Breaking Rangers team news as Borna Barisic and Dujon Sterling miss training
Breaking news has emerged out of Rangers this morning, with neither Borna Barisic nor Dujon Sterling training this morning, according to PLZ Soccer.
The Scottish football news outlet shared via their Twitter account on 25 October that Philippe Clement now has a crisis at left-back, with Ridvan Yilmaz not registered for the Europa League squad.
Clement has been left with no fit left-backs going into Thursday night’s [26 October] Europa League clash with Sparta Prague, meaning there will have to be a makeshift option in defence.
Beale already coming back to haunt Rangers
Michael Beale’s decision to leave Yilmaz out of the Europa League squad was questioned at the time, with many believing it would spell an end to the defender’s Ibrox career, but after he remained at the club during the transfer window, Clement would need him now.
The injury crisis at left-back means Ben Davies may be forced to start outside of his natural position. This would make sense with him being a naturally left-sided defensive player but could cause problems for Clement’s side.
His lack of understanding of the wide defensive role could leave him exposed at times, as well as limiting the attacking threat that comes from the left flank without a natural overlapping full-back to deliver crosses into the box.
A change of shape could be on the cards if the new boss feels it would be best to start with three in defence to cover their duties while playing a winger or midfielder in a different role as a wing-back to provide the overlapping duties.
Either way, it’s far from an ideal situation ahead of the manager’s second game in charge of Rangers.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has reacted to a “ridiculous” incident in the Hibernian game.