One of the biggest disappointments of Rangers’ form of 2020 – in a plethora of them – has been seeing veteran midfielder Steven Davis’ performances drop off a cliff.
The former Rangers captain was coming off a six-to-eight-month spell where he looked every inch the Premier League midfielder he’d established himself as with Southampton since first leaving Ibrox in 2012.
But over the course of the six weeks, Davis’ monumental dip in form has personified that of the entire Rangers team domestically.
Misplacing three-yard passes, mistiming the ball in midfield, hesitating, punting wild balls over the top corner – the Northern Ireland skipper has generally looked a shadow of his former self.
Every pass has been an inch off, every movement wearily sluggish. One of the club’s veteran players too, he has been posted missing in the middle of this wretched spell of domestic form.
Recently signing a new deal for next season, Davis will be at Rangers stretching beyond his 36th birthday.
That’s why going forward we need to utilise the midfielder more as a squad player and bring in an another high quality starter.
Davis is a fantastically talented footballer and can still do a job for Rangers, but he may well be feeling the effect of playing so much football in this campaign.
The Ballymena born centre mid has made 39 appearances for Rangers this season so far. He made 24 in the entirety of last season, with only three in the first half of it at Southampton.
Davis only played 25 times for the Saints the season previously, playing 40 the season before that at St. Mary’s [Transfermarkt].
There’s an argument here that having to play so much football is having an effect on the player, who looks like the tired, out-of-sorts body we signed at the turn of last year.
Davis has been the course with Rangers before and absolutely is a player we need in and around the squad heading into the end of this season and the start of next.
But can Rangers be fully confident of success if the 35-year-old is a regular starter at the beginning of the campaign?
