Headlines elsewhere today have suggested something of a mini-crisis for Giovanni van Bronckhorst with five players said to be missing for the tough assignment against Liverpool at Anfield.
On paper, yes, there are indeed more than five players unavailable from the squad for the game but there was no realistic chance of at least four of those individuals featuring.
This article for example states that Tom Lawrence, John Souttar, Filip Helander, Kemar Roofe and James Sands will all be unavailable for Matchday 3 of the current CL campaign.
That is correct but they were all known to be out of contention prior to the international break so it is nothing new and certainly not worthy of the bold headline presented.
Sands is suspended after his red card v Napoli, Roofe and Helander aren’t in the CL squad whilst different injury issues rule of Lawrence and Souttar with today’s update on the former adding a fresh tinge of disappointment.
As stated by Gio van Bronckhorst in the pre-match press conference, his side will go into the game with largely the same options as against Hearts, except for the omission of US international Sands, as mentioned.
It is a case of as you were barring any last minute surprises with the game plan already drilled. The set-up against Napoli at Ibrox is likely to be replicated on Merseyside with Rangers aiming to be solid in defence but needing to find an attacking threat against another team of top quality, particularly in attack.
Rangers go into this game, goalless and pointless from two games played in the group so far, as if the size of the task needed underlined.