Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave some encouraging news after an equally as encouraging second-half display against Hearts. The bench made all the difference as a renewed vigour saw Scott Arfield, Alfredo Morelos, Scott Wright and Glen Kamara all add much-needed impetus to a side that had been all too pedestrian in the first 45 minutes.
Squad depth has been an issue for some time with pretty much a full XI out every week for what seems like months, however, the manager is starting to see senior players return. When asked if all his players will definitely be back after the World Cup, he said, as reported by The Rangers Review:
“Definitely? No. I hope all of them are back.
“Of course, you want to have as many players available as you can and have the ability to change. Glen had a knock on his ankle and is now fit again. Ryan Jack is back in training and will hopefully return.
“We will get more players back after the break and this is beneficial to the team because you can use more players. It’s very important when you are playing so many games. I think Kamara was a really good sub and Morelos could have been on the scoresheet as well so it’s very positive.”
He isn’t the only one.
It absolutely will make a difference. We saw that against Hearts with being able to bring players off the bench who can change the game. This is only improved with the likes of Tom Lawrence and Ianis Hagi when they return.
Our biggest issue just now is creativity from midfield and how we link with the wingers and central striker but Gio just hasn’t been able to rotate and sometimes, even select, more naturally attack-minded players. There is no way that Arfield, for example, was pencilled in to play as many games as he has at the start of the season.
Better players can play well and win games in spite of the manager’s tactics.