Ibrox View: Rangers will be in safe hands in Old Firm, even if doubts over player end up true
According to the Daily Record, Allan McGregor is set a doubt for this weekend’s Old Firm game, opening the door for Jon McLaughlin to line up for Rangers.
McLaughlin has been Steven Gerrard’s keeper of choice in the league this season but McGregor had made a strong case for himself starting the Old Firm, after a string of good performances in Europe and against Motherwell and Aberdeen in the league.
But now it seems McLaughlin will have the chance to make himself a Rangers hero when he lines up against Celtic on Sunday.
But the Gers will be in more than capable hands if McLaughlin starts in the Old Firm.
He was the goalkeeper that helped the Rangers defence break records at the start of the season, conceding no goals in their first seven league games, of which McLaughlin started six. He has only conceded two goals in his Gers career and that’s not just down to the quality of his defence.
His reactions this season have been excellent, 72.7% of his stops this season have been reflex saves that have helped the Gers to an unbeaten start in the league (Wyscout). McLaughlin has in fact won Rangers points on his own this season. This is most apparent in the game against Hibernian where, despite conceding two goals, he made 3 reflex saves that won his side a point.
Below is a great example of an exception save by the Scotsman, as he leaps at full stretch to stop Hibs scoring in the 2-2 draw in September.
There are in fact several games where McLaughlin has also kept 85% of the shots he has faced out of the Rangers net, which is quite frankly brilliant.
McLaughlin’s also been great at finding his teammates with his feet. His long pass accuracy this season is 81.8% meaning his goal kicks aren’t being wasted. He also almost never puts a foot wrong when playing out from the back as the Scot has a short pass accuracy of 98.5%.
The stats show that Steven Gerrard can reply on McLaughlin in the biggest game of the season so far for the Gers. He may have a chance to make himself a hero in the eyes of Rangers fans this Sunday. Let’s hope he’s up to the challenge.
In other Rangers news, Mark McGhee makes prediction for Gers clash v Celtic.