Selection calls for the recent first-team game against Ross County and a Development fixture against Brentford, suggest Jon Flanagan has completed his slide down the Rangers pecking order.
Back at the start of the season, the 27-year-old was the go-to man at left-back for big games, with Steven Gerrard bringing him into the side for the Old Firm at Ibrox in September.
However, injuries have played a big part in disrupting his season and when he’s received opportunities he’s failed to impress.
He’s often reasonably solid defensively, but whether it be at right-back or left-back, his lack of progressiveness in attack is limiting for the team given the manager’s preferred style of play.
When he was dropped from the squad last month, it looked as though Gerrard may have run out of patience with his former Liverpool teammate, and recent selections certainly back up that theory.
Flanagan missed out on the squad for the trip to Ross County on Sunday despite injury ruling out James Tavernier and despite the manager naming two full-backs on the bench.
Matt Polster and Borna Barisic started on either side, while Nathan Patterson and Andy Halliday were substitutes.
It was unclear, at that stage, if it had been a tactical decision to omit Flanagan or if he wasn’t fully fit.
Yet, that question was answered just two days later, when he turned out in a Development team fixture away to Brentford B.
Flanagan played the full 90 minutes at Imber Court in Surrey, suggesting that he had been fit and had simply been overlooked at the weekend.
Unfortunately, for the Scouser, it seems he’s now been relegated to fourth choice right-back and third-choice left-back, with the chances of him featuring again for the first team this season decidedly slim.
