Rangers have had another horrendous season with injuries, last year Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to make do without most of his defence whereas Philippe Clement has been light up front.
Sunday’s Old Firm served another reminder of the issues that the Gers boss has faced with his squad when he named a forward line missing all four of his first choice players.
There has been respite in recent weeks and Rangers are starting to get players back, but it doesn’t look like Philippe Clement won’t be able to field his strongest XI this season.
The manager chose who to start in the derby based primarily on fitness, he has shown since arriving that he doesn’t want to risk players who aren’t capable of playing 90 minutes or who aren’t 100%.
It shows that he trusts his full squad, however, as we saw when players like Todd Cantwell, Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo came off the bench, there is a noticeable drop in quality.
The scary thing is, the forward line that finished at Ibrox probably is the best that is available at the moment and it is easy to forget the calibre of player that isn’t fit.
Speaking as part of the buildup to our ill-fated trip to Dundee, Philippe Clement wasn’t exactly optimistic about the short-term future of both Oscar Cortes and Danilo:“I think there is a big chance that the season is finished for them but you never know that if they’re ready the last week and it’s necessary that we do that, if they are fit.
“For them it’s really they’re going to be ready in the really last part of the season, it depends also if you play a cup final or not, that’s already one week more.
“And we will make an evaluation in that moment but it’s around that period that they will be fit again so it’s difficult to speak about one week or two weeks according to that.
“And then it’s to see what the situation is also in the squad and how they are also after their very long-term injury.”
The season has almost been a write-off for Danilo.
Signed for some £6m, he should be the striker that Clement is able to call upon for big games like Old Firm derbies.
Despite his injury issues, the nature of them shouldn’t see a repeat next season.
He surely can’t be that unlucky again?!
For Cortes, Rangers looked to have unearthed a gem.
The 20-year old looked powerful with the ball at his feet, capable of taking defenders in both directions and wasn’t shy to get a shot away.
Even after just seven appearances, the Colombian youth cap looks to have made enough of an impression to take up the £4m option to buy.
£10m worth of talent missing from the forward line?
No wonder we keep missing chances.
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