So it’s time to decompress and sum up Rangers’ injury issues.
As we explained before on Ibrox Noise, the squad is fully 34-men in size, and at current standings, 10 of them are out injured, leaving us with 24.
Ibrox Noise takes you through every injured soul on the payroll and where they are.
Not a single defender is actually injured at present, that is one area where, mercifully, we’re healthy.
We go into midfield where the injuries begin. Todd Cantwell, who is slated for a late March return, following being slaughtered on the muckfest that was the McDiarmid pitch, begins our numbers followed by Kieran Dowell, who is seemingly out for the season after surgery. Ryan Jack is another one – can play every now and then but cannot come close to every match and will be a one in every two or three matches player. Is that an injury? Kind of.
It’s into the wings/attack where the real problems mount up:
Tom Lawrence remains sensitive like Jack – he’s a minute-managed player who isn’t quite at full fitness. Not injured as things stand, but not able for 90 yet.
Kemar Roofe is the same – he’s way behind Lawrence but he is at least fit to be on the bench again. He can offer 10 minutes here and there.
Oscar Cortes is out for the season, as good as. That bad call to play him on Killie’s pitch backfired (yet Clement specifically kept Roofe away from that pitch!) and he appears to need surgery. Hamstring issue we understand. A real blow there.
Ross McCausland’s prognosis isn’t public yet but reportedly he couldn’t actually walk after Dan Casey’s ‘intervention’ yesterday. He could be out for some time but how long is guesswork at this point.
Rabbi Matondo remains unavailable – he’s missed a lot of football now, and it’s a real pity because he was just starting to catch some fire for the first time in his Rangers career. We don’t know when he’ll be back.
Abdallah Sima is now back on grass at least training a little, but he’s not using the ball and it’s a case of trying to get movement in his legs. We imagine April at the earliest before he’s got a ball at his feet. We’re kind of writing him mostly off this season.
And Danilo… he’s had his surgery and he’s been kind of written off too – there’s no ETA on when he’ll be remotely fit again. Ready when he’s ready, but unlikely to see him again this season.
So that’s around 10 men now either out or just not able for every match, meaning Rangers now have a senior fit squad of full-90-minute players numbering around 24, 21 if you remove youngsters Yfeko, Rice and Strachan.
That’s a bit short to say the least, and we can’t say Clement is in a much better position than the injury crisis that got Giovanni van Bronckhorst fired.
It’s a long way from ideal.