As we discussed earlier, Ryan Jack’s injury troubles have deepened, confirmed by Stevie G himself who admitted ‘frustration’ at the situation.
However, sadly the powerhouse midfielder isn’t the only injury issue at Ibrox at the moment, even if the squad as a whole is in a healthy place.
Ibrox Noise takes you through our key injury problems and the prognosis for each.
Ryan Jack:
Those issues have definitely become a major blight – we knew before this season started that Jack’s ongoing troubles would get worse as he got older, and following his return from Scotland duty with yet another niggle, Jack doesn’t have injuries to seek right now.
Historically the former Aberdeen man has had major trouble with his knee, but his new issue, first sustained v Dundee Utd earlier this season at Ibrox, was a calf problem. We don’t know if this is a recurrence of that or the ongoing knee issue, but either way it’s turning into a complicated problem.
Ibrox Noise regulars with an eagle eye will notice we barely covered Gary Mac’s insistence 5 days ago that Jack was being lined up for Hibs – unfortunately we knew that was deeply optimistic at best from the assistant.
His return? We just don’t know, but there are suggestions he’ll miss Celtic and more after that.
Scott Arfield:
This one is every inch as worrying as Ryan Jack – Arfield doesn’t get injuries, and certainly doesn’t go down unless he really is hurt. Even then, he just soldiers on and puts ice on it after the match. This one, sadly went further, and while it’s unclear what it is, his clutching his thigh after a bad and awkward step during a fall which jarred his leg violently before being carried off could hint at a bad muscle pull or even tear.
The manager is worried here, because Arfield isn’t the type to go down like that. He has pointed to it being an ankle issue but we will better know soon. It’s nearly certain he’ll miss St Mirren and we’ll have more info on Celtic in the coming days.
Niko Katic:
Stevie has urged time on this one – Katic is back to heavy lifting but of course it was a dreadful ACLI. Originally mooted for a December or January return, the manager’s reduction in expectation here suggests it’s going to be longer.
We hope we see Katic again this season.
Rangers are fortunate we have the personnel to cope with this, but these cold winter months are the very period this stuff happens during, and thankfully the recent transfer work has brought in players capable of covering.
Small mercies.