Connor Goldson’s absence from the Rangers squad this afternoon is the mystery of the week.
Rangers marauded their way to a huge 7-1 mauling of Motherwell this afternoon. To say Goldson was missed would be a huge exaggeration given the margin of victory.
There were, however, one or two big concerns defensively during the match. The main one being when Motherwell slotted home an equaliser mid-way through the first-half.
Ryan Bowman showed good power to get around Nikola Katic. Main was also allowed to get beyond the Gers defence far too easily. Those issues, however, were healed when Carl McHugh was sent off before half-time.
Goldson not being in the squad perhaps had something to do with how easily that goal was scored. Regardless, why wasn’t he in?
After all, there were no injury concerns before the match. Goldson had featured for 90 minutes in Moscow and came through relatively unscathed with regards to knocks.
Bad performance
Yet, it’s most likely that performance in Moscow that cost him his place anyway. Goldson was terrible in Russia, scoring an own goal and having a deflected strike bounce off him and in for Spartak’s winner. It was a huge night to forget from him, with Steven Gerrard equally critical post-match.
The Gers boss told BT Sport post-match that he felt under-12s could do what Goldson failed to on Thursday night. It wouldn’t be surprising if that was why the Englishman was dropped from the squad altogether.
It only raises more questions regarding who features at the back for Rangers. Will Goldson be reinstated after the international break?
Gareth McAuley was given the majority of the second half against Motherwell to build up his game-time. Is Gerrard eyeing a permanent spot for him at the back? Then you have the comparisons between Joe Worrall and Katic that have been going on all season.
The Rangers manager is finally starting to have plenty of options at the back. Goldson, however, appears to have been dropped for his performance alone in Russia more than anything else.
Perhaps more details will be revealed, but it doesn’t matter in the end given the result. Rangers move on, with Gerrard still having a big defensive dilemma to sort out.
