Michael Stewart digs up on Rangers negative on BBC Sportscene after what he noticed v St Johnstone
Michael Stewart has warned Rangers not to ignore their younger players after seeing several quality players come off the bench in the 4-0 win against St Johnstone on Saturday.
Tom Lawrence, Glen Kamara, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Arfield and Leon King were all introduced to the game by Giovanni van Bronckhorst while Allan McGregor, Ridvan Yilmaz, Steven Davis and Fashion Sakala were left as unused substitutes.
Lawrence and Arfield both scored after they were subbed into the Scottish Premiership showdown and while Stewart is impressed by the options at van Bronckhorst’s disposal, he’s suggested that the strength in depth could hinder the club’s younger stars.
“Very strong,” said Stewart, talking about Rangers’ bench on BBC Scotland’s Sportscene on Saturday night (13 August, 17m10s).
“It’s almost to the extent – and I’ve spoken about this before – where I feel they just need to be conscious and aware of having some space for the youngsters to step in and get some game-time.
“The likes of Tom Lawrence, not to say they’re bad players because they’re not, they’re good players, but I think they’ve got good enough players in the youth system coming through they could have perhaps not brought on as many [senior players] as that.
“But when you look at that bench, it’s very, very strong.”
What’s he on about?
Rangers can make five substitutions in each Scottish Premiership game this season.
And while van Bronckhorst’s bench was padded out with experienced, senior options, he still managed to give some game-time to youngster King.
The 18-year-old centre-back played for 12 minutes at the end of the game against St Johnstone, making his ninth senior appearance for the Gers.
He’s been on the bench for each of Rangers’ games this season in all competitions while Adam Devine has also made the matchday squad a couple of times.
Stewart just wanted to find something to moan about, didn’t he?
You can’t have Rangers winning 4-0 in an almost flawless performance without Stewart finding something to have a little dig about.
Something would be wrong otherwise.
Van Bronckhorst has offered plenty of chances to the academy graduates players at Ibrox while he’s also got some young players he’s signed for the senior squad like Yilmaz, Rabbi Matondo and Malik Tillman.
In other Rangers news, this Ibrox fan favourite might never pull on the blue jersey ever again.