WHEN Nikola Katic was cooling his heels one thing kept him going while he found himself out o the Rangers team.

And that was every player gets dropped.

Yes. even the best suffer bad times in their career, and that is what the 22-year-old defender went through as he couldn’t get a game in a back four which was hardly rock solid.

“I thought a lot about what went wrong, what’s happened,” admitted Katic when asked to explain what it was like to be on the sidelines.

“I talked a lot with the staff. I talked with the gaffer also. He explained to me that it was a big club and that he also had in his career a few times when his form came down. I’m a young player at a big club in a strong league so everything was good. I just wanted to train hard and be ready for the chance.”

Katic got back in on Sunday and helped Rangers beat Livingston 3-0. A clean sheet on a plastic pitch surely means he’ll start against Cowdenbeatht his evening.

“It was very good for me to come back and get game time after a long period,” said the Bosnian. “It was a tough game for us, everyone knows how Livingston play at home. It is an Astro pitch and they are a physical team so it was tough to go there after two or three months and start. But I am very happy with the result.

“It was more difficult mentality when I didn’t play for two or three months but I was pushing hard all the time in training, trying to get a chance to show on the pitch that I am ready. I knew the chance would come so I had to prepare myself to be ready. I was ready physically to show that I deserved to play again.

“I had a few games where I played really good, at the start of the season in the Europa League was much better. In the first half against Motherwell at Ibrox, we beat them 7-1, I wasn’t at the right level so he took me out and explained what I had to do.

“I respect him, I trust him and I was pushing hard and waiting for a chance.”

Gerrard wants his defenders to be warrior, a role Katic is happy to play up to. It says a lot that from that wonderful Barcelona team of a few years back, his favourite player was Carles Puyal.

“Niko came back after the winter break and he was really focused with a determination to break back into the team.” said Gerrard.

“He’s been very strong in training and he deserved the opportunity and he took it with both hands.

“When you’re out of a team and you’re looking in and desperate to play then you have to learn and speak to the right people around you and be honest with yourself.

“You have to realise what you’ve got to do to get back in but the key thing here is we’re talking about an incredible professional and someone who is very determined to improve, learn and grow.

“You’ve got to manage players of his age and it’s only normal that at a time they’ll have a dip in form and it’s for me to protect them during that period.

“I’ve seen it many times.”