As a founding member of the Filip Helander fan club, I’m beginning to get a little frustrated at his prolonged absence from the starting XI – not to say that I’ve anything against Leon Balogun though.
When the big Swede has played we have conceded just four goals in the league all season at a 70% success rate for clean sheets, and there are few that would argue that our defence looks more solid when he is in it alongside Connor Goldson.
There is no doubting Leon Balogun’s qualities as a centre-half but there has now been too many occasions where he could have done better in preventing us from conceding goals.
Steven Gerrard is an admirer of the 31-cap Nigerian international and hopes that he will extend his time at Rangers beyond this season – as do I – but his ability on the ball and pace isn’t enough to justify keeping Helander out of the team.
Where it matters most, in and around the box, Helander’s positioning is the best in the team when it comes to being in the right place at the right time, he just knows where he should be to avert the danger or to get a block in.
Who do you pick?
Helander
Balogun
The £3.5million signing from Bologna shares similar qualities with Davie Weir in that he knows he isn’t the quickest so makes sure that he doesn’t get isolated, sometimes you get the impression that Balogun knows he can use his pace to recover so maybe gambles when the option isn’t really there.
We are coming back into a more congested fixture list again and should see Helander come back into the team, with so much at stake and the obvious nerves that come with them, I for one will feel more at ease seeing his name in the starting XI once again.