Glasgow Rangers have it all to play for when they travel to Hampden Park to play the second leg of their Champions League qualifying clash next week.
The Ibrox giants, who are set to play away from their home stadium in the early weeks of the season, picked up a 1-1 draw away at Dynamo Kyiv in the first leg on Tuesday night.
Cyriel Dessers stepped up to score in the 94th minute to secure a draw for the Light Blues, converting from close range from Vaclav Cerny's sublime inswinging cross from the right flank.
There were a few concerning performances from Gers players on the night, though, and one dud who should be dropped from the starting XI is John Souttar.
John Souttar's struggles in Kyiv
The Scotland international was selected to play alongside veteran Leon Balogun from the start in Kyiv and endured a difficult evening at the heart of the defence.
Souttar let himself down twice in a matter of seconds for the opening goal from Andriy Yarmalenko in the first half, which gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Firstly, the 27-year-old flop dropped deeper than the rest of the defence, which played Vladyslav Vanat onside. Vanat then whipped a cross straight past Souttar, who had allowed Yarmalenko to sneak in behind him for an unmarked tap-in in the middle of the goal.
Glasgow World journalist Lewis Anderson awarded the centre-back a match rating of 2/10 for his display, citing his error for the goal and his loose passes in possession as the reasons for his low score.
Philippe Clement could react to this performance by finally ditching him and unleashing new signing Robin Propper from the start in the second leg next week.
Why Rangers should unleash Robin Propper
The Belgian boss must bring the £1.5m signing from FC Twente into the side as he could provide experience and quality at the heart of the defence.
At the age of 30, Propper has been around the block and racked up the best part of 400 appearances in his club career, including 223 outings in the Eredivisie.
This suggests that he would be unfazed by playing in such an important fixture as Rangers look to make it to the play-off round of qualifiers for the Champions League, due to his experience in top-level football.
Appearances
33
Pass accuracy
85%
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.4
Ball recoveries per game
5.2
Duel success rate
60%
As you can see in the table above, Propper has arrived at Ibrox (Hampden) off the back of an impressive campaign in the Eredivisie last term.
The Dutch colossus, who was described as a "powerful" player by Clement, is a reliable passer, as shown by his high pass accuracy, and has the physical qualities to dominate opposition forwards.
He can win the majority of his battles, on the deck and in the air, and could, therefore, be a commanding presence at the back for the Light Blues, which is why the manager must now unleash him ahead of the struggling Souttar.
As bad as Souttar: Clement must bin 2/10 Rangers man after Kyiv no-show
The Light Blues attacker endured a frustrating evening in the Champions League.
ByDan EmeryAug 7, 2024