Rangers’ performance against Kilmarnock left a lot to be desired.
It was a display lacking enthusiasm, aggression, and most importantly quality in the final third. Rangers have struggled to break down opposition sides in recent weeks, and Killie was no different.
Next up, however, Rangers will have a huge chance to get the monkey off their back against St Mirren. The Buddies are win-
less in 10 under Oran Kearney. It is worth mentioning, however, that they did manage a point against Celtic in Paisley in Kearney’s first game in charge.
Gerrard, therefore, has to go with a side he feels is reliable and capable enough of exploiting St Mirren’s weaknesses. The Gers manager has plenty to ponder with his starting line-up, with so many under-performing.
For us, Borna Barisic simply has to come in if fit. The Croatian continues to nurse a knee knock picked up before international duty. Since then, Jon Flanagan has come in and gotten increasingly worse as the matches have gone on. He was so poor against Kilmarnock that he had to be subbed at half-time.
Even if Barisic doesn’t make it once more, it would be hugely surprising to see Flanagan back in. Therefore, we’re going to go for Andy Halliday to slot in at left-back instead of the former Liverpool youth star.
Defensive changes
Joe Worrall was another attracting huge criticism after his performance against Kilmarnock. The on-loan Nottingham Forest defender has kept just two clean sheets in his nine Rangers appearances. Nikola Katic has been waiting in the wings for a shot, and despite a poor performance from him against Hamilton, we’re going to predict he comes back for Saturday.
The main issue is getting goals in this Rangers side, however. The lone striker has been Alfredo Morelos or Umar Sadiq in the last three matches. Whilst there’s absolutely no chance for the latter featuring, Gerrard may choose to switch things up.
A change in formation should come about on Saturday. This would announce radical change to the side, and would show Gerrard is trying something different.
The two up top of Morelos and Kyle Lafferty hasn’t worked in the past. It’s time to give it another shot, however, with Rangers struggling for goals. Gerrard has barely used the formation, but we’re going to go for a basic 4-4-2 in Paisley with the two forwards playing together once more.
Ryan Kent and Daniel Candeias will keep their spots down either wing. Scott Arfield and Ryan Jack are our predictions to play in the midfield.
We could easily have this wide of the mark, but here’s our early predicted XI for St Mirren as we expect radical change.
