Charlie Adam explains why Gerrard dropped Helander in Rangers v Slavia Prague
Charlie Adam has explained why Steven Gerrard took the huge call to drop last week’s hero Filip Helander for the second leg of Rangers v Slavia Prague.
Helander popped up with the equaliser in the Czech Republic to cancel out Nicolae Stanciu’s early opener but that goal was not enough to keep his place in the side for the reverse fixture.
Leon Balogun was preferred to the Sweden international after being suspended for the first leg and he partnered Connor Goldson in the heart of the Gers defence.
That backfired badly as Balogun got sent off, leaving Rangers with nine men and facing certain defeat.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound [18:00, 18/03/21] before the game Adam attempted to offer some insight as to why Gerrard dropped a player who started 10 of the previous 11 games.
He said: “I think he’s bought Balogun back in as well for his pace, I thought Helander he got done a few times down in the wide areas one v one, few fouls and things like that.”
Big call on Balogun
It was a massive call by Gerrard ahead of what was probably our biggest game of the season.
With the continuity between Helander and Goldson recently it would have seemed sensible to keep things as they were.
While Slavia did look dangerous on occasions last week we dealt with their problems well in the main but the manager obviously saw something he did not like.
Adam might have a good point as to why Balogun was selected.
While Helander is a colossus in the air he is susceptible to problems when speedy attackers run at him and with the likes of Abdallah Sima in the Slavia ranks this likely played a role in Gerrard’s decision.
There was always the danger that the game could become stretched with defenders having to make a lot of recovery runs and that is not a strength of Helander’s.
Sometimes big managers have to make big calls and no one can accuse Gerrard of shirking his responsibilities.
However, this one obviously didn’t work out at all.
In other Rangers news, Jamie Barjonas set to seal loan move away from Ibrox.