Celtic defeat should inspire Rangers to reject Charlton Athletic’s bids for Lee Hodson

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Charlton Athletic are reportedly attempting to sign Lee Hodson – but Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha needs his defensive durability.

Rangers have lost four out of five Old Firm derbies this season. In fact, Saturday’s humiliating 5-1 defeat at Ibrox means Celtic can and will boast a 17-4 aggregate scoreline in league and cup.

Yet, the one game Rangers did manage to restrict Brendan Rodgers’ side to a draw rather than a rampant win, Lee Hodson was making a rare start at right-back. The 25-year-old, a summer signing from MK Dons, can lay claim to arguably the best performance of any Rangers player against Celtic this season.

In the 1-1 draw in mid-March, Hodson was handed only his seventh Scottish Premiership start by then-interim boss Graeme Murty. Squaring up to the league’s top scorer, Scott Sinclair, the former Northern Ireland international could hardly have been thrown into a more daunting contest.

Yet, Sinclair managed just one shot on goal all game as Hodson’s stout, reliable defending helped a pragmatic Rangers earn a well-deserved point at Celtic Park.

In many ways, Hodson is the exact opposite of James Tavernier, his challenger for the right-back berth. While the former Newcastle youngster is the epitome of the modern full-back, superb on the overlap with a fine free-kick in his repertoire, Hodson is an old-school number two, more a defender than an attacker.

And although Tavernier’s uber-attacking approach does have its merits (he scored 15 goals in last season’s promotion campaign) the contrast between his performance in Saturday’s 5-1 hammering and Hodson’s two months earlier could not be any more stark.

Therefore, perhaps manager Pedro Caixinha should remember this as League One Charlton Athletic attempt to bring Hodson back to England, as reported by the Scottish Sun.

Thanks to injury, Hodson has only started once under Caixinha so far – but if Rangers are to improve their defensive record they should consider keeping him around.