Maybe its the lower league opposition in the form of Annan Athletic but the Rangers manager took the unusual step of confirming some starters to take to the pitch at Galabank in the Borders, tomorrow evening.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst was very open and elaborated in detail when asked about certain players at the press conference ahead of the Scottish Cup Last 16 tie.
The Dutchman was adamant that the League 2 opponents will not be taken lightly, but given this game, he feels that he has to utilise his squad and give game time to others.
There was other positive news revealed regarding Leon Balogun, following his injury scare midweek against Hibs.
Gio confirmed that Fil Helander and Aaron Ramsey will start the game against Annan, whilst the presence of Jon McLaughlin at the presser almost certainly confirmed that he will start the game, in place of Allan McGregor. The Gers boss stated:
“Filip is already training for weeks now, he has around 20 sessions with the team so I think we have him on a level where he can start games so he will start tomorrow as well. I’m really happy for Filip that he can leave his injury and the time he was off behind him.”
Despite concerns on the plastic pitch, that won’t stop Wales icon Aaron Ramsey from making his full debut:
“Yes, he (Ramsey) will start tomorrow. Aaron has been doing well, he’s had more team sessions in training. He also had some minutes against Hibs so he’s getting better and fresher and the rhythm is coming back so he will be starting as well tomorrow.”
The manager went on to state than Ryan Jack is close to returning following the impact injury suffered to his ankle. All of this is positive news and combined with cup progression and a clean bill of health tomorrow night, the squad should be in a very good place to look ahead to the massive trip to Dortmund next week.