Rangers: More injuries confirmed including one big surprise

It looks like Rangers will be without a few first team players in tomorrow’s match against Galatasaray, including one big surprise…

We all knew it was coming, the dreaded injury update never fails to disappoint. I truly envy those pre-match press conferences with Jose Mourinho or Jurgen Klopp where they sit back, nonchalantly, counting the seconds until it ends, and declare straight out – no injuries, everyone is fine, next question please. Of course, down there they don’t have Dundee United, so that helps.

Alas, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard usually has a bit more to say about it. Have we ever had week where the entire squad was injury free this season? No sooner did Gers striker Jermain Defoe return from injury but we had the misfortune of encountering the aforementioned Dundee and adding another 4 back on the sick list.

Ahead of the Europa League clash against Galatasaray tomorrow night, Stevie G delivered the weekly bad news that, indeed, this may not be the first full strength Rangers side we see this year. As quoted by the Daily Record:

"“Joe Aribo and Kemar Roofe won’t make it but are progressing well.(Ryan) Jack and (Brandon) Barker are both back in full training. (Cedric) Itten is a major doubt as he has a small issue with his knee.We know this will be a tough test with a team that have European experience. They may be favourites but our plan is to leave everything out there.”"

Good grief, what is going on with Joe Aribo? We talked about this before, but the whole saga just becomes increasingly more bewildering, and worrying, as time goes on.

Leaving Joe aside for a moment, the big surprise, and disappointment, there is without a doubt Cedric Itten. What happened? He played at the weekend and scored two great goals, enough that we named him as a standout despite the entire team playing so well.

Presumably he picked up a knock in training, as there was no evidence of anything happening during the Motherwell match. It’s definitely a downer because it seemed the floodgates were about to open for the Swiss striker who signed for Rangers only over the summer. He was, and is, probably worthy of a place in the first XI when he hits the form he’s shown in his career he can maintain.

Sadly it seems he won’t be carrying that form into tomorrow’s match and, of course, it’s basically the first game this season we really want and need to be at full strength. As Gerrard stated, Galatasaray are the favourites here. They have a lot of experience in Europe collectively and individually, with big name stars like Radamel Falcao and Arda Turan on the team list. Rangers are in great form, but it’s a lot easier to maintain form against Motherwell and Dundee than against teams like Galatasaray.