Rangers headed into the international break with back-to-back SPL wins versus St. Mirren and most recently Motherwell after smashing Stephen Robinson’s men 7-1.
It was not all positives in the encounter with St. Mirren, though, with winger Daniel Candeias receiving a red card on the stroke of full-time, and a certain icon of Scottish football has since come out to warn the Rangers man.
The Breakdown
In his Sunday Post column, Celtic and Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish wrote: “This [the sending off] will also have been a big learning curve for Candeias. His first yellow card was given to him for his celebrations when he scored the opening goal, and he must learn from that.
“As much as [referee] Collum has been criticised, the player has to take responsibility for the first yellow and be aware of the consequences.”
Considering the circumstances that saw Candeias receive his first yellow card, in the end, it was a silly and completely avoidable sending off, as alluded to by Dalglish.
That being said, singling out Candeias may not be entirely fair when Rangers’ discipline as a whole has been poor.
So far this season, Steven Gerrard’s men have the most red cards in the SPL with Candeias’ one being their third of the campaign, while the 24 yellow cards they have racked up is a significantly larger amount than what some of the teams around them including St. Johnstone and rivals Celtic have received.
Ultimately, the suspensions the Gers will pick up if their players continue to find themselves in the referee’s book again and again could cost them. As well as Candeias, the whole team would be wise to listen to Dalglish.
