Filip Helander returned to the Rangers starting XI against Ross County and, as well as a clean sheet, managed to grab a goal alongside centre-half partner Connor Goldson.
Speaking to Expressen, and reported by Glasgow Live, the big Swede has been full of praise for is manager and revealed his hopes for the future:
“Steven Gerrard is a good manager. He makes very high demands and is also tactically skilled. Together with his coaching team, he has impressed me.
“It’s noticeable every day his experience of playing at the highest level.
“And of course, when you have been a player at the level he was at and was a player that everyone knew, then I think it gives him extra respect from the team.”
In the short term, his plans are to get back into the Sweden team ahead of the European Championships having been involved with his country in the last round of international fixtures.
Further down the line he wants to return to his homeland but he has a good few years left and two and half years still to run on his Rangers contract but this hasn’t stopped him making plans:
“I don’t think so much about the future. Two and a half years is a very long time.
“Anything can happen in football, but I feel good and it’s always easier when a team is doing well.
“The hope for me is to be able to end my career in Malmo. I have talked to Pontus Jansson at Brentford about us doing it together.
“Hopefully, I can play football for quite some time and that there is time for me to play again in the Allsvenskan as well.”
Helander, remarkably, still hasn’t lost a league game for Rangers and seeing his name in the starting XI brings a level of assurance knowing that there is someone in the heart of defence who will do everything to keep the ball out the back of our net.