Steven Gerrard’s Rangers slipped to a Scottish Premiership draw on Sunday with Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic struggling at centre-back.
Tommy Wright’s plan paid off on Sunday with the St Johnstone boss admitting after a 2-2 draw with Rangers that he had plotted to exploit Steven Gerrard’s increasingly error-prone defence, speaking to The Herald.
The Glasgow giants slipped 12 points behind city rivals Celtic on Sunday, throwing away two points at McDiarmid Park before Neil Lennon’s side came from behind to beat Kilmarnock 3-1 and move a giant stride closer to their ninth successive Scottish Premiership title.
Not for the first time in recent weeks, a couple of defensive lapses cost Rangers dear. Nikola Katic failed to deal with a long ball en route to Callum Hendry’s opener and, after the Florian Kamberi show turned the game on it’s head, Stevie May snatched a point via a poorly-defended corner in the 80th minute.
And Wright, it seems, had identified Rangers’ central defenders as potential weak links.
“We took a gamble with the two up front. A lot of centre-backs are used to just one striker these days,” Wright amdmitted.
“The gamble for us paid off. No defender likes to be turned and run towards their own goal. They way a lot of the top teams play is pressing the full-backs high and play two against two.
“We thought we could get some joy from that and I am pleased that happened.”
At his best, Katic is a collossus of a defender, an old-school throwback capable of winning everything in the air and throwing his body on the line. But, as the Croatian showed against St Jonhstone, he still has far too many mistakes in his locker to be truly relied upon.
Connor Goldson, his centre-back partner, divides fans at the best of times and he too didn’t exactly leave McDiarmid Park with much credit in the bank.
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