Helander or Katic?

[ArranRfc 39]

Can't decide between the 2 but a very good choice to have to make at the moment both impressive. Would like to see them paired together. 

[Fat Boy Loyal 62]

I believe all four centre backs are good, but I really rate Helander. so he is my choice.

[Camshy 812]

No doubt Helander has improved as his sharpness is now up to speed and his distribution is far better than Katic but defenders have to defend first and he is very slow and lacks a real physical presence 

Katic imo has up to this point performed far better, not only in terms of defending but his threat at the other end is encouraging......sadly I think Helander and Goldson will be the preferred 2 in the bigger games and while both are handy im not so sure they are our best pairing.

[JCDBigBear 10,824]

Katic would be the number one CB for me and I'd play Edmundson  with him.  Goldson and Helander fill me with fear every time they are near the ball.  Goldson is repetitively careless and Helander is as slow as a week in jail.    I would not play Goldson and Helander together.    

[Broxi 11,484]

I genuinely think it's a real possibility that Goldson is our worst CB. And that's not an insult on him at all, I just personally think Katic and Helander are better than him and the only thing that's stopping me saying Edmundson is too is the little number of games we've seen him in and the opposition it was against. But he's not put a single foot wrong in any game he's played and has looked hugely confident with some excellent passing. 

[AF72 54]

4 hours ago, SkylineBlue said:

Goldson seems to have become a whipping boy and I don't get it. He does make mistakes, but he plays almost every single game for us and is pretty reliable and solid all round. This desire to drop a consistent performer who can handle playing for a club this size baffles me a bit. 

We’ve finally got a settled backline that’s playing consistently well, so rather typically folk on here now want to immediately change it around again for absolutely fuck all.

Good stuff.

[Mclean RFC 1,271]

5 hours ago, shenders said:

And ends them that way too. Against mince like Hearts his 4-5 balls he gives away and 2-3 slips per game arent punished. Against better opposition that gets punished. 
I just dont see what he offers us footballing wise the others dont.  

His passing is awful 
He always gets beaten in defensive headers 
His offensive headers from corners and free kicks are always a mile over. 
Helander, Edmundson and Katic are all better tacklers than him. 

Watched goldson flick the ball over the oncoming strikers to the left or right back with precision for a while now.

He also wins headers and scores goals. He has his off days like any professional footballer but he is our best centre back all round.

Potentially katic could be the best but for big games it has to be helander and goldson on current form.

And Rangers turn up in europe. Our record speaks for itself. Only a handful at most of our games could be seen as dissapointing in europe.

 

[EatDolphins 5,355]

Just happy to have 3 solid CBs to choose from plus another while looks like he could be aswell. Been a long long time.

[loyalfollower 1,543]

Both playing well all season so far but unless it’s for squad rotation then Helander doesn’t deserve to lose his place so far.  Introduction at Livingston was brutal but has since hit better and better and seems to love a physical battle

[Redwhiteandblue 3,330]

I don't get Gerrards hard on for Goldson. Aye, he's not making big mistakes week in week out, but he usually makes a couple each game. 

It will eventually lead to a howler. 

[ShanksRFC 3,869]

I like all four of them tbh, not really fussed at the moment and will trust what Gerrard sees in training.

[Negri's lovechild 13,988]

Helander is still adapting to the Scottish game and already looks like a very good addition to the team.

Let's see what he is like at full speed. Looking like a very decent sum of money spent. His lack of pace would only worry me if he didn't have positional intelligence, which he has.

Love Katic as well, but hopefully he stays for a while so that once Goldson or Helander move on, we have the finished article as a replacement. 

[GersInCanada 7,775]

For me it's Goldson needing a break. Gives the ball away far too often with his poor distribution.

Hellander with either Katic or Edmuston needs to be tried.

[Smile 26,600]

Goldson and Tav both made back to back mistakes after Morelos goal that could have cost us Goldson let Uche get in a free header and Tav did the same with Wighton against better opponents we wont get away with that.

I think we have a group of defenders who are all guilty of the odd fuck up but overall we have a decent group.

[graeme_4 34,479]

I like Helander (particularly on the ball), but he’s painfully slow. 

I’d be inclined to have Katic in ahead of him, but what I really want is a consistent back line. 

[Tiger Shaw 30,464]

6 hours ago, Redwhiteandblue said:

I don't get Gerrards hard on for Goldson. Aye, he's not making big mistakes week in week out, but he usually makes a couple each game. 

It will eventually lead to a howler. 

Every CB has a howler at some point even Richard Gough had howlers and I remember Terry Butcher putting the ball in he own net a few times 😆

Goldson Katic for me but it doesn’t matter what pairing we go with mistakes will eventually be made. 

[Wullies_bowly_legs 3,801]

As much as you’d like to pick CB’s to match up to a game like playing Katic or Edmunson against that livi centre forward as it will be very physical, it’s more important to have a settled back line so they know each others game inside out. Stick with what we are going with just now as they will only get better together as they learn where and how the other plays during the game.

[Blueshoff 11,799]

22 hours ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

Horses for courses. 

This. 

 

[Brian Fantana 28,894]

Goldson is pish. Can leave in January if possible. 

[Smile 26,600]

17 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

Goldson is pish. Can leave in January if possible. 

We should replace him with the wee 17 year old Hearts left back who plays right back as in a couple of years he's going to be a centre back or working in Asda.

[Bears r us 30,794]

Stevie obviously thinks Goldson is his main man in central defence and so that is not going to change unless he get's injured.

I think Helander is a good player, and his two goals have been very important in the last couple of games as well.

I would like to see Katic and Helander given a chance, but I cannot see that happening, so we will just have to go with it at the moment.

  

[Laudrupsleftfoot 10,872]

Sat joint top of the league, in one cup final, doing well in Europe with Goldson an ever present yet some cunts want to experiment with a completely new pairing? Fucking madness.

[Ross-Gazza genius 1,907]

To be honest there's not much between them and it's a difficult but welcome headache to have. The experience of goldson and helander is probably what's giving them the nod and as much as I like big katic, his time will come as I think him and edmundson are the long term plan. 

[harlands plater 16,975]

Helander looks too much like Joe Worrall. Far better player, but looks like him.

[Ozblue 4,331]

I am a great fan of Niko Katic, but if it is a  direct choice between him and Helander at this point in time then I have no doubt that Gerrard will go for Helander to partner Goldson as his number one pairing. The main reasons for that is Helander is a fully fledged Swedish internationalist with over 70 league games for Verona and Bologna in Serie A, plus the fact we were willing to splash out £3.5 million for his services. Katic on the other hand had only played  just over 60 League games in the Croatian top flight for Slaven Belupo, a club who is hardly a well known name to the majority of Rangers supporters. Helander is approaching his peak years while Katic is 3 .1/2 years younger in experience.

Gerrard has got what he wanted regarding 4 potential first team centre backs, so it's up to him to try and keep them all happy, and while Katic must be happy after signing an extension to his contract that will take him to 2024, I don't know how young George Edmundson feels as he seems to be out on a limb at the moment.