Rangers injury update for Premier Sports Cup clash against Motherwell

Rangers haven’t quite hit rock bottom, but after playing almost every team in the Scottish Premiership, being third place and nine points behind second is far from acceptable.

Philippe Clement’s job as manager is hanging by a thread, and he will be hoping that the Premier Sports Cup provides some relief from league disappointment.

Motherwell will not be easy opponents, but with Clement failing to provide an injury update during his pre-match press conference, Rangers fans have been left in the dark once more.

Rangers injury list to face Motherwell.

At Pittodrie, the Belgian was unable to use what is arguably his first-choice forward line.

Looking at the bench, there is a case that the players who did not start can form a stronger team than the one Clement fielded.

The squad’s current injury status is unclear, with the last update being:

• Unavailable: Ridvan Yilmaz, Rabbi Matondo, Danilo, Vaclav Cerny, and Oscar Cortes.

Here’s what the Rangers manager said on Tuesday about the state of his team:

“Oscar Cortes still not, but in a good way doing his rehab.

“Rabbi Matondo also still not, but also in a good way, doing already warm ups with the team and then being outside with the physios.

“Ridvan Yilmaz doing some parts of the training with the squad but not fit enough yet.

“And Danilo on his way back, not as his best form of course, but he’s getting better and better.”

Matondo, Danilo, and Ridvan have all been spotted in training ground footage recently, with the latter two getting closer to returning to action.

Danilo recently played 60 minutes for the B team, but Ridvan will need to ease his way back into competitive football.

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Does Clement deserve praise for not rushing players back?

Rangers’ away tactics remain an issue, but Vaclav Cerny, Danilo, and Oscar Cortes would undoubtedly help.

The fact that they finished with a left-back and a right-back playing on the wings as they chased an equaliser against Aberdeen says it all.

Clement hasn’t gotten much credit lately, but he deserves some praise for not putting players in danger when his job is on the line.

In order to save his skin, he could easily rush players like Danilo or Rabbi Matondo and throw them back into games.

The only way to accomplish this right now is to win games.

In other news, SFA panel delivers verdict on Celtic and Rangers penalty calls, and Connor Barron high boot.