As Rangers dumped Celtic 2-0 on their own patch, it’s been said the Ibrox club barely got out of third gear.
Whilst Steven Gerrard’s side deserve credit for a tactically disciplined display which left no-one in any doubts about the club’s intentions this season, it very much felt like there was a couple of gears to go up.
But whilst the likes of Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Borna Barisic all took a bit of a back seat in this one, there was one player who stood out in what was a subdued version of the Old Firm derby against Celtic.
Glen Kamara has – like much of this Rangers team – taken his game to a new level this season.
For club and country Kamara has proven an immensely reliable figure who has the maturity, discipline, intelligence and ability to control games from midfield.
This is a player who can be trusted with the ball in tight spaces, someone who has a massive engine and someone who appears to be the lynchpin of the structured, regimented performances we’ve come to expect from Rangers.
Almost universally trusted in the club’s biggest matches, those parts of Kamara’s game have mostly been supplemented with playing it safe and perhaps a lack of adventure.
Whilst Kamara has had poor performances, the biggest gripe that could perhaps be leveraged towards him is a tendency to let games drift him by or not exert enough influence on them.
A steady 7 whilst not quite breaking into his own and making game-changing decisions.
But that’s where Glen Kamara has evolved this season; whereas once he might have tried to wiggle his way out a situation by going back the way, he’s now looking for space further up the pitch.
Whereas once he would look to play it safe, now he’ll try a momentum shifting reverse pass.
There’s a confidence in the player’s game which is coinciding with a rapid development as both a footballer and a professional.
Whilst there’s still room to grow – more long-range shots, goals and direct assists would make him a more well-rounded player – there can be no denying the improvement.
On his current trajectory Kamara isn’t just emerging as one of the best midfielders in the Rangers team; he’s emerging as amongst the best in Scottish football.
