Rangers injury list is starting to improve which means that Philippe Clement has more options and more depth available to him.
What this also means for the manager, is that he doesn’t have to pick players to be in his matchday squad based on a lack of availability in a certain position, rather than on quality and the visit of Hearts to Ibrox was no different.
Alarmingly though, the lack of academy talent knocking on the first-team door saw only Ross McCausland from the Auchenhowie ranks picked for Rangers‘ latest Scottish Premiership fixture.
Rangers academy failings apparent again with squad for Hearts
Rangers have given zero minutes to Scottish players under the age of 21 in the league this season.
Robbie Fraser has 15 minutes, but at 21-years old, he doesn’t count. Even if he did, the total number would still be rounded down.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 31 |
| 2 |  CelticCeltic | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 3 | 26 | 28 |
| 3 |  RangersRangers | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 19 |
| 4 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 19 |
| 5 |  MotherwellMotherwell | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 19 |
| 6 |  ST MirrenST Mirren | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 15 |
The league as a whole is poor; however, this is a key facet of Rangers player trading model and one that needs to be improved.
Players like Bailey Rice and on-form Findlay Curtis are the next tier of youngsters tipped to make the step up behind Leon King, Alex Lowry and McCausland, but there is one man they need to impress.
Is Clement giving young players a fair chance?
Speaking after being at the club for a year, Clement said of the efforts to bring youngsters through into the Rangrs first-team:
“It always works from two sides and for sure from the player’s side, so Ross is a good example. He has established himself in the squad the moment he gets his chances, and it will be the same with the other young lads,” said Clement.
“A lot of them have been training with us. In that way you cannot make any predictions, it is about what they show on the pitch and that is football, that is playing in a top club.
“It is not that you can say okay, we are going to give five games to one player to show himself.
“It doesn’t work that way, it is about winning and picking the best team and three days later again the best team in that course of games so if they show themselves more and more, they will get more and more chances.”
How can they show themselves if they don’t get a chance?
The only way to truly assess players like Rice and Curtis is by giving them time in the first-team with other senior players and not in a heavily rotated team during the early rounds of the cup.
It’s not like they could do any worse than the current senior members.
