I think a lot of Rangers fans owe both Ryan Jack and John Lundstram an apology.
We all know who they are, those that wanted Rangers to just let Jack go because he has hardly played in recent seasons, totally ignoring the fact he has been carrying an injury that required a seven hour operation to his spine – that he also had the audacity to take more than a few weeks to recover from said operation only adding fuel to their argument.
Then there is John Lundstram, exaggerated claims about his wage leading some fans to believe he should be delivering the form of peak Lionel Messi and blaming him for any and every goal conceded. If he gave away a throw in and we lost a goal a minute later, it was his fault, of course it was.
Against Hearts, and now Borussia Dortmund, we have seen what our first choice central midfield pairing is – this doesn’t detract from how good a player Glen Kamara is and that he will be needed too but, in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s system we need two aggressive, physical midfielders who can contribute at both ends of the park and that is exactly what Lundstram and Jack bring to this Rangers team.
It’s been quickly forgotten how good Lundstram was in the autumn when many of his team-mates were struggling for form, he took his time getting minutes under GvB but has grabbed his chance with both hands, as for Ryan Jack, how he has been able to miss almost a full year of action and return an even better player is a miracle of science – keeping him fit will be key to retaining the title.
Every successful Rangers team had a solid spine and this one is no different, the dominant display against Dortmund proving yet again that we, as a support, can be too quick to write good players off, even club legends like Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley were written off – you’d think we’d have learnt by now.