A further update regarding Antonio Colak will be eagerly anticipated following on from what the manager said on Thursday night.
In the aftermath of the victory over Hibs in his first competitive game as Rangers boss, Michael Beale disclosed the following information regarding the German-Croatian striker as well as Leon King who also missed out:
“Unfortunately, Leon King was sick this morning so that changed our plans and John had to drop back there and we lost Colak yesterday afternoon to a tight calf and we didn’t want to take a risk.”
“The last 24 hours have been far from ideal.”
Preparation
Five days will have passed between that moment and finalising the squad for the Aberdeen game, giving Beale plenty of time to be able to assess the duo. Although confirmation will be required, King should have made a recovery from minor illness to be involved in the trip up north. With Colak’s issue being an injury problem, that one will be more complicated. Hopefully the precaution of sitting out on Thursday will have sufficed but an adverse reaction (and longer recovery) cannot be ruled out there.
Fashion Sakala certainly seized the initiative with Beale opting to go with two attackers up front against Hibs. On the night, both he and Morelos scored which gives positive food for thought if the same situation will apply with Colak and the Colombian international forming the focal point of the attack. Despite deploying two strikers, Rangers joy ultimately came from the forward running of others and the fluid team play in the final third to create the chances to score. It is not just a matter of throwing two players up top but of course the more attackers on the pitch, the better chance of scoring there should be – especially at Ibrox.
It would be a bold move to do the same in Aberdeen but why not? Too often in the recent past the opposition teams have been respected too much leaving Rangers to find out the hard way that the answers to the vast majority of domestic questions lie within.