Philippe Clement has been working miracles since taking over at Rangers, but his job just got a whole lot tougher.
The manager cut a frustrated figure as he revealed that the injury list is now into double figures.
To make matters worse, Rangers will now be without four players who can play in the middle of defence which leaves a pairing that brings back a nightmare or two.
Philippe Clement forced into Rangers defence solution
Under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the treatment room was every bit as busy and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Not only were Rangers struggling in the league, but the Champions League saw one of the hardest draws possible.
It was a disaster.
Rangers ended up posting the worst ever season in Champions League history after conceding a late goal to Ajax and were the laughing stock of the footballing continent.
To think that, in the same year, Rangers were a couple of penalties away from winning the Europa League, still doesn’t make sense.
The worst result, was a 7-1 defeat at Ibrox to Liverpool after going a goal infront and looking like an upset could be on the cards.
At 2-1, Rangers were still competitive and had caused the English giants some problems only to lose Ryan Jack and then Connor Goldson.
It was the latter whose departure had the biggest effect.
A long-term thigh injury has seen the Gers vice-captain lose a yard or two and, arguably, he has never fully recovered.
His replacement on the night, was Ben Davies.
What this meant, was that a partnership of Leon King and Davies was facing Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah, to name but two.
Davies was just coming back from injury for Rangers, whilst King was in his breakthrough season, was learning the hard way about how big the jump is from the SPFL to the Champions League.
It often gets forgotten just how young he was at the time and how inexperienced he was.
He played more minutes than any other teenager in the competition that season.
Now, with Leon Balogun, Connor Goldson, Dujon Sterling and John Souttar all injured, it looks like Philippe Clement is about to throw together a pairing that hasn’t been seen for two years and one that many still have nightmares about.
In eight games together for King and Davies, Rangers have won three, drawn one and lost four.
Until next season, it is what it is, and Rangers fans will have to endure the final two league games of the campaign before fearing the announcement of the line-up for the Scottish Cup final.
Hopefully the medical team can work miracles in the next couple of weeks.
