NEW season… same old Rangers?
Woeful on weekends… magnificent in midweek.
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Whether that continues for the rest of the Scottish Premiership campaign we shall see, but Russell Martin will be desperate to ensure his squad sheds that tag.
In order to do that he’ll have to keep moulding the players within his system – and hope his new signings hit the ground running.
So far it’s been a mixed bag in the transfer market from Gers.
Oliver Antman impressed on his debut but Max Aarons only looked the type of player Rangers thought they were getting once he was moved to right-back.
Djeidi Gassama is fast becoming a fans’ favourite but as yet we haven’t seen Thelo Aasgaard, Mikey Moore or Manny Fernandez in a competitive match.
Joe Rothwell is starting to settle in nicely and that brings us to our next point: does that mean the end for Nicolas Raskin at Rangers?
He was left out of the starting XI by Martin for the 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the Light Blues’ crucial Champions League third round qualifier.
Will he be content to play second fiddle or can he force his way into the team?
SunSport’s David Friel was quizzed by Jonathon Moar on Raskin’s future and all the latest transfer goings on at Ibrox.
Nico Rask-OUT?
He was dropped by Martin in one of his big calls against Plzen
I just wonder whether this is the beginning of the end for him at Rangers.
Russell Martin was asked what does this team selection mean for the future of Nico Raskin and James Tavernier and he said there’s a tendency in Scotland to make one thing a big thing.
But if you’re Nico Raskin and you’ve broken into the Belgian squad and you’re used to being the main man in that Rangers midfield, you’re playing that position then fine, everything’s good.
But it’s clear that in the set up Russell Martin wants there’s going to be one central midfielder with two advanced, call it two number eights if you want.
Joe Rothwell has been signed by Russell Martin to be his main man, that’s clear, he’s going to play that position, that midfield pivot, which means Nico Raskin has been shifted out to the left a little bit, that clearly hasn’t suited him.
And look I don’t think you need a rocket scientist to know that Russell Martin wasn’t very happy with him at Fir Park the other night considering he left him out of the team.
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Lyall Cameron came in and I thought Rangers had a balance.
I would imagine going forward that the man who’s been earmarked for that number eight role just off the left is Thelo Aasgaard, so if you put everything together I’m not sure that Nico Raskin becomes an automatic starter for Rangers.
A, I don’t think he would really be happy with that or tolerate that and B, he’s a big asset for Rangers.
If Rangers get a decent bid, I don’t think they’ll stand in his way.
Does Souttar stay?
The centre-back has admitted there’s been no talks about a new contract
There’s no doubt Russell Martin would like to keep John Souttar, he’s basically made that clear in not so many words.
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He has kind of almost deferred it a bit to Kevin Thelwell and the rest of the Rangers hierarchy saying it’s up to him to deal with contracts.
I think that is basically a code for Martin saying he’d like to keep him.
But John Souttar‘s also at the stage of his career, like Greg Taylor, his Scotland pal, was at Celtic at the start of last season and all the way into it, where this is going to be maybe the biggest deal of his career.
He is coming into his prime if you want to talk about that but he might not have those two or three deals down the line to get.
I’m sure he’s well paid at Rangers but I don’t really blame John Souttar, especially if he’s been made captain for a massive Champions League night, for looking at a certain level of contract.
It must come down to the fact that do Rangers want to pay that, do they want to sanction that, do they feel John Souttar is the man for Russell Martin to build his defence around or do they feel well?
Maybe they don’t want to go that high in terms of wages.
Now I’m not saying John Souter’s asking for astronomical amounts.
But I think he’s probably established enough, he’s a Scotland regular, he was Rangers captain for such a big game where he’s entitled to the going rate.
I thought his language and the way he spoke was quite interesting, ‘I love it here but nothing’s really happened’.
I would imagine once Rangers get the transfer window out the way and there’s still clearly a bit of work to do then you would imagine they will get down to sit with John Souttar and say look this is what we’re thinking, what are you thinking and take it from there.
I don’t really see any reason for him to leave Rangers, as I said Russell Martin clearly likes him, he’s in a good place, I think it would help his Scotland credentials if he’s playing every week for Rangers and if you’re being told you can be captain next season then of course he’d like to stay.
But it looks as if there’s a wee bit of work to be done and that’s coming from the horse‘s mouth, the player himself.
If someone comes in with a multi-million pound offer for John Souttar, then of course that changes things.
But right now if I was Rangers, if they don’t think he’s signing a contract I wouldn’t be in a rush to cash in.
You’re better off getting another good season out of him to help with the transition period under Russell Martin.
I think John Souttar will now see out the season with Rangers, whether he’ll sign a new contract or not I’m generally not sure.
But I wouldn’t imagine Rangers being in a rush to lose him just now.
Dessers vs Danilo
Danilo led the line for most of pre-season and in the three competitive games so far, but Cyriel Dessers showed his worth against Plzen
Cyriel Dessers got the nod ahead of Danilo, we’ve mentioned before how this was Danilo’s time to show that he’s good enough. He’s not taken that chance, he just hasn’t.
Cyriel Dessers is still at the club, who knows what will happen towards the end of the transfer window?
But right now he’s Rangers’ best striker and I thought he led the line really, really well.
He grabbed the penalty too and I always like to see strikers grab the ball at penalties and finish the way he did.
He played a lovely little pass for Gassama’s first goal as well.
More defensive moves?
Rangers have been linked with Nobel Mendy and Kassoum Ouattara
I think that has to be an area that Rangers are still looking at.
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Obviously Ridvan YIlmaz is still at the club but you’d imagine he’ll go, Jefte was given a chance last night and I think that was the right decision because whether you’re playing Tavernier or Max Aarons at right back you need balance there. It just wasn’t working playing Aarons at left-back.
Rangers are quite light in terms of options there and I think that’s why Aarons had been playing there at the start of the season.
I think you would also look at the centre-back position and still see Rangers a bit light too because you’ve got Souttar, you’ve got Djiga, you have Manny Fernandez who hasn’t been seen yet competitively, clearly one for the future but will play a certain amount of games, so I do still think there’s scope for a left-back and a centre-half.
However I do wonder whether you get one that can do both, we’ve seen that a million times over the years, just someone that you can maybe come in and develop can play different positions but it’s no surprise that Rangers are looking at that type and that position.
It also depends on what Russell Martin’s view is of Jefte.
He had left him out early in the season, said there were certain things that he wanted him to get better at but he threw him in against Plzen last night, thought he did fine, there were a couple of wayward passes but he’d been asked to play a different way, he was coming in field a lot more, defensively didn’t really have much to trouble him at all.
I actually quite like Jefte, there’s a lot of work needed to be done but he’s got good size, he’s got decent pace and everything like that, he can get stuck in.
I do think there’s a player there.
Is Dowell done?
The English midfielder had been a regular in Martin’s early line-ups but was relegated to the bench against Plzen
It just looked like a short term fix and I don’t blame Russell Martin for that.
Everybody’s saying why would you take him out of the leadership group and all that, Russell Martin just has to work with the players he has.
He can’t think, well Kieran Dowell might leave here in two months time, I better not blame him, he just has to look at the 15, 16 players, senior players he’s got there, sees a guy that’s played at a good level, and think let’s just put him in the leadership group.
Russell Martin put him into the team, there weren’t many options because guys were getting up to fitness, I think you see now that Oliver Antman went straight in as soon as he was signed, he’s clearly done a pre-season, Djeidi Gassama’s now up to speed, he’s starting games, Mikey Moore will be the same, so I’d be amazed if Kieran Dowell is still a Rangers player by the 1st of September.
Not done getting wide yet
Rangers could buy another winger despite the early impacts of Djeidi Gassama and Oliver Antman, not to mention Findlay Curtis bursting onto the scene
I still think Rangers will sign another winger.
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Look at the way Russell Martin wants to play, what he’s going to ask of these wingers, if you look at the shift that Gassama and Antman put in, it’s the modern way, give us 60, 65 minutes and then we’ll change.
I also think it’s one where Rangers are going to have so many games, so you look at the domestic campaign, two cups and guaranteed minimum Europa League phase, which is another eight games, hopefully it’ll go deeper into that competition, they just could play 60 games this season.
It’s a big ask to say to Antman and Gassama, I need you to go every three days, 90 minutes all the time.
I think he wants competition, Mikey Moore’s one, he’ll be coming up thinking I can get into that team too.
But that’s what every manager wants, that’s on top of the competition.
I still think they’ll go for Jesurun Rak-Sakyi of Crystal Palace.
Oscar Cortes? I just don’t see him really making it at Rangers.
But there’s obviously that obligation to buy, Rangers had to sanction it, I think he’s got a good enough pedigree that he could probably get a loan somewhere, I just don’t really see him being part of the plans.
Findlay Curtis is a totally different one, part of Russell Martin’s remit is obviously to develop young players and Findlay Curtis has been the shining light in terms of that so far this season.
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