There’s a bit of an elephant in the room at Rangers when it comes to the goalkeeper. We can talk about shape, chances missed, or the midfield not protecting the back line, but if your keeper is coughing up errors too often, it bleeds into everything else.
For me, the frustration with Jack Butland isn’t one isolated mistake. It’s the pattern. The sense that even on a quiet day, you’re never fully relaxed because something basic can suddenly turn into a scramble in the six-yard box.
Errors that change the mood of a match
Goalkeeping is a lonely job. You’re judged on moments, not the tidy stuff. But that’s exactly why repeated howlers or misjudgements are so damaging, because they don’t just cost goals, they cost control.
The Hibs example sticks out, where Dujon Sterling ended up bailing Butland out after a corner situation got messy. It’s not about hanging one player out to dry, it’s about the knock-on effect. When defenders feel they need to rescue their keeper, they stop playing naturally. They drop deeper, they head everything, they go safety-first. That changes the whole tempo.
Distribution is meant to relieve pressure, not invite it
Modern keepers don’t need to be Pirlo, but they do need to be reliable in possession. If the distribution is, as many fans feel, brutal at times, it invites teams onto you. The press gets braver, the stadium gets edgy, and suddenly Rangers are turning simple build-up into a high-wire act.
And here’s the other part. When a keeper looks prone to errors, opposition players can smell it. They shoot earlier, they swing more balls into the box, they take risks because they fancy something will break their way. That’s not paranoia, it’s football.
If outfield players can be dropped, why not the keeper?
Rangers fans are ruthless with outfield form, rightly or wrongly. If a winger goes missing for a few games, the calls for a change are immediate. If a striker isn’t scoring, we’re all asking for somebody else. Yet Butland has felt, to a lot of us, borderline undroppable.
That’s where Liam Kelly comes into it. Nobody is pretending Kelly is flawless, but he’ll have his own ambitions and standards. If he’s looking at it thinking, “What do I need to do?”, you can see why. Competition matters. Not for punishment, but for sharpness.
Truth is, Rangers could strengthen outfield areas in January and still find themselves dropping points if the goalkeeping moments keep going the wrong way. The keeper doesn’t need to be the star every week. He just needs to be dependable. Right now, too often, it doesn’t feel like that.
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