Joe Ellis

Fri 9 December 2022 22:10, UK

Rangers players will not get the luxury of a day off after their friendly against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday (10 December), Michael Beale has confirmed.

The Light Blues are set for their one and only warm-up before the competitive action restarts as the Bundesliga side visit Ibrox to get some minutes into their own legs.

Beale does not think there is any time for the players to get the usual day off after a game with Hibernian arriving on Thursday (15 December) for the Premiership restart.

“We’ll keep working into Sunday; there is no day off (because) at the moment we don’t have time for that,” Beale said, as quoted by the Daily Record. “We come back in and we work, and we look forward to Thursday after that.

“This Saturday is about fine-tuning and giving everyone an opportunity to show the management team that they want to be part of the future.”

Light work

With a game in midweek, it is perhaps understandable that Beale is not keen on the players getting a full day off, especially if he is to use a lot of them in short bursts against Leverkusen.

But they can’t be expected to go into a full-blooded session the day after a game when their bodies will need a bit of a rest, especially after so long without a game and the obvious soreness that comes with a lack of match sharpness.

A bit of light recovery work and maybe some more tactical stuff that takes less energy out of the players could be the ploy from Beale and his coaching staff to ensure they can be ready to go again on Monday morning as per usual.

There will be some players who need that day off regardless with age, injuries and other factors making things increasingly difficult for them.

The likes of Kemar Roofe and Ridvan Yilmaz might not fancy going straight back onto the pitch, should they play, just in case they aggravate a previous knock and make things worse.

In other Rangers news, Yilmaz’s agent has spoken out about his future at Ibrox and what the feeling is with him and his camp.