Rangers took a while to get going against Hibernian with an early scare caused by a loose pass back from Connor Goldson to Jack Butland almost ending with a goal being conceded.
Gers boss Philippe Clement wants his team to play out from the back but putting our keeper under unnecessary pressure is something that he won’t want to see repeated.
If Rangers are to achieve everything that we are capable of, we need Connor Goldson to be at his very best with one picture showing that he isn’t there yet.
The picture that shows Rangers star Connor Goldson is struggling
Defensively, he was solid in his last two games against both Benfica and Hibs.
He was unlucky with the own goal but his overall performance was as good as he has produced in Europe.
It was much the same at Easter Road, apart from an issue that has been creeping into his game.
We all know the sort of long-range passing that the vice-captain is capable of but, recently, when he is put under pressure, there is a hesitancy that we’ve previously not seen.
Even when he has time to get his head up, too often, he is going safety first.
Rather than looking up the pitch, his vision has become blinkered.
Connor Goldson has started giving the ball away too cheaply for Rangers, clearing it out for throw-ins when passes are on and, even worse, putting Jack Butland under pressure when a chance to evade a press was on.
Take the image below.
The 31-year old has a really simple pass into midfield to the free John Lundstram.
There are no excuses, it’s an easy pass.
Instead, he fires a horrible ball back to Butland – who himself makes a mess of it – and we nearly go 1-0 down.
It’s almost like he’s been caught out on a couple of occasions this season and decided that safety first is the best option – take his Ibrox shocker against Motherwell, for example.
As the picture shows and what happened after he passed it back to Butland, sometimes it isn’t.
