By Joe Ellis

16th Sep, 2022 | 3:10pm

Rangers postponement theory denied by Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin

Despite Rangers enduring a tough run of games, Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin has insisted that they haven’t got away with one.

His Dons side were due to host the Light Blues last weekend but the game was postponed due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and is yet to be rescheduled.

Some people had claimed that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side were fortunate to have the game off while they were perceivably out of form but Goodwin has denied such claims.

“When you are playing well as we were then you don’t want any kind of a break,” he said, as quoted by Football Scotland.

“You want to try and maintain that momentum so, on the one hand, we would have liked the games to go ahead but on the other hand we had a couple of players with little niggles and knocks and the break has not done them any harm.

“I don’t know about that (that Rangers were handed a reprieve).

“They weren’t in great form going into the game last weekend and we had been playing quite well so we were quite confident and optimistic, but I would have to say that their performance on Wednesday night against a really strong Napoli side was very good.

“At 11 v 11, I thought they held their own. It might not have been as easy as some people might have anticipated (our fixture).”

Faster

After three dreadful displays against Celtic, Ajax and Napoli, you might think that Giovanni van Bronckhorst would want a good break to re-evaluate his tactics and team selection.

But that can sometimes be the last thing a manager wants because they can quickly start to overthink things whereas when there is another game just days later, there is no time to panic or contemplate and that often provides a good result.

Reflection is always important but there needs to be regular games throughout the season where the boss can keep his head focused and there is not too much time to over-analyse every small detail of every game.

A trip to Aberdeen might have been the medicine Rangers needed after their back-to-back 4-0 thumping and it could have made for a totally different occasion at home to Napoli in the Champions League.

But there is no reason to dwell on it now and van Bronckhorst has to get his troops ready to beat Dundee United on Saturday.

In other Rangers news, the poor form has seemingly sparked the club into the free agent market and this former England international is on the radar.