Without any doubt, John Souttar has gone from solid, reliable and dependable Rangers stopper to an absolute has been who simply does not know where he is, lacks concentration and appears to have completely and totally lost the plot. There was one notable block towards the end of the match against Dundee United which did stand out, but aside from this moment, Souttar really struggled once again. His starting position was a surprise given the fact that Nasser Djiga and Emmanuel Fernandez have been a fairly decent defence for Rangers.
A baffling decision
We do not really know why Danny Rohl decided to change this. Some theorise it is to do with the amount of travelling that Fernandez did on international duty, but we are not really buying that one. This just seemed to be rotation for rotation’s sake in all honesty. And it did not really work out.
A pairing that simply does not work
Rangers’ defence looked vulnerable, shaky, and once again the same mistake that Russell Martin used to make, which was pairing Djiga and Souttar together, did not work here either. It never has worked. The two cannot play together. There is no understanding or cohesion and Rangers looked very, very shaky repeatedly at the rear guard. And Souttar is a major reason for this. Djiga got so much stick earlier this season for being a poor signing and struggling at Rangers, but now we know it is quite simply because of what Ibrox Noise has already observed. He cannot play alongside Souttar, and quite frankly these days, can anyone?
A steep decline
Souttar has had a very poor season. He has looked shaky and has looked vulnerable. He does still work hard and will never stop working hard. But his progression as a Rangers defender, as we have said many times, never did actually happen. He is a bit on the slow side. He has lost more than a yard of pace in itself. And while he can do last ditch blocks, he is unfortunately distinctly lacking in a whole bunch of form right now.
Final verdict
We did like John Souttar once upon a time. He was a defender that we would have very much advocated as a Rangers level Walter style of defender. But these days, he is an absolute weak option. And the more time he spends on the bench, the better. Alas, him in the first XI yesterday made very little sense and nearly cost Rangers a heck of a lot.