When John Souttar made his Rangers debut against Livingston at the beginning of last season, not only was he carrying an injury, but he far from covered himself in glory.
Culpable for an early goal, the Scotland international never appeared for the second half and wasn’t seen again until the spring time.
This season, John Souttar has missed only a few games through injury and the Rangers defender’s performances against Benfica suggest that his redemption arc is complete.
John Souttar starting to prove Rangers worth
There’s not a single defender in world football who doesn’t make mistakes or get given a hard time by opposition strikers.
The game has changed and previous methods that defenders could employ are now instantly penalised, the slightest touch and officials are favouring the attackers.
What is impressive about Souttar’s performances is that he is playing on his “wrong” side.
It might sound inconsequential but there is a big difference for a right-sided defender playing on the left.
The 27-year old is capable of using both feet and can drive out of defence but, on the other side, everything is more natural.
Despite Benfica’s quality though, that Jack Butland only had a few saves to make over the two legs says it all about how well Rangers and John Souttar in particular defended.
Not that the former Hearts skipper is taking any consolation from it:
“There’s a lot of positives at the club just now but as the manager said he wants to win every game. It’s not a case of ‘We did well and took part against Benfica’. The boys are devastated in there.
“We wanted to go all the way in this competition as well as the other ones. It’s a sore one tonight. In the next few days, we’ll think of it more and take it from there.” \
Gers boss Philippe Clement has changed the entire philosophy of the squad in such a short period of time.
Compare the performance last night at Ibrox, or the one in Lisbon, to the one against PSV Eindhoven away from home and nothing else needs to be said.
That mentality has to be taken into every game between now and the end of the season though and hope that our more clinical attacking players can play some part.
Many fans had given up on John Souttar, as they had with the chances of Rangers winning the league this season, however, with a little help from Clement, they are now proving us wrong.
