There’s been plenty of debate about tactics and mentality since Rangers’ 3-0 Old Firm defeat to Celtic but a glaring selection error from Gio van Bronckhorst must also be pointed out.
During his press conference on Tuesday, the manager confirmed that Filip Helander wasn’t available but that fellow centre-back Leon Balogun was fit again after missing the previous two matches with a minor injury.
The Nigeria international was also spotted in training ahead of the game and so he made our Predicted XI.
After all, surely Gio would pick an out-and-out centre-back with plenty of big match experience ahead of a makeshift one with very little?
Calvin Bassey did well alongside Connor Goldson for a run of games prior to the turn of the year, when there were few other options.
However, he’s looked increasingly uncomfortable in the role recently and just a few days before the trip to Celtic Park, he made a mistake which led to a Ross County goal.
Although GvB vowed to stick by Allan McGregor – who was even more culpable for the Dingwall debacle – logic suggested he would take advantage of Balogun’s return to fitness to add an extra decade’s worth of experience to the back four.
Instead, he stuck with the defence that started in the Highlands and they were all over the place in the first 45 minutes.
By no means was this heavy Old Firm defeat all Bassey’s fault. Far from it.
But Gio did hand Celtic an advantage by overlooking his second-best available centre-back.
By the time Balogun was introduced at the start of the second half – shifting Bassey out to his more familiar left-back role to replace the badly off-colour Borna Barisic – it was already far too late, but during his time on the pitch, he showed why the manager had been wrong to leave him out.
While Ryan Jack rightly received plaudits for the impact he made as a substitute, Balogun was similarly impressive, a wild challenge that cost him a booking aside.
He was clearly fit enough to have started the match and his stats make for excellent reading.
The 33-year-old made two clearances, one block and two interceptions, and he wasn’t dribbled past once [SofaScore].
He won two of his three ground duels and his only aerial duel, while he won three fouls and recorded 93% pass accuracy, including finding his intended target with three of his four long balls.
Leaving Balogun out was a bad error from the manager and one he surely won’t make again when Hearts visit Ibrox on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a player Rangers were linked with during the January transfer window has committed to a Premier League club.
