Rangers continue to have to make do without Ryan Jack with the Scotland international suffering another setback in his bid to recover from injury and Steven Gerrard revealing that he is now unsure as to when he will return.
Speaking as part of his post game analysis following the 1-0 win over Hibs on Saturday, the Gers gaffer was far from positive when it came to updating the media on the midfielder’s availability, as reported by The Scotsman:
“We are having a few issues with Ryan’s recovery and I’m frustrated with it.
“We don’t have a time frame on his recovery. Unfortunately it has taken longer than we thought. We need him back as he is such an important player for us.”
Before the game, that saw Rangers go 19 points clear for a couple of hours, Gerrard appeared to rule Jack out of the mid-week fixture with St Mirren and subsequently the Old Firm derby on the 2nd of January when he said:
“It has taken a little bit longer than we thought, so that is just not clear at the moment. I don’t really want to rush that, so he won’t be available for the next game.”
The change in narrative is quite worrying for a player that has been beset with persistent knee issues since being caught late by Cedric Kipre in his first season as a Rangers player when Pedro Caixinha was in charge – it is now looking more and more likely that conservative treatment is not a sustainable long-term plan if we are to get 40-50 games out of Jack every season.
Have we missed Jack?
Yes
No
The timing couldn’t be worse with Scott Arfield also likely to be out for the foreseeable future having come off against Hibs after taking a heavy knock to his ankle, whether this will see Stephen Kelly recalled from Ross County, Kai Kennedy promoted to the first-team when his loan at Inverness Caledonian Thistle ends or a short-term loan transfer being made remains to be seen, either way, Jack’s knee needs to be fixed for both the player’s benefit and the club’s.