Rangers captain slams XI

Lee Wallace has given a slightly worrying insight into Rangers’ current squad depth by criticising the development squad’s poor display against Brentford’s B side this week.

Against the reserves of the mid-table English Championship Griffin Park side Rangers’ development XI was well beaten, despite featuring a host of first team squad players such as himself, Jak Alnwick, Graham Dorrans, Lee Hodson and Andy Halliday in concert with the traditional younger players.

Brentford B’s head coach Kevin O’Connor sent out a team which was head and shoulders above what Rangers offered, with Cole, Forss, and Clayton the scorers and Wallace was damning in his assessment:

“It was positive in the sense that I managed to bank 90 minutes, other than that, there aren’t many positives. The second half was a slightly better reaction and we got a bit closer to a very well-structured and well-drilled Brentford side, but moving forward, there is a lot of learning to be done from that first half. Each and every one of us fell short of the standards required here.”

The disconcerting aspect here is half the development squad were Rangers’ bench options or players returning from injury, and it bodes poorly for the depth manager Graeme Murty can call on presently that they were so unimpressive in what really should have been, at least, a far more even contest.

Furthermore with Eduardo Herrera a reported target for Chivas it potentially thins the ranks further, leaving truly slim pickings on the side when options are needed.

Naturally the one fillip is that some players are still to return, such as Ryan Jack, Jordan Rossiter and Ross McCrorie, but all of these are defensive midfielders and the prognosis for all three is unclear.

The lack of quality reserves at present on the bench is genuinely concerning – each area of the pitch is threadbare outwith the XI, with attack seeing only Cummings, midfield seeing Halliday, Kranjcar (when used), and Holt, and defence currently seeing Hodson and Wallace.

As more injuries inevitably get picked up, Rangers will have to call more on these guys, and frankly few make the grade.