Rangers injury list for 2022/23 has been unprecedented, one which, surely, can only get better next season for Michael Beale.
Even with the campaign drawing to a close and games not being as frequent or intense, Rangers still have an injury crisis and Michael Beale revealed that we are into double figures for senior professionals being unavailable.
Connor Goldson barely missed a minute of training for four seasons and has now suffered his second long-term injury of the year.
When you consider that Celtic used having a couple of players missing from their defence as a reason for getting beat 3-0, it’s easy to see why Rangers haven’t been anywhere near our best all year.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst had issues with domestic tactics, however, he was also shorn of his four senior centre-halves for extended periods as well as struggling to field one striker from week-to-week.
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A pre-requisite for any summer acquisitions must be availability.
Rangers can’t be gambling or taking risks with players who have chequered pasts in terms of fitness and Michael Beale has to identify robust individuals.
A great example is John Souttar.
We have seen his quality in recent weeks, he has been, arguably, our best player other than Todd Cantwell.
The problem is, we are all waiting for him to break down again, sad though that might be, it is true.
Souttar’s quality has never been the issue.
The issue, is that he was signed with Filip Helander also in the squad which meant we had two key players missing for 95% of the season.
No team can function with that level of unreliability.
This summer, the forward department has to see Kemar Roofe almost ignored before we go into a season with a striker who has played less than one game all year counted as part of the numbers.
Rangers and Michael Beale can’t be expected to make plan A or plan B when he doesn’t know who will be fit from one game to the next.
The only impressive takeaway from having so many players out against Hibs is the fact that we were still so comfortable in victory.
Michael Beale does have a plan, and if he has good/robust players to execute it, we should enjoy a significantly more successful season next year.