Rangers desperately miss AWOL summer signing

If one thing has stood out since early August, it is that Rangers have desperately missed Lassana Coulibaly’s energy and graft in the middle.

Ever since that injury v St Mirren ruled the Malian international out for a lengthy spell, Rangers have missed his physical presence and mobility in midfield.

The twist, unfortunately, is that despite his return, he is still nowhere near the player he was pre-injury.

He seems less mobile, less hard-working, and a little less sure of himself – and this loss of energy is striking. He did appear to have his zest back v Dundee, but since then, the guile and punch in the middle which punctuated his late July and early August seems to have faded worryingly and after becoming such a huge and integral part of the side, his impact on midfield since his return appears to have significantly diminished.

Before we go on, he is absolutely one of our favourite players, and we love the guy to pieces, backing him to get his spunk back.

But right now sadly he is a shadow of what he was, and the fact Livi’s Menga got so much joy physically in deeper midfield was a massive indictment of how Coulibaly’s own physical presence and impact has worryingly lessened.

We do hope it’s nothing more than lacking match fitness, but it was one of the few things Steven Gerrard got right yesterday in hooking the on-loan Angers man off for Ryan Kent.

Come back Lassana, we miss you!