Will international break provide respite for Rangers injury crisis?
Is wear and tear kicking in at Ibrox?
Walter Smith was very keen, even way back in July, to emphasise the importance of his squad avoiding injuries and suspensions. With the size of Rangers squad, this is fairly obvious as the absence of a number of key players could make a huge difference to the make-up of the Rangers line-up. With 7 league win on the trot, they are doing well so far but of course, they aren’t the only team with 7 league wins.
Celtic have also managed to put together a 7 game winning run so far whilst overcoming a few injuries. Celtic have a bigger squad than Rangers but have already weathered the loss of Izaguirre, Mulgrew,Hooiveld, Loovens, Rogne, Juarez, Kayal, McCourt, McGinn, Forrest and Hooper at one point or another. Having a larger squad gives more room for manoeuvring but it is still impressive the way Celtic have kept their run going through numerous changes. Both teams have been impressive so far.
Rangers, up until now, have knuckled down and mainly battered through the knocks and niggles that affect regular first team picks but it appears the first signs of wear and tear are showing. Kirk Broadfoot and Lee McCulloch missed the late-win at Tynecastle and the latest news is that Nikica Jelavic will require an operation after a typical Ian Black challenge in that match.
Regardless of what team they play for or have played for, some players just annoy football fans. Ian Black is one such player and the reason for this dislike is that he is a thuggish, brutal player. At the moment, Rangers fans will be angry with Black but genuine football fans will have noted that Black has kicked and hacked his way throughout his time at Caley and Hearts.
Jelavic is due to have an operation on Tuesday and it is only after that has taken place will there be a better idea of how long the player will be out for.
In addition to this, there are doubts over Alan McGregor’s fitness and he may be unavailable for Scotland. We don’t expect Craig Levein to act the hard man in laying down the law to McGregor in the way that he did to David Marshall but if McGregor is absent, it will be a sad loss for Scotland.
At the moment, the two other keepers in the Scotland camp are Craig Gordon and Cammy Bell. Bell has been fairly decent for Kilmarnock but should not be exposed to the Czech Republic or Spain. Which leaves Craig Gordon, who is yet to play this season and doubts remain over his match-fitness. Without a fit McGregor, Scotland are struggling to field a strong defensive unit for two games that they really need.
The needs of Rangers fans will differ from the needs of Scotland fans but you can expect there will be a lot of keen eyes on the Scotland squad that heads out to the Czech Republic for the big game on Friday.
With Rangers not in action until a home match against Motherwell on the 16th of October, there is a chance that some niggling injuries will be given time to heal. However, the international break will have Walter Smith sweating over the fitness and availability of some of his key men.
Do you spend international breaks worrying about the fitness of your favourite players?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Ian Black at Hearts, Ross Tokely at ICT and Darren Dodds of Dundee Utd, three of the biggest thugs ever to disgrace Scottish Football. Two of them have now committed serious injuries to Rangers players in recent seasons, Black’s on Saturday to Jelavic & Dodds two seasons ago against Edu. There really is no requirement in the game for such thuggery and we need to eradicate it from our game.
Oddly enough, all three were involved with incidents at the weekend.
Dods is a fairly limited and brutal centre half who thunders through the back of everything and everyone. John Terry is probably the only centre half that handles more than him and gets away with it. Killie should have had a pen duet o him on Saturday.
Tokely’s challenge on Saturday was far worse than what Paton of Aberdeen allegedly did for his red card. Ross Tokely strikes us as being an individual who would find joined up writing a little taxing.
Does every team have a player that commits acts of thuggery?
I dont understand your comment “laying down the law the way he did to Marshall”(roughly).
What am I missing? Why shouldn’t he be consistent? Never mind with keepers but with every player?
For the friendlies at the start of the season, Cardiff City had a league cup tie and even though David Marshall was carrying a knock, there was a likelihood that City would have been forced to play Marshall or start on the bench.
Levein took the opportunity to act the hard man and start making threats about Marshall’s Scotland career if he did not come to the Scotland squad.
We dont think Levein will have the bottle to go toe to toe with Rangers if Alan McGregor’s injury becomes a more pressing concern.
Levein should be consistent but he doesnt strike us as a man who would be….we’ll wait and see.