Just when things were starting to look up, Rangers and Philippe Clement have been dealt a massive blow with the news that Todd Cantwell is set to be missing for a few weeks.
As always, the Gers boss dismissed the drama, “this is football”, but he will have to find a way to replace one of our most on-form players of recent weeks.
Rangers are well used to dealing with injuries this season though and, at least, Philippe Clement has a few options that he could turn to in his hour of need.
Rangers stars have opportunity in Todd Cantwell absence
Cantwell joins Danilo, Abdallah Sima, Rabbi Matondo and Kieran Dowell on the injury list with the first four names in particular being a massive loss in terms of depth for the attack.
What we have seen in recent weeks though, is the emergence of one player and the re-emergence of another who are both more than capable of plugging the gap.
The first player is the most obvious.
Tom Lawrence, when he first arrived at the club, was used in a number ten role.
He might not quite have the same running power as Cantwell, but there are few players in Philippe Clement’s squad with a similar level of footballing intelligence.
The other, is Mohamed Diomande.
He excelled in his natural number eight position last weekend but he has already played higher up the pitch since signing in January.
It may be that his pace and energy are seen as better options for the role, plus, he doesn’t have to be looked after quite as much as Lawrence.
Something that hasn’t been tried yet but would be a popular one with fans is moving Fabio Silva into a deeper position although, Clement won’t want to risk having both of them playing every game given how he has been rotating.
It is a blow because Cantwell is one of our best players and he has been in great form, it just means that someone else will now need to step up to the plate.
