Rangers again find themselves in a situation where they are required to bounce back from a disappointing result. After last weekend’s derby defeat at home to Celtic, the Light Blues are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Hamilton Academical.
On paper it should be a routine win. Hamilton are without a win in their last four Scottish Premiership matches, losing three of them. However, the pressure is on Rangers and manager Pedro Caixinha and that could weigh heavily on the Friday night fixture.
Caixinha needs to ensure he gets his tactics and team selection spot on. With a few injuries to consider and some under performers in the match against their city rivals, there are more than few contenders to be dropped for the trip to Lanarkshire.
These are the THREE players we don’t think should survive from the derby defeat at Ibrox…
Wes Foderingham
Wes Foderingham didn’t directly cost Rangers any goals last weekend but there are definitely question marks about his contribution to the first team. His distribution was borderline awful, not coping well with the lively atmosphere the derby provides at Ibrox, and it meant that the Light Blues were on the back foot consistently from his balls forward.
Jak Alnwick is ready in waiting too and after a massively impressive performance in the League Cup against Partick Thistle, when he made two vital saves when the scoreline was still 0-0, it could be the right time for Foderingham to be reminded he has serious competition in the Scottish Premiership too.
Alnwick has patiently waited for his time to shine and in taking his opportunity to impress has shown he has a hunger to gain the number one spot. That makes him an tempting choice for the trip to Hamilton.
Carlos Pena
Carlos Pena’s Rangers career has been a strange one to judge so far. While he’s reached highs like scoring against Dundee at Ibrox, in other matches he’s looked well off the pace.
Against Celtic on Saturday he was tasked with shadowing Scott Brown and stopping the Hoops advancing from their deep midfield positions into the final third. However, he barely got close to the Celtic captain and was eventually hooked early in the second half after his loss of possession led directly to the corner that allowed the Hoops to net their opener.
The dilemma isn’t dropping Pena, but figuring out who to play in his place. Kenny Miller has hardly looked up for it this season, perhaps his age finally catching up to him.
Still, it’s a chance for someone to come in and impress and for Pena to focus on the basics and try and impress from the bench again.
Fabio Cardoso
Fabio Cardoso is another summer arrival who has shown glimpses of quality but at the vital moments and in the big matches has been found lacking. He struggled massively to compete against the Hoops attack on Saturday, even being outshone by rookie Ross McCrorie.
He was found in no-man’s land for the first goal and it was his error that led to Leigh Griffiths netting the second. The Portuguese should have anticipated the Scotland international’s run in behind McCrorie’s blind side but was powerless to stop what happened next.
Bruno Alves is reported to be making good progress with his calf injury, meaning he could be in line for a return and we can’t imagine Pedro Caixinha taking the decision to drop young McCrorie after his impressive first half showing in the derby.
If Alves is out, Cardoso is the man to drop out, there’s not question.