Steven Gerrard has dropped a Connor Goldson stunner by confirming he is now willing to drop the English CB.
The former Brighton man has been an absolute first-pick since he joined, but Gerrard now says, after recently inferring the vice-captain was undroppable, that he was overused last season and now that he’s so healthy in defence the big man will find himself benched a few times now.
Speaking recently, Rangers’ manager is overjoyed at the depth at the back, and for the first time is completely content with what he has there, but reveals he picked Goldson too much and is now willing to drop him for rotational purposes.
He said:
“I think what we found last year is we over-used Connor Goldson. We obviously got an injury to Filip [Helander last term], and then obviously the huge setback with [Nikola] Katic early in pre-season. We need four centre-backs, all fit and available. Leon is one that we are not sure whether he can churn out the games like Goldson. So, you will see in my selections from time to time, even on the back of a clean sheet or a good performance that we make a change in that area because we have to manage them from an individual point of view as well.”
Fans have been wound up for years by Stevie’s refusal to ever rest the English CB, with his apparent immunity from dropping no matter how he played, and while the 27-year old has actually been in good form this term, his manager has now confirmed he will rest him where possible in order to keep the backline refreshed.
In truth, we’re not quite sure just how much we totally buy that he was ‘forced’ to overuse Goldson given he had Katic and Edmundson in reserve as well as Helander at various points in the season, but the backline is certainly extremely healthy now and we will definitely see rotation for freshness’ sake.
And that’s good to know.
I can see what he means in that for much of last season Helander was unavailable and he may not have wanted to play two young CBs together, so it was Goldson plus one
However, I think there is a difference between dropped and rested. I think he still sees Goldson as his number 1 CB, but with Helander and Balogun, and Katic injured he now has 3 senior CBs and only 1 young one, so he will feel more confident about rotating them.
Personally, I would like to see him try all the different combinations. I get the benefit of them building a relationship, but we need to be prepared for any eventuality or injury, so let’s see what happens with different pairing. Even if it is just for 20 to 30 minutes in a game we are already winning.
Let’s be honest we can rest any defender we choose in most of the games we play because the opposition usually don’t cross the half way line.
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