Stevie takes blame over new Rangers injury blow

0
Stevie takes blame over new Rangers injury blow
Football - 2021 / 20022 UEFA Champions League - Qualifying Thiurd Round - Second Leg - Glasgow Rangers vs Malmo FF - Ibrox stadium Rangers manager Steven Gerrard PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK

Steven Gerrard has taken the blame over Fashion Sakala’s ongoing injury concerns by admitting he pushed the Zambian too hard, too fast, and it’s flared up his groin.

Eager to get the new striker into action a quickly as possible, Gerrard got him out of quarantine as soon as was allowable and put him straight onto the pitch, without so much as a minor prep, and speaking before Ross County, the boss admits this was an error and it’s cost the player and club yet more time.

We did wonder why Sakala was propelled into the starting XI v Real Madrid having only just joined training, and as much as it was nice to see him in action, it was a big risk for a player coming in from the cold.

He started against Livi and tweaked his groin and has been mostly AWOL since then.

It leads to two conclusions:

Respect to Stevie for admitting an error. We’ve always whined on Ibrox Noise about this being a team game and the manager being just as at fault for errors as the players, and on this occasion the boss has copped it totally and accepted he was in the wrong on this one. Doubt Sakala will appreciate it much, but it’s taking responsibility.

Secondly, though, it does show our manager cannot be implicitly trusted to get every call right. He will make mistakes, and the blind ‘in Stevie we trust’ cannot be universal. The boss admits he’s human and will err, and just assuming he knows what he’s doing might not quite wash every time.

So we’re without our new striker for some time, undetermined, and the options for now up front are Morelos, Itten and Roofe. It’s not really an embarrassment of riches, if we’re honest.

No posts to display