So as we know, the Covid Crew all got 6-match bans, two suspended, meaning, essentially, that Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey and Bongani Zungu will not be available for effectively the month of April.
When it comes to the other players, they’re not so relevant, but these three, Patterson especially, give Rangers a headache.
Let’s be clear – we are not objecting to the sentence – just because other clubs’ offences have been dealt with more lightly than this doesn’t vindicate the stupidity of what our boys did.
But that’s spilled milk.
The implications are more significant.
Ryan Jack and James Tavernier’s injuries are very murky – at this point we don’t really know when either of them will be available.
Both of them got this two weeks of the international break to recover, but Jack had to pull out of his call up and Tavernier’s situation is a little more complex than it was feared.
Our point?
We now don’t have Bongani Zungu or Nathan Patterson to fill in.
At RB Rangers are going to have to rely on the pretty rotten Leon Balogun to fill in – good CB, horrific RB these days, and there’s no one to cover Steven Davis or Glen Kamara now.
And should anything happen to Borna Barisic, he has no cover whatsoever bar auxiliary Jack Simpson.
And of course these matches affect the one meaningful competition left, the Scottish Cup, and all five will be completely unavailable not just for the league but for two of Rangers’ matches in our assault on the country’s main cup tournament.
It’s a pickle, and means that we have to juggle our players – and frankly overuse them.
Kamara is young enough and will be fine, but Steven Davis, heavily on international duty, won’t get a break, and in defence RB and LB will be stretched thin.
Thankfully, of course, the main one, the league, is settled, but this ban, and these players’ actions, have made winning the Scottish cup a lot harder than it needed to be.
Thankfully it didn’t affect 55.
I’m sure SG and his coaching staff will be looking at this. We should have enough to get through the Cup games . The league will be of a higher level of competition but apart from the rotten mob we should be able to get through that too. Might be a chance for a few to step up .
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