Ally McCoist slams Calvin Bassey for ‘strange’ defending in Rangers v Hearts
Ally McCoist was baffled by Calvin Bassey’s marking as Rangers won 2-0 against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.
Bassey, 21, has spent the last few weeks playing as the left-sided centre-back with Leon Balogun and Filip Helander both injured and Jack Simpsons not featuring in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s plans.
However, the young left-back clearly struggled at times while defending set-pieces and McCoist couldn’t understand his approach to marking Craig Halkett at one point in the game.
“Really strange body position there by Bassey, he’s looking at Halkett,” said McCoist in the first half of the game on Sky Sports Football on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s not a good idea. You see him turn around and there he was.”
Not the complete package yet
Bassey’s still a young player and he’s not naturally a centre-back so we’ve got to expect moments like that one in the first half against Hearts.
It would be fair to say that our defence has improved a lot since Bassey moved into the centre-back role amid an injury to Balogun.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s managed to tighten things up at the back with a few tactical tweaks but there’s no denying that Bassey has been doing a great job alongside Connor Goldson in the middle of the defence.
It was a tough test for the ex-Leicester player on Sunday.
Liam Boyce and Barrie McKay can prove to be handfuls and we faced a lot of shots in that first half.
Bassey could have done better but again, we won’t criticise someone too harshly when they’re still young and also being told to play outside of their comfort zone.
In other Rangers news, the Gers will require big money for this “game-changer” in the January window, according to a BBC Sportsound pundit.