John Souttar may be closer to Ibrox exit door after poor Rangers display v Celtic
Rangers suffered yet another Old Firm derby defeat, all but ending their hopes of a Scottish Premiership title charge after losing 3-2 to Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday [8 April].
An enthralling first half ended with the teams heading into the break level at 1-1 with James Tavernier netting his 99th Rangers goal through a spell-binding free kick on the stroke of half-time.
Two catastrophic defensive mistakes from Ben Davies and John Souttar led to Celtic going 3-1 through Kyogo Furuhashi’s second and Jota slotting into an empty net before Tavernier reached a century of goals for the club 12 minutes from time which proved too little, too late.
And there were a number of poor performances from the whole of the 90 minutes which Michael Beale will not have been impressed by and one man who failed to convince in Conor Goldson’s absence was Souttar.
The Scot, who’s endured limited minutes under Beale, may not have even made the starting XI had it not been for an injury to Goldson that ruled him out of the match, and his lack of match fitness was clearly evident as he proved a real defensive liability.
In just his first start for the club since the opening day of the season and in what was the club’s most important match so far, it was a definite risk throwing him straight in and so it proved.
As per SofaScore, Souttar picked up a dreadful average rating of 5.8/10 – the lowest score out of any player on both teams – while only registering one tackle during the whole game, on top of losing possession 14 times, showing his clear rustiness and lack of match rhythm, which is made all the more damaging in such an engrossing encounter with Celtic
The Gers outcast did manage to win six out of his seven duels, but his high-profile mistake cost Rangers arguably the chance to win the game with his sloppy backpass leading to Jota’s goal.
The 26-year-old also took registered 61 touches during the game while managing to complete just 74% of his attempted passes, with many of his attempts going astray or straight to an opposition player, and his long balls were even worse – being accurate with just two out of eight attempts.
With Beale set to undergo a summer of change within his squad, Souttar’s short time at the Scottish giants may well be coming to an abrupt end after Saturday’s debacle.
In other Rangers news, another Ibrox exit may be on the cards after a major revelation recently which could force the clubs to part ways with a senior player.