Steven Gerrard has addressed calls from a section of Rangers fans to drop James Tavernier and Connor Goldson, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
Both players have been guilty of individual errors this season.
Goldson’s slack pass against Celtic at the beginning of last month, allowed the Hoops to open the scoring in the first Old Firm of the season.
Then, as has been well documented over recent days, Tavernier made two big mistakes which contributed to both of Young Boys’ goals in Thursday’s Europa League defeat.
Some fans have turned on one or both of the players as a result, but Gerrard isn’t about to cave.
Rangers boss delivers verdict amid calls to drop senior men
“No one is undroppable,” said Gerrard, as quoted by the Scottish Sun. “I don’t think you drop those two players because of individual errors though. You have to remember how much they improve the team, and what they have done to this point.”
“If the mistakes were happening on a regular basis over three or four games, and the performance level dropped over two or three games, then maybe I can understand the question.
“But I don’t think every time someone makes an individual error or has one game that is well below par, that straight away I drop him. That might have a bigger effect on the team in the bigger picture.”
Verdict
Sense has prevailed here from Gerrard, despite the hysteria created by some fans calling for heads to roll.
He goes on to discuss all the attributes Connor Goldson brings to the side, including his pace, strength, consistency and leadership qualities.
Earlier in the week, he also reiterated the importance of Tavernier’s contributions both on the pitch and in the dressing room [RangersTV].
Some of the calls for Tav to be stripped of the captaincy because of one howler of a night, are knee-jerk and completely unrealistic.
Was Gerrard stripped of the Liverpool captaincy after his much, much more costly slip against Chelsea in 2014? Absolutely not.
Sure, the midweek result wasn’t ideal. A win was there for the taking and errors blew it for Rangers.
Yet, the facts of the matter are that this team is currently one point off the top of the Scottish Premiership, in the semi-final of the League Cup and level with all the other teams in Europa League Group G, having made it through a gruelling qualifying process.
It has been a very strong start to the season and both Tav and Goldson have played significant parts in it.
