Rangers take the short drive across the M8 to play a Manchester United side that will be a mixture of potential and those spurned by their national side for the European Championships.
As for the ‘home’ side, it was hoped that by the time the glamour friendly of the summer came around that Philippe Clement’s squad would near enough be shaped and that Ibrox would be nearly ready – neither could be further from the truth.
Rangers have played well in the friendly fixtures so far without looking at their best and there are still key areas of the pitch that need to be addressed which make picking a predicted XI far from easy.
Rangers selection issues for Philippe Clement
Fitness of key players like Oscar Cortés and Danilo is still a doubt but the manager is happy with their progress.
He is also happy with the challenges being set for his team so far, as told to Rangers TV:
“I have chosen a lot of difficult games, I didn’t want to have a preparation where we were the kings of the preparation and then you get surprised when you play the first league games.
“They all had to be all really big tests at the right moments and that is the way to grow. If you make mistakes against these kinds of opponents you pay, but we can learn from that to not make these mistakes moving forward. It is so important to have really good games, strong games, where the team is challenged in every sense.
“Week by week we need to grow. We need to become better. It has been the case that the Standard game was better than the Hamilton game and the Ajax game was better than the Standard game and I want us to make the next step in that way.”
Last season, Clement was unable to pick his strongest XI due to injuries and 2024/25 seems to be starting in the same vain.
Two of his main creators in James Tavernier and Todd Cantwell are both still absent although the latter is playing for the B team as he plays catch up.
Predicted XI for Rangers v Man Utd
This is who I think Philippe Clement could go with:
Jack Butland, Dujon Sterling, Ridvan Yilmaz, Connor Goldson, Ben Davies, Connor Barron, Mohamed Diomande, Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo, Cyriel Dessers, Oscar Cortes.
What will be interesting is who plays at centre-half. Aside from a lapse in concentration, Connor Goldson and Ben Davies played well against a strong Ajax attack.
The full-backs should be the first choice players for this season with the manager looking to build partnerships for the big games ahead.
Midfield almost picks itself, again, due to injuries.
Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande are obvious picks with no Nicolas Raskin which leaves Tom Lawrence, Kieran Dowell and Alex Lowry for number 10.
On form, it should be Lowry but with the younger pair playing deeper I’d expect him to go with experience higher up.
As for the front three, Cortes must start, Cyriel Dessers is Rangers only fully fit striker and Rabbi Matondo looked sharp against Ajax.
Clement had explained that those who don’t start today will start on Wednesday against Birmingham so that disruption is kept to a minimum and patterns of play can be developed.
Hopefully, Rangers start to click and help to lift the gloom caused by the lack of action on and off the pitch.
