Michael Stewart says Hearts missing John Souttar left them ‘exposed’ to Rangers
Rangers benefited from the injury absence of John Souttar in their 5-0 destruction of Hearts on Sunday, says Michael Stewart.
The Jambos centre-back is set to arrive at Ibrox in the summer, having signed a pre-contract agreement during the January window, but missed the clash between the sides with an ankle injury.
Gers reportedly had three bids rejected to bring the transfer forward, and Tynecastle boss Robbie Neilson had suggested he would feature at the weekend (Daily Record).
Speaking on BBC Sportscene after the match, ex-Hearts man Stewart said of the result: “I think what you saw there today was without John Souttar and Craig Halkett in the back line they were exposed, they really were.
“Rangers exposed that weakness in the backline ruthlessly and it’s going to be a little bit of a concern, because obviously John Souttar’s not going to be there next season.
“Having both of them out today, going to a very tough destination like Ibrox, it was exposed”.
Early benefit
There is no suggestion that anything untoward went into the Scotland international missing the second vs third league meeting.
But him missing the game certainly benefited his future employers at the expense of his current ones.
Injury problems cannot be helped, and the manager would have been within his rights to hold him out either way, but it surely cannot have gone much worse defensively had the 25-year-old played and been in the wrong frame of mind.
The Light Blues finished January frustrated in their efforts to bring in the defender early to bolster their Scottish Premiership title defence.
So fans will be at least slightly satisfied that their future signing had an effect on the game for them, even if it was by not playing.
They could have done with him in either of the previous two matches however, particularly the 3-3 draw with Ross County that saw defensive errors contribute to valuable dropped points.
In other Rangers news, Stewart was raving about this Ibrox star who was a “menace” against Hearts.