I understand why he does it, but please, Mr Gerrard, stop rotating Filip Helander and Leon Balogun as much as you are.
Rangers best defender is Helander, anyone who disagrees with this either has a hatred for all things Swedish or doesn’t know a good centre-half when he’s standing right in front of them.
The myth that he is slow is one of the most annoying currently being banded about with this Rangers squad, he’s not a flying machine but if I had to put money on a race between him and Connor Goldson, I’m not sure that there would be much in it, if anything, I’m backing Helander if it’s over a longer distance.
The biggest difference between Helander, Goldson and Balogun is there positional awareness, not just where they should be but also anticipating what could go wrong and how they might have to react, it’s the Swede that stands alone in this attribute – his ability to identify risk is what sets him apart, the other two have too many lapses of concentration when having to defend the box, frequently caught ball watching or trying to intercept a cross rather than picking up a forward, as Alan Hansen used to say – “a space has never scored a goal”.
I appreciate that his injury history prevents Helander from playing week-in, week-out, but if his workload has to be managed, why not adjust his training schedule, Ledley King barely trained in his last few seasons at Tottenham Hotspur and was still one of the finest centre-halves in England, I’d rather he was playing games and missing training rather than the other way around.
Balogun is a good deputy, a good back-up, but he isn’t on Helander’s level, it’s as simple as that, and I’m always a lot more confident about us getting the right result when the big Swede is in the line up.