As we teeter to the end of the season, Rangers have finally found consistency. But should we have had these two first-team Scotland caps in the side, would it have made a difference this season?
You imagine that had they been fit, both Graham Dorrans and Jamie Murphy would’ve had a role to play this year. How big a role would’ve depended on their form.
But given they are senior players, on presumably high wages, they would’ve formed a big part of Gerrard’s planning.
We have never seen the best of Graham Dorrans, 32, since he joined last season. Injuries have hampered his opportunities at Rangers, and after signing a three-year deal, next season is his last to leave an impression at the club he loves.
Rangers lacked real creativity from midfield in the first half of the season, particularly domestically. You a get feeling Gerrard perhaps saw Dorrans as one of the players providing this.
Wideman Jamie Murphy, 29, was just desperately unlucky.
Badly injured on Kilmarnock’s plastic pitch back in August, Murphy had to that point played eight games this season. He was looking like a major part of Gerrard’s side.
Had he been available you get the impression he’d have been one of the side’s starters. By the same token, Ryan Kent probably wouldn’t have got the chance to secure Young Player of the Year.
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There’s no way to truly tell the impact of these two not being part of the playing squad this season. But they are two of the club’s most senior players, Scotland caps, diehard bluenoses, and good footballers to boot.
Would things have been different had they stayed fit?
