Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has experienced almost every emotion in his first four matches in charge of the Ibrox giants since his move to the club.
The German tactician has lost 3-0 to Brann in Europe, won back-to-back games in the Scottish Premiership, and lost a League Cup semi-final in extra time.
Rohl has been thrown in at the deep end at Ibrox after replacing Russell Martin in the dugout, as the Light Blues had only won five games in 18 matches in all competitions at the start of the season after, what now looks like, a dismal summer window.
Russell Martin's worst Rangers signing
Working with sporting director Kevin Thelwell, the worst signing of the summer transfer window, with Martin in charge, currently looks like Youssef Chermiti.
Rangers reportedly paid £8m to sign the Portugal U21 international from Everton, which made him the club’s most-expensive signing since Tore Andre Flo arrived for £12m in 2000. The second-most expensive signing of the summer was Oscar Cortes for £4.5m.
Unfortunately, the Light Blues have not been rewarded with much output for that outlay, with one goal and one assist in 11 appearances for the club, per Sofascore.
Chermiti missed two huge chances to find the back of the net against Celtic on Sunday, which caused commentator and pundit Michael Stewart to describe him as being “so poor” in front of goal.
Given the money spent and the return on their investment so far, it is hard to argue against the young striker being the worst summer signing from Thelwell and Martin.
Another summer signing who should be in contention for that award, though, is central midfielder Joe Rothwell, who currently looks like he should be sold in January.
Why Rangers should move on from Joe Rothwell
The Gers signed the Englishman from Premier League side Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee to bolster their options in the middle of the park.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.
At the time of his arrival, Martin described Rothwell as a “huge asset” who would “bring a real winning mentality to the group”, which was an exciting statement from the head coach.
Unfortunately, though, that has not played out on the pitch. Instead, the experienced midfielder looks like he should be sold in January because his performances have not been good enough.
Appearances
8
Starts
5
Goals
0
Assists
1
Tackles per game
0.9
Dribbled past per game
0.4x
Ground duel success rate
46%
As you can see in the table above, Rothwell has struggled to deal with the intensity and physicality of Scottish football, losing more than half of his ground duels and failing to make at least one tackle per game on average.
The Englishman has been an unused substitute in the last two Premiership matches, which resulted in two of the club’s three league wins this season, but did come on in extra time against Celtic.
That cameo did little to help his case to return to the team in the Premiership, though, as Heart & Hand content creator David Edgar described him as “rotten”.
Rothwell, at this moment in time, does not look suited to playing Scottish football, because of his lack of physicality and intensity, which seems unlikely to change, given that he turns 31 in January.
It has also been an issue for him on the European stage. Rothwell lost 100% of his duels and failed to win a single tackle in 64 minutes against Brann in the Europa League recently, per Sofascore.
Rohl has already opted against using him in the Premiership and waited until extra time to bring him on against Celtic, which suggests that he has not been overly impressed by his levels in training.
Therefore, Rangers should look to immediately move on from Rothwell when the January transfer window opens for business, unless he can finally start to show why Martin was so excited to sign him in the summer.