Has Steven Gerrard fixed a huge Rangers problem?

If one thing has stood out about Rangers teams over the past six years, it’s been the diabolical defences.

Ever since internationalists Carlos Bocanegra and Dorin Goian left, Rangers fans have suffered a succession of dismal centre backs, all equally hapless in their own unique ways, until a slight improvement over the past two seasons with the likes of Clint Hill and Danny Wilson in tow.

It still wasn’t good enough, and last season Rangers leaked a tonne of goals, as has been the norm for way too long.

When Steven Gerrard was made manager, his first comment about what he’d actually do with the squad was defence – to sort it out, make it a priority and quite simply fix it. Everything else would follow on once that was remedied.

While it is early days in his Rangers regime, and Ibrox Noise (among others) have been critical of certain aspects of his decision making and management choices, the one thing we’ve been universally positive about has been his work on the defence, and the performance of it.

While James Tavernier remains a law unto himself, the four new additions of Jon Flanagan, Nikola Katic, Connor Goldson and Allan McGregor have made a quite incomprehensible difference to the backline, and, messy goal to TNS inside five minutes of a close-door friendly in Gerrard’s absolute debut aside, the entire succession of clean sheets in now four matches (three of which were competitive) is night and day compared with the constant leakage of recent times.

We’re not saying defence is fixed, but after six years of dismal rearguards, to have something akin to what could be a Rangers level defence is thoroughly welcome.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves – this is a four-man defence who have two international caps between them – and some fans have been critical of Jon Flanagan while most accept James Tavernier’s failings.

But few have had a bad word to say about Croat Katic and ex-Brighton lad Goldson, while Allan McGregor has been completely imperious and looks like he never left.

Of course, ‘tougher tests’ are to come (seems to be a disclaimer to any praise these days), albeit we’re only feeling they will be in UEL and against Celtic. Osijek are a cut above most SPL sides and Rangers’ robust defensive showing stood us in good stead to cope with what the Scottish game’s finest can throw at us.

Equally, of course, while the quality of Osijek is equal or better to most of the best of the SPL, the aggression the SPL offers is miles more extreme, and that is something our defence must be ready for.

If pre-season competitive results are anything to go by though, this defence might just be ready to handle the domestic front.

Time will tell.