Football News: Are the player injuries the biggest cause of Rangers recent decline?

Just an article for debate here guys. Been reading a lot of posts lately regarding Rangers poor form and it seems across the site that everyone is in agreement that it can be put down to the injuries. So let's have a look at the injuries and see why we all think this is the biggest cause of our recent decline.

Nnamdi Ofoborh - 93 matches missed so far and I don't think he has actually played a full game for us if so only 1 - 2 most. So in reality we have not missed him as he's never had the chance to show us what he can do. And not part of a winning formula for our teas as yet?

Ianis Hagi - 58 matches missed so far.
20/20 season: 7 appearances. Through loan period. 48 appearances after we signed him?
21/22 season: 27 appearances.

Now if I remember rightly, we all agreed he is a good footballer and has a great football brain and reads the game very well, but we did say he lacks pace and he's very lightly built for our game and can get knocked off the ball easily and seems to pick up injuries through being thin and light and not so quick to get away from his man.

So would Hagi be making huge impacts to our current form at the minute would he be making the difference i'm not sure? I certainly think he can contribute but not sure he's the player that would be getting everyone fired up to get out this slump?

Helander - 19/20 season: 18 appearances.
20/21 season: 31 appearances.
21/22 season: 11 appearances.
41 matches missed so far.

As the seasons go on his appearances have been falling away. So is Helander the man we have been missing? Would he be the man when back we can rely on to have a run of games playing week in week out throughout the season in all competitions?

Going with the appearances I'm not sure, but could potentially play a bit part in out of the season if injuries were not so bad? How many games can he feature going forward?

Jack - 19/20 season: 39 appearances.
20/ 21 season: 24 appearances.
21/ 22 season: 22 appearances.
22/ 23 season: 12 appearances.

Unfortunately, Jack has a similar profile to Helander appearances have falling as seasons go on. So is he the man? We can rely on him when he's back playing week in week out in all competitions. How many games will he be able to feature in going forward and will he make a huge impact to our defence? He certainly is capable, but is he willing to stick it out and stay injury free and fight for his place?

Goldson - Season appearances are like this:
54, 52, 56, 61, 16.
Matches missed so far 18.

So Goldson is a mainstay in the central defence and is a big loss it seems. However, he does make mistakes in his games and has cost us a few goals over games per season and if I remember right some were asking for him to be dropped at different periods of time and asking for young King to be in his place.

Now King is in his place and had a run of games, are we happy for them to continue or will we be glad when Goldson comes back into the fold from injury? If Goldson hits the heights of seasons past and get his head back down and gets in with his job he certainly can make a difference most of the time. So Goldson I'd say does make a difference.

Lawrence - 9 appearances and 16 matches missed so far.

Lawrence was brought in and from what we've seen was certainly going to make a difference in the middle of the Park. He's a good footballer and he can hit a good shot from outside the box, something we severely lack and miss. I for one will look forward to seeing him back fit and for me goes straight back into the team.

Yilmaz - 7 appearances.
Does he take the LB position as soon as he's fit? do we drop Borna?
We haven't seen nearly enough of him to suggest this and will he make such an impact in our abysmal performances to date? The jury is still out for me that he's able to do what Bassey done and steal Borna's position.

Roofe - I have no idea what the story is about him. Is he injured?, as all I can see is unknown injury. Is he someone to rely on? Have we relied on him since he arrived? I would say no although he has scored some important goals and some nice goals, but he's not always been the first name on the team sheet, so has his injury been a main factor in our downfall and not being able to win games recently.
I'm not sure 🤔

Souter - 28 matches missed so far.
Has he been reliable since we bought him, would he have made a huge impact in our defence? Will he be the first name on the team sheet when available? I'm not so sure. So can we say his injury has been so detrimental to us shipping goals recently? I would have to say no as I have not seen enough of him and I'm not sure he's one to rely on given his injury list history?

McGregor is our number one keeper and has been back in goal.
Tavenier - first name on the team sheet.
Borna - Since Bassey left is back to being a first name on the team sheet.
Kent - A first name on the team sheet.
Colak came in to fight for a place which he's done against Morelos.
So Morelos is not a first name on the team sheet anymore.
Wright - Matondo - Sakala have been available for selection over the period and not been anything special from them.
Tillman has came in some flashes here and there, but not been a great impact.
Arfield has been available, hasn't been bad, but hasn't been great.
Lundstrum is a first name on the team sheet for a while now. Not been great, not been terrible.
King has been given his chance not great, not terrible.
Kamara has been available but not seen as a first team regular anymore? Why is this? At one point he was a mainstay in the team.

Lowry should be getting game time ahead of Wright, Sakala, Matondo even when available at the start of the season wasn't picked and was injured in the B team.

McCann hasn't had a chance.

Sands covers a lot of positions, but can't hold his place in one position and drifts in out of the team.

Sorry if I've missed anyone.

Just looking over it all, there isn't a major first team player we're missing who was a mainstay in our team apart from Goldson who is currently missing. All there is really is a mass of players missing that GVB would have more chance of doing reshuffles over the season with and none of them I would say would make a great impact on how we play or get the rest of the team fired up.

They all have their days they play well but also have their days they play not so well. And a lot of them have their injuries that didn't go away making those players you can't continuously rely on? So given this where does the main vibe come from? Is the injury list the main part that's causing our current downfall?

Goldson really is the only one of 2 main players we miss as he is a first team pick and plays over 50 games a season. The other is Lawrence as I believe he would also be a first team pick. Can these two save our season, is this what we need?

Other than that the rest are bit part players and not all first team picks. They can play their part when they're not injured and their head is with it.

Looking over the squad in detail it's not the best really and there is a massive overhaul needing done and to be honest, it's quite a mess that we don't have a solid 15 player squad we can truly rely on for the amount of money we spend on wages, which is absolutely crazy in my opinion.

What's the senders guys?

A bit of a book I know, but it was good to look a bit further into it and unfortunately didn't come up with any great answers?

Written by Thestigno1 November 08 2022 14:52:32