How Rangers can plan for life after Connor Goldson: Replacing the diagonal and iron man durability

The defender will depart Ibrox upon the end of his contract this summer, but he will be fondly remembered for his totemic role in helping Rangers recapture the league title last season.

With John Souttar set to arrive from Hearts in the summer – and in-demand 23-year-old Danilo Doekhi out of contract – Rangers have the opportunity to evolve in their central defensive options.

But which aspects of Goldson’s game have Rangers come to rely on, and in which areas is there scope to improve? The Rangers Review has a look.

Durability

Goldson’s defining feature, perhaps more than anything on the field, has been his availability over the last four seasons.

Steven Gerrard attributed it to a desire to “make up for lost time”, with the defender having missed effectively two seasons at Brighton after going under the knife to correct a heart problem.

The former Rangers boss also offered an insight into Goldson’s durability when quizzed last season:

“He’s consistent, he’s durable, he’s professional. He recovers quicker than most.”

Indeed, the defender enjoyed the strongest campaign of his career last term when he played every minute available for Rangers in all competitions.

The 29-year-old has also missed just one league game this season – through Covid-19 isolation protocols against St. Johnstone in September – while you’d have to go all the way back to January 2019 to find the last league match which Goldson missed through injury.

His absence at McDiarmid Park that afternoon brought an end to a 75-game league run in which the defender had started for Rangers. However, were it not for an absence largely outside of his control Goldson would have reached a century of successive league starts in the 1-0 win over Aberdeen last month.

The consistency Goldson has afforded Rangers in terms of availability has provided stability in defensive team selection for Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his predecessor. Coupled with James Tavernier’s equally impressive level of availability, it has created a reliable right-hand side which has been allowed to grow and flourish since Goldson arrived at the club in the summer of 2018.

Replacing the diagonal

The sight of Goldson launching an unerring long diagonal pass to spring Rangers in behind the opposition’s defensive line has become a regular fixture.

Opposition managers have created schemes to prevent it, but the consistency and accuracy of the pass has made it such a dangerous weapon in Rangers’ arsenal under both van Bronckhorst and Gerrard.

One of the most prominent examples in recent months was Joe Aribo’s stunning goal against Hearts at Tynecastle.

Robbie Neilson’s side are sat off in a passive, defensive mid-block, which opens up the opportunity for Goldson to launch one of his trademark diagonal passes.

Although the touch from Aribo is immaculate, the ball is the consequence of rehearsed movements from Rangers.

With Ryan Kent pinning Hearts' right-sided central defender wide, Goldson releases his pass at just the right moment, and its accuracy means Rangers have created a high-quality one-on-one opportunity in the blink of an eye.

Such is the quality of Goldson’s long distribution from defence that the Englishman tops the charts in terms of Key Passes per 90 minutes – of players who have played more than 1,500 minutes this season – among central defenders in the Scottish Premiership with 0.21.

Those figures are influenced by the defender’s ability to launch searching balls in behind defences, while it is also more impressive considering Rangers have solely used a four-man defensive system in the Scottish Premiership where there is less space for central defenders to operate in possession.

That isn’t true of defenders who operate as outside centre-backs in a three-man defence, where Rangers-bound Souttar ranks not too far behind with 0.11 key passes per 90 minutes for Hearts.

However, it is in Through Passes per 90 minutes – defined as a pass played into space behind the defensive line for a teammate to contest – where Goldson ranks heads and shoulders above his central defensive peers.

The 29-year-old is averaging 1.15 through passes, underlining the consistency of his long, searching balls. The mantel of second best, meanwhile, belongs to Souttar (0.92) and Rangers are certainly in safe hands from a creative standpoint in central defence going forward.

READ MORE: An anatomy of Rangers' 'unthinkable' Celtic concessions: Joe Aribo defence and disjointed backlines

One-footedness

Although the successes and failures of a central defender is often predicated on the amount of space they have to defend – Goldson has certainly benefitted from a compact defensive structure in recent years – it is still noticeable that the Englishman is often guilty of being flat-footed in certain situations.

One of the most infamous instances of this was his role in Hamilton’s winning goal in their 1-0 win at Ibrox in 2019/20.

As the ball ricocheted towards the defender on the edge of the penalty area, he attempts to drag the ball away from pressure as to avoid launching the ball long to safety.

However, he is caught flat-footed, with his body positioning square-on to the Hamilton attacker.

The ball then gets stuck under his feet, allowing David Moyo to nip in to dispossess him and score.

It is equally true that Goldson can look overwhelmed when he is forced to cover spaces going towards his weaker side.

As a predominantly one-footed player – hardly unique among central defenders – he is often reluctant to use his weaker foot.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard built Rangers for Europe and it's time to dismantle this domestically failed game model

This was underlined in the lead up to Jude Bellingham’s goal for Borussia Dortmund in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox in February.

Goldson spots the gap appearing behind Calvin Bassey as he is drawn towards the ball-carrier, Donyell Malan.

With Bellingham running from midfield to exploit the space, Goldson identifies the danger and begins to gravitate over.

As the ball is fired in towards the run of Bellingham, Goldson gets caught flat-footed. Instead of dealing with the danger on his weaker foot, he elects to use his right.

The ball then cannons off Bellingham and into his path to score for Dortmund.

Regardless of the odd flaw in his game, Goldson has become part of the furniture at Ibrox. Waving farewell to a player who has played such a huge role in Rangers’ transformation since 2018 is going to sting.

The 29-year-old brings vital intangible qualities on the pitch that will be difficult to replace, as well as an immaculate injury record and peerless ability to inject verticality into Rangers’ play.

New isn’t always better, as the saying goes, but the ability to refresh the squad will be a defining moment for the Ibrox club this summer.