Case for the defence

Rangers’ entire team has underperformed, that is of absolutely no doubt. Lying third place in the table only a single point ahead of such luminaries as Aberdeen, ICT and Kilmarnock is testament to how poorly our season has begun.

However, as any good manager or well-informed connoisseur of the game will tell you, the most important segment of any team is their defence.
This forms the bedrock of the side, the base fundamentals which other aspects lean on as a crutch – you cannot have a winning team if your defence is flimsy. Yes, Brazil have famously adopted a ‘score more than the opposition’ mentality, but they are an exception to the rule possessing, as they do, attacking players who seem to belong to another planet.

Back on planet earth though, teams require a solid barrier which the opposition have to fight tooth and nail to breach. Attackers must be marked, closed down and harried intensely, and well-organised defenders know what space to occupy, who to combat, and when to tackle.

Rangers completely lack this tenet of the game, and no matter how many goals our strikers struggle to put away, the defence always lets them down by leaking goals at an alarming rate.

Looking at each of the players in turn reveals a group of disjointed individuals who are oblivious to the notion of a settled rearguard.

At right back we have two alternatives; Alan Hutton and Phil Bardsley. Hutton promised much, but suffered a horrendous leg break in a home game against Kilmarnock, and on his return has failed to aspire to the same level. This was never more in evidence than his dreadful display in Villarreal.

Bardsley is arguably a better player with a touch more poise and class, but his recent training ground spat seems to have harmed his chances of starting as a regular and it’s possible he is damaged goods as far as Le Guen is concerned.

On the left we have merely one choice; Steven Smith. An honest enough player who gives his all for the cause, Smith is a trier with the right attitude. Unfortunately he lacks the cutting edge required for the top level with a club like Rangers. He is, however, as mentioned, the only player we can deploy there so debating an alternative is a moot point.

And lastly in the centre we have quite a mess. We have 3 dedicated options for this area – Sasa Papac, Julian Rodriguez, and Karl Svensson. The first major issue to be tackled is Papac’s ineligibility for European competition and therefore his enforced absence from our Uefa Cup campaign. This is a problem which would have been avoided had Le Guen merely stuck with Svensson and Rodriguez. Instead, we’re forced to witness chopping and changing with Papac returning for league duty when Svensson occupies his space in Europe.

Further to this is a basic question of form. After emerging as a classy and intuitive defender which followed his poor start, Rodriguez has faded recently, particularly since his diabolical showing at Easter Road. And yet as our first-choice defender he remains first pick, week in week out.

Then you have Svensson, who ironically improved dramatically in form in that same Hibs game yet was immediately dropped thereafter in favour of Papac. Svensson had a stuttering start to his Ibrox career, with obvious discomfort in his new surroundings. However, steadily he has improved, and this was epitomised when he produced a solid and heartening display in Tuscany against Lucarelli and co. However, his perennial position on the bench suggests strongly that Le Guen does not rate him, and certainly not enough to reinstall him in Papac’s place except when there is no choice; in other words Europe.

Finally we have Papac, a player whose signing has introduced more problems than we really needed. Yes, he has shown class and seems to be our best defender at the moment, but his cup ineligibility has totally unsettled Rodriguez, who has in fact had three partners this season; Papac, Svensson and Hemdani.

This constant wheeling and dealing is our biggest bane at the back. Without the bedrock of a settled defence and the same players learning each others’ games, we have total disarray of players unsure if they’re playing, or who they’re playing with.

It has been argued that the quality of defender itself is a big problem, and this comment has merit. We cannot compare Papac and Rodriguez to the likes of even Amoruso and Moore at their best and that is disconcerting.

However, even a decent group of players can still be a good defence if it’s settled. Take Celtic’s defence – not a single player would you consider a genuinely classy defender; Naylor, Caldwell, McManus and Wilson. Yet set them together and keep them together and you have a very solid defence who’s leaked less than half the goals Rangers’ has.

What we need at the back is stability. Le Guen must choose his backline and STICK with it rather than changing it all the time.

Do that, and we are half way to solving some of our problems.