Lassana Coulibaly’s displays for Rangers this season have been poor, and his performance at Hearts only added to them.
The Malian midfielder was given his big chance to impress in a must-win game for the club. It was only his first league start since the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock last month, and he did nothing to impress.
He, once again, was just far too sloppy in everything that he did. His touches were too clumsy on the ball, whilst he continuously gave the ball away – sometimes moments after winning it.
He isn’t the kind of player that’s suited to controlling the game the way Rangers needed to yesterday. In the end, the players around him got him out of jail, but both he and Ovie Ejaria seemed to struggle in asserting their authority on the midfield.
When Ryan Jack came on in the second half, Rangers looked a lot more settled, and dominated even with 10 men for the latter stages of the game.
Should’ve been his bread and butter
What makes Coulibaly’s performance so odd yesterday is the fact that this is the kind of game he should’ve thrived in. Away to Hearts against a team who’ll want to scrap for everything in the midfield. It should be right up a player like Coulibaly’s street.
Instead, however, he looked woefully out of place. Fortunately, he was the only Rangers player on the day that did.
So is this one of his final chances to impress in Gerrard’s side? Perhaps, but who knows? Coulibaly is likely to be thrown back in at any point over the next couple of weeks given Gerrard’s tendency to rotate.
The Rangers manager has had far too much success with his rotational system to change from it. Gerrard is clearly seeing something in the midfielder that many others aren’t this season. It’s easy to see why, considering he does have all of the attributes to be a top player in this country.
These days, however, Coulibaly looks a shadow of the man who first arrived onto the scene in Glasgow. He no longer looks a goal threat whilst he continuously looks sloppy and careless in his own half, particularly when he’s on the ball.
Gerrard will stick by him for now. Is there much of a chance of Rangers signing him permanently in the summer? Very little at this rate.
