Rangers ended the 1-1 draw with St Mirren with our central midfielders from the previous week at the heart of defence. It’s not an excuse for some of our performances but it is an indication of the extent of the problem we currently have. If it wasn’t for the World Cup, who knows who would have been starting alongside James Sands after Leon King’s concussion saw him stretchered off.
The recruitment of John Souttar, with Filip Helander out long term, wasn’t even a call that needed hindsight to suggest that it could cause a problem further down the line. The assumption that Connor Goldson would continue to never miss a training session has proven to be a costly one – one that could, ultimately, cost Giovanni van Bronckhorst his job.
The lack of communication about when players will return – “after World Cup” being about all we are told – is unnecessary and only serves to build negativity among the support, that it has taken a source close to Helander to inform fans of his prognosis tells its own story. The Sweden international facing an uphill battle to play for Rangers again, as reported by The Scottish Daily Express:
“It has been such a frustrating time for Fil but we can now see light at the end of the tunnel.
“We thought that the injury had cleared up in the summer and Fil was feeling good as he took part in pre-season training. He went with the squad to Portugal and then in one of the sessions he felt the problem again and it was back to square one.
“He went back to see a specialist and it was decided to have an operation. The surgery has been a success and now he’s just going through the whole rehab process which will still take time.
“The hope is that he will be back in training in the early part of next year and then playing again in February or March.”
With Helander’s contract expiring at the end of the season, I just can’t see why any manager would play him when he returns. Ben Davies has clearly been signed as a long-term replacement with Leon King, James Sands and John Souttar also on the roster.
By the time that the big Swede returns, he will have played just 11 games in two years. We know what he is capable of and the attributes he has when he is fit but keeping fit just isn’t one of them.