Jack Butland to be looking over his shoulder at Rangers amid ‘Poor’ verdict
Jack Butland was already in “poor” form before his howler against Manchester United and will be looking over his shoulder at Rangers, Daily Record journalist Scott Burns has said.
The Gers goalkeeper was outstanding in his first campaign at Ibrox, so much so that he was linked with a big-money exit away from the club and tipped for an England recall.
However, the 31-year-old has failed to hit those same high heights this term and comically punched the ball into his own goal as the Gers were beaten 2-1 by the Red Devils in the Europa League on Thursday.
Prior to that fixture, Butland had missed a few weeks of action due to injury with back-up Liam Kelly deputising.
Burns expects Butland to play at Dundee United on Sunday (26 January) but thinks the number one needs to step up, writing in the paper’s print edition (25 January, pg 53): “Butland will keep his place but he should be looking over his shoulder.
“His form this season was poor even before his injury.”
Jack Butland needs to up his game at Rangers
To say Butland is the only player guilty of seeing his standards drop at Rangers this season would be untrue to the highest degree.
But what is fair to say is that Butland excelled even when those around him stuttered last term and he was a real stand-out performer between the sticks.
However, right now it is hard to say he belongs in the same breath as goalkeeping greats like Andy Goram and Allan McGregor as was once mooted and he really needs to step up his game and set the standards at Ibrox.
He hasn’t always been helped by the fact the Gers have not had a settled defence, with injury woes and lack of form meaning Philippe Clement has had to chop and change his backline a lot this term.
That being said, Butland knows he now has a fight on his hands to retain the number one Jersey at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, Storm Eowyn has affected the Light Blues as a new injury update was shared.
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