge using “excessive force”. It was an incident which calls into question the Englishman’s future as captain. He’s had his struggles this campaign, picked up a daft red card in a defeat to St Mirren and then didn’t help himself in the build up to the game by giving an opinion on who the better striker out of Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak is. You appreciate the honesty but perhaps not the timing. Then, with Aberdeen well placed in the semi-final against their rivals, he proceeds to produce the most needless of tackles to earn a red card having put in a sterling performance until then. It is not the best look from a captain.

Ibrox striker headache

You fully expected Alfredo Morelos to come out with a proper menace about him, delivering a type of performance which made him one of the most difficult opponents to face after Stewart's comments. A display which sees him drop, link, engage, play on the edge, with power and determination. The type of display which confuses centre backs who don't know whether to get close or stand off of him. It was easy to picture Beale standing at the dressing room door with newspaper clipping of Stewart’s preference for Colak. Yet, the Colombian was once again sluggish, on the peripheray for too much of the game. The ball rarely stuck to him and he rarely found himself in a position to plunder a goal. Beale has talked of the player’s fitness issues but there will still be a reliance on him. The Croatian sat in the stand injured, while Kemar Roofe can't catch a break and seems set to be out for another spell after landing awkwardly.

VAR and the pitch

Graeme Shinnie was Aberdeen's best performer at Hampden Park. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Should Scottish football be presenting a more professional look in the semi-final of a national cup competition than a pitch that couldn’t last 90 minutes without getting cut up, let alone 210 minutes, and a VAR malfunction? Yes, absolutely. Yet, it should be noted regarding the latter, Scotland is not the first country to suffer issues with VAR not working. Secondly, isn’t it all quite funny, both VAR and the pitch? Should Scottish football take itself so seriously? Both aspects added to a captivating match of football, it added to the pantomime of it all, the entertainment. Scottish football shouldn’t be slick and polished. Scottish football should have its faults. From time to time it should look tinpot. It should be amusing. That should be part of the selling point. The last thing we want is for it to be like that nonsense south of the border where everything is VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS. Instead, we have Nick Walsh running about like a flustered teenager working the Boxing Day sale in Next.