Clement can save himself from the sack by unleashing Rangers' very own Kuhn

Just when Rangers supporters thought this season could not get any more miserable, it did.

On Sunday, Philippe Clement‘s Gers side were astonishingly dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Championship side Queen’s Park, a result that Adam Binnie of BBC Sport described as “one of the biggest upsets” in the competition’s 152-year history.

The Spiders’ scored with their only shot of the afternoon before Rangers were awarded a very soft penalty in the dying seconds of stoppage time, but James Tavernier‘s spot-kick was saved by Calum Ferrie, sparking outraged and mutinous boos all around Ibrox from those who remained to vent their frustrations.

This is Queen’s Park’s first Scottish Cup victory over Rangers since ’82, 1882 that is, is also the Gers’ first Scottish Cup defeat against lower league opposition since being dumped out by Berwick Rangers in 1967 while, remarkably, it’s the first time in history they have been defeated by a side from a lower division in this tournament.

Following such an ignominious cup exit, Clement is fighting to keep his job, making Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle so crucial.

Rangers’ continued struggles this season

As noted by Ewan Murray of the Guardian, Clement “was already under pressure” prior to Sunday’s result, but he asserts that defeat to Queen’s Park “is likely to prove fatal in terms of his reputation with supporters”.

This season’s Scottish Premiership title race was over before it ever began, with Rangers 13 points adrift run-away league-leaders Celtic, staring down the barrel of a sixth trophyless season out of the last nine, having also been beaten by their fiercest rivals on penalties in December’s League Cup Final.

This gap is due to the Light Blues’ horrendous away form, winning only four of 12 Premiership away games so far, scoring just 16 goals in these matches, the same number as Dundee United and one fewer than Hearts, yielding fewer points than the Tangerines on their travels.

In stark contrast, the Gers’ Europa League form has been excellent, going straight through to the round of 16, which Clement called a “massive achievement” considering his side actually faced four of the seven teams who finished above them.

They will face one of Twente, Bodø/Glimt, Anderlecht or Fenerbahçe in the knockout stages, the first leg coming up on 6 March, and Michael Grant of the Times believes their European results are keeping Clement in a job “for now” but as soon as they’re eliminated “his days are numbered”.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

However, could the Belgian save himself from the sack courtesy of his best-performing player this season so far?

Only Rangers’ star attacker can save Clement

Where would Rangers be without Václav Černý who, since arriving on loan from Wolfsburg in July, has scored 13 goals and registered seven assists this season, making him one of the best-performing Premiership players.

SPFL players with 11+ G/A (all competitions)
Player	Club	Goals	Assists	G+A
Daizen Maeda	Celtic	21	8	29
Nicolas Kühn	Celtic	17	12	29
Cyriel Dessers	Rangers	18	6	24
Václav Černý	Rangers	13	7	20
Martin Boyle	Hibernian	12	8	20
Arne Engles	Celtic	9	10	19
Luke McCowan	Celtic	9	10	19
Lyall Cameron	Dundee	10	8	18
Simon Murray	Dundee	13	4	17
Hamza Igamane	Rangers	13	3	16
Benjamin Mbunga Kingpioka	St Johnstone	11	3	14
Adam Idah	Celtic	12	1	13
Toyosi Olusanya	St Mirren	11	1	12
Alistair Johnston	Celtic	4	8	12
Sam Dalby	Dundee United	11	0	11
Jamie McGrath	Aberdeen	5	6	11
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt

As outlined in the table above, only Celtic duo Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kühn have racked up more combined goals and assists than Černý this season.

Indeed, the Czech international is one of only three Rangers players to have accumulated 11 or more, the others being centre-forwards Hamza Igmane and Cyriel Dessers.

According to FBref.com, in this season’s Europa League, Černý’s goals – xG figure is an impressive +1.4, a tally only bettered by 16 of the 649 players who’ve had a shot in this year’s tournament, with the winger accumulating 26 shots during the league phase; only Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray (41) mustered more.

Jack Walker of the National reported that Wolfsburg are willing to sell him for £6.75m, a deal Rangers must do everything in their power to finalise before next season starts early on 22/23 July with a Champions League second-qualifying round tie.

At the moment, it appears unlikely Clement will still be in charge by the time that fixture comes around, he’ll probably be out of a job by Monday morning if his team are defeated at Hearts on Sunday, but if there’s one man who can keep him in situ, it’s Černý.