Philippe Clement hasn’t had his problems to seek since taking over in the Rangers hotseat, at least he has been afforded more patience than his predecessors though.
The manager probably isn’t the type to have regrets, however, he would probably want to have his claim about solving all the injury problems in the squad back if he could.
With a raft of individuals missing for various reasons, Clement will be delighted to have stepped out on the Auchenhowie training pitch with two of his senior Rangers players joining him.
John Souttar and Vaclav Cerny return to Rangers training
Whether or not they will be ready for selection is another matter, but seeing John Souttar and Vaclav Cerny back in action is a huge boost for the Gers boss.
The defence hasn’t looked quite as secure in the Scotland international’s absence and the forward line is missing one of its most potent threats when the best winger Clement has at his disposal isn’t available.
What has been a pleasant surprise, is that it looked like the pair would be out for some time, maybe the manager is learning from his previous mistakes of putting timelines on when injured players will return.
It’s a small detail, but one that has seen an unexpected wave of positivity sweep across the support.
Clement, speaking as part of the build up to the USG game said of playing the pair:
“It’s a decisive game now. Last game in this group phase. So I don’t want to give my Belgian friends all the tools. They need to work also a little bit like me. I know they will not give me all the tools also before the game. So you guys saw some things in the training that some guys were back and some guys were doing individual work and the rest we will see tomorrow.”
Why Rangers shouldn’t rush throwing injured pair back into team
Four out of Rangers next five home games are all at Ibrox with Clement likely to rotate against both Ross County and Queen’s Park.
The chances of a top eight finish in the Europa League are slim too, so there should be no rush for Cerny and Souttar to be thrown back into action against Union Saint Gilloise in the final round of league fixtures.
The bigger picture is now the Old Firm games that are left to play, the Scottish Cup and the Europa League play-off rounds and making sure that the best players are available when it matters most.
