Ibrox Noise was on record as suggesting John Souttar and Ben Davies was a better balance than Connor Goldson/Davies, but unfortunately yesterday and indeed the Old Firm (not to mention Liverpool) is what happens when you have a new partnership that you throw in without any run of games together.
See, this is where Steven Gerrard, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale must all hang their heads in shame as ex and current Rangers managers.
Every. Single. One of them ensured Connor Goldson was untouchable, and made absolutely no contingency for his being absent. No rotation.
Instead of having three, maybe four regular defenders, all of whom were fully capable, and fairly up to speed, ever since summer 2018 Rangers have had Goldson and three or four vying to partner him.
Instead of having a few capable defensive combinations, Gerrard, GVB and Beale all settled completely for Goldson and a partner, meaning no other duos were ever played as a matter of choice.
We had Niko Katic, Filip Helander and Leon Balogun, and while injury affected some there, most of them were just benched 24/7.
The only player who got play time for Calvin Bassey, and guess what, the more he played the better his partnership with Goldson got.
But now we’re playing a defence which is only two matches old, and fans (and the manager) are surprised it’s not very good?!
Both Souttar and Davies are decent defenders, and they do have a better foil than Goldson Davies, but given the Ibrox policy the last five years of Goldson and one other, it’s no wonder that any other duo tested isn’t going to work.
It needs practice. It needs game time. It needs to learn each other.
But thanks to Goldson being untouchable, no one else got a look in.
Not a surprise our rear end is a bit porous is it? Mind you, if you factor in Michael Beale confirming months ago that conceding goals is inevitable with the system he plays, then what is normally a pretty rotten defence in the first place is made a lot worse with two players who don’t know each other.
This isn’t on Souttar. It’s not on Davies. It’s on the managers who refused to ever play anyone aside Goldson, even for the best interests of the club.
Smart.