One glaring problem yesterday showed that Steven Gerrard has to start selecting Nikola Katic over Joe Worrall again.
Englishman Worrall had yet another poor performance in a Rangers jersey. The fact he’s had 13 this season is incredible to say the least, but Gerrard continues to have faith in him.
Meanwhile, however, Katic is having to watch on having signed from Slaven Belupo in the summer for around £2million. Rangers certainly invested in him, but still he can’t find any route beyond the bench.
Yesterday we had a bit of a scathing attack on Worrall’s displays – there’s no need to go through that again. He hasn’t performed since signing on at Ibrox on-loan from Nottingham Forest, and must be running out of chances. He may have had an £11.5million bid rejected for him from Burnley, but the fact is he’s been shockingly poor.
Gerrard was offered a terrific partnership in Connor Goldson and Gareth McAuley over the last couple of weeks. Despite McAuley’s own goal at Hearts last Sunday, he’s been impressive alongside Rangers’ rock in Goldson.
Gareth McAuley needs an able deputy
It appears as though, however, due to McAuley’s age, Rangers need a suitable replacement in there when the schedule gets hectic. Gerrard has to therefore select the player he signed permanently as opposed to developing Forest’s player who isn’t doing a good job anyway.
This is just speculative, but it could be the case that Worrall has a clause in his contract meaning he has to play a certain amount of games. At this stage, it’s difficult to see why else the Rangers manager would persist with him.
You can also see the negative effect he’s having on Goldson too. The former Brighton man couldn’t deal with Kenny Miller yesterday, and looked nervous alongside Worrall.
It could be the case that Worrall goes back down south and makes a name for himself. Here’s hoping he does, in fact. The point is, however, that Rangers have a Croatian Under-21 international who hasn’t made the last four match-day squads. That’s despite the fact that he and Goldson struck up a heavily-praised partnership at the start of the season.
It’s time now for Gerrard to go back to that when McAuley isn’t fit.
