Souttar, Leon Balogun, Borna Barisic and James Tavernier slammed by furious official Rangers partner in 3-1 win vs Dundee
The Rangers back four were all “really bad” in the 3-1 victory over Dundee at Ibrox, according to Heart & Hand.
The official Light Blues partner fumed via Twitter during the first half of the comeback win on 9 December, as the defensive line of Borna Barisic, Leon Balogun, John Souttar and James Tavernier were “all at sea” in the face of visiting attacks.
Dismal defending inside the opening minutes saw Lyall Cameron waltz into the area and have a shot narrowly tipped wide by Jack Butland, before the defence stood still at the resulting corner to allow Amadou Bakayoko to put Dundee ahead on five minutes after John Lundstram’s misdirected header.
Heart & Hand wrote midway through the first half: “Rangers back four have been really bad so far, look absolutely all at sea.”
All over the place
It wouldn’t be right to pin everything on Souttar as he was far from the only player who underperformed on the day, with both Jose Cifuentes, who was sent off, and John Lundstram, who did improve, poor early in midfield as well.
But the surprise addition of the Scot appeared to contribute to a confused display from the whole back line, with Butland left exposed behind them.
Balogun was bypassed with ease multiple times as his timing in the challenge deserted him, while Souttar looked more shocked than anyone in the first 45 minutes to be given a start ahead of Connor Goldson.
The defensive complaints against full backs Barisic and Tavernier were arguably no more than the usual, as both are better going forward and the captain did have a goal and an assist, but combined with the central chaos led to a calamitous all-round display.
Thankfully for Clement and the fans the attacking display was far more impressive, and Tavernier’s contribution to that can’t be overlooked, so Rangers were able to roar back into an unassailable lead before the break on the way to a 3-1 win.
Abdallah Sima was again central as he headed a bullet finish home after also winning a penalty and Cyriel Dessers looked slightly better than he has lately as he smashed his goal home to equalise.
But Cifuentes had another miserable day in a Light Blues shirt as he was shown a straight red after a VAR review in first-half stoppage time, to show that there are significant questions throughout the squad right now.
In other Rangers news, Tom English fumed at a “grim” and “depressing” incident in the win at Ibrox live on BBC Sportsound.