Rangers overreliance on Steven Davis could prove costly - Derek Clark

He was rightly named as the Scottish Football Writers Player of the Season during the invincible campaign as he regularly strolled through matches, often popping up with vital goals and assists in the process.

He was an ever-present in the Rangers side last term and in the matches he did start on the bench, the team struggled, namely the 1-1 draw with Hamilton and the Betfred Cup defeat at St Mirren. There was a real sense of dependence on Davis to provide quality and experience in the engine room, something that has continued into this campaign.

To date, the Ulsterman has only missed one match of the 12 fixtures and has also featured in two internationals. There’s no denying he is as fit as a fiddle and is still regularly bossing games at 36 but it's hard to shake the growing concern he’s been asked to go to the well a little too often.

An overreliance on the Northern Ireland skipper could come back to bite both the player and the club.

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In terms of the stats, Davis enjoyed a stellar campaign last season, of his total actions in a game, 78.2% were successful while his pass completion average was an astounding 89.9%. This season, his numbers have dipped slightly with 76.6% of total actions proving successful with his passing accuracy currently sitting at 88.5%.

Now, we’re talking very small details of course but you do get a feeling the more that’s being asked of him physically, the less effective he’ll be given his advancing years.

As Rangers were marching towards 55 last season, there was an acknowledgement that the midfield area would need some surgery in the summer. There was a resignation that Glen Kamara would depart following a successful Euros, Ryan Jack was out for the foreseeable future and Davis surely couldn’t play 49 games once again.

Steven Gerrard did appear to react and John Lundstram was added to bolster the engine room but as yet he's not really set the heather alight while Nnamdi Ofoborh hasn't been seen due to a heart issue. Kamara was surprisingly, although gladly, retained and Stephen Kelly impressed in pre-season following on from a successful spell at Ross County last term, but only has two substitute appearances to his name.

It appears Davis is still so highly regarded and trusted, the manager is simply reluctant to leave him out.

Sunday’s game with Motherwell seemed to present an ideal opportunity to allow the veteran to recharge the batteries and watch from the dugout or stand. Steven Gerrard’s comments regarding Lundstram prior to the game suggested he would retain his place following a decent showing against Lyon but he was an unused substitute with a midfield trio of Davis, Kamara and Aribo preferred.

If the manager doesn’t trust anyone to step into Davis’ shoes in a home clash against Motherwell then it doesn’t bode well for the current squad players' prospects of game time going forward. Kelly wasn't even named in the matchday squad which may be due to injury or illness or simply because he isn't doing enough in training to dislodge the first picks. The decision to retain the youngster this season and not send him on loan was addressed by Gerrard recently in which he said: “We’ve decided to keep Stephen around the group. We feel his loan opportunities, with all due respect, would have been better spent training alongside Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo and testing himself against that level of player.”

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This is all very well and good but Kelly is now 21 years of age. Surely, he needs to be given an opportunity to show what he can do and given his pre-season form, he looked capable of filling in on days like Sunday.

Davis tired as the Motherwell match wore on, similarly to Thursday night against Lyon where he uncharacteristically gave the ball away cheaply and looked a little off the pace. These could be the first signs that his body is telling him he's simply playing too much football in such a short space of time.

Wednesday night offers a perfect opportunity for someone like Kelly to occupy that role and give Davis a well-earned rest. He's performed miracles since returning from Southampton, inarguably cementing his role as a club legend, but he can’t realistically continue producing both a level and volume of performance that belies his age indefinitely.

Of course, we see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo who, like Davis is a freak of nature when it comes to their dedication to the game and their level of fitness but it will be a worry if the Rangers coaching staff don’t trust someone to fill in for their star man at hand-picked points during the season.

A failure to find an able deputy and you run the risk of Davis simply burning out.

And given his importance to the team in the biggest games, that's something it's imperative to avoid.