Clement must finally ditch 5/10 Rangers liability to unleash his £8k-p/w “warrior”

Rangers must now ditch 5/10 underperformer to start £8k-p/w “warrior”

Prior to the weekend clash, Glasgow Rangers had won 19 and drawn four of their 23 matches against Ross County since their first-ever meeting in the Scottish Cup during the 2000/01 season.

While all hoodoos come to an end eventually, the timing surrounding Rangers’ defeat to the Highland side simply couldn’t have been any worse.

Philippe Clement had dragged his side back into a Premiership title race and travelled to the north of Scotland knowing a win would bring the Light Blues to within a point of their rivals at the top of the table, and more crucially, with another game in hand.

The 3-2 loss, however, means Rangers will still trail Celtic by a single point, even if they defeat Dundee on Wednesday evening, handing Celtic the advantage in the title race.

Several senior players failed to perform anything like their best against the Staggies as the club conceded three goals in just 18 minutes during the second half. With an attack that couldn’t get going to a midfield that failed to do the simple things right, Rangers were a mess.

It was the defence who were at fault, especially Connor Goldson, who is enduring a dreadful spell on the pitch of late.

Connor Goldson’s performance vs Ross County
The Englishman has missed just four games throughout the whole season and, over the previous few weeks, it looks as though this has finally caught up with him.

Against Celtic in the third Old Firm clash of the season, not only did Goldson concede the penalty which gave them a two-goal lead in the match, but he should have done much better for their third goal, giving Adam Idah too much time to get his shot away and restore Celtic’s advantage.

Fortunately, Rabbi Matondo spared his blushes, but he failed to improve against County.

Goldson may have won all eight of his duels during the match, but he could have done better for all three of the goals the Light Blues conceded as County blitzed the defence during a remarkable period in the second half.

His distribution, which is usually fairly solid, also let him down on Sunday. The centre-back managed to complete just 38 of his 52 attempted passes – a success rate of 73% – while only four of his ten long balls were accurate.
He received a match rating of just 5/10 from Glasgow World for his display and journalist Lewis Anderson summed it up by stating that it ‘was another fairly disappointing performance on the whole’ which proves he should spend some time out of the team.

Connor Goldson could be dropped against Dundee
In truth, Goldson has made a fair few defensive mistakes this season which have cost the club goals. Against Aberdeen in November, he failed to judge a long ball from which Bojan Miovski raced past him and scored the opener.

Teams know to play the long ball over the defence as it causes the side so much trouble, especially with Goldson at the back, and it worked on occasions for County on Sunday.

The stark reality is, Goldson is perhaps entering the final few years of his career, and it looks like it is showing.

The 31-year-old may have made over 300 competitive appearances for the Ibrox side, but when the club are chasing trophies but continuously coming up short, something has to give.

There is a quick turnaround in fixtures as the rearranged match against Dundee takes place on Wednesday evening, and it represents an ideal chance for Clement to totally rejig his starting XI.

The man to replace Connor Goldson at Rangers
This could see changes in the attack, midfield, and defence, which may see Leon Balogun come back into the first-team fold.

While the Goldson/John Souttar partnership looked like it had been thriving for a while, shipping six goals across two league games ensures it should be broken up for now.

Balogun arrived back at Rangers for his second spell at the club, having played 65 games between 2020 and 2022, winning both the Premiership and Scottish Cup while helping the Gers reach the Europa League final in his last season.
It was perhaps surprising to see him return to Ibrox last summer, yet Michael Beale had worked with him during his first spell, and it appeared that the Nigerian was signed to act as cover.

Under the Englishman, Balogun started just one Premiership match, but since the arrival of Clement, he has been given much more game time.

Under the Belgian, the £8k-per-week titan played consistently in the top flight between the clash against Dundee on November 1 to suffering a serious facial injury against Livingston in February.

Following that blow, Clement praised his veteran defender, saying: “The positive side is he is a warrior and he is somebody with experience who already had things like that in the past.

“He believes he can be back fast with a mask so I hope that is the case. It is the medical staff who need to decide that.”In the top flight, Balogun ranks sixth for accurate passes per game (41.2) when compared to his teammates, while also ranking first for interceptions per match (1.3) and for clearances per game (3.7), clearly showcasing how effective he is when given a chance in the starting lineup.

He may have featured for just one minute since suffering his facial injury two months ago, but it is time Clement drafted in Balogun to operate alongside Souttar in the heart of the defence against Dundee.

Rangers have scored eight goals while conceding only one during their previous two games against the Dens Park side. Balogun was in the starting XI on both occasions and with a match that is sure to be fairly tense from the get-go, bringing in his experience could be vital.

Hopefully, the clash goes ahead as planned and Dundee avoids yet another monsoon, but if it does, three points are all that matters.

Another stumble and Clement can wave goodbye to the Premiership title this season.

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