Alves in injury sweat for Accies tie
to the SuperSeal Stadium this week. The defender is now back in Glasgow and will work with Gers medical staff in the coming days as boss Pedro Caixinha prepares his side for a crucial Premiership clash.
Caixinha will also monitor left-back Declan John as he looks to return to action against Accies after also being injured at Firhill.
The Gers boss said: “If he (Alves) was here at the weekend he could have maybe been in the stands not helping because you can’t do anything from the stands.
“I am the one who makes the decisions for the team and I am the one who gives the confidence to the players that need to play.
“I think if it was about supporting Ross he received all the support from me whereas in the stands you can’t do anything.
“We will find out if he is going to be an option for Hamilton and this is about is making decisions for him to recover as quickly as possible.”
The showing of McCrorie was one of the few positives for Rangers at the weekend as he handled the Old Firm occasion well alongside Fabio Cardoso.
And Caixinha is frustrated he didn’t have a chance to blood the 19-year-old in first team action last term after he spent time on loan at Dumbarton.
“Let’s be honest, when we arrived here the youth plan was not allowing Ross to play,” he told RangersTV.
“The chance that the other players got, to play around 10 matches last season, happened because Ross was out on loan.
“It was not my plan, it was something which was planned previously and now that we know the player we changed that.
“I do think that if Ross had had the chance previously, then at this moment in time he would be an even better player or a totally different player because of the experience he should have had in that period of time.
“You always need four to five centre-halves and you have the proof now, because for the Old Firm match we had two of the five.”
YOU are never more than a couple of games away from a crisis as Rangers manager. Pedro Caixinha seems to be on the brink every 90 minutes.
The questions over his future last week were premature, but they could soon become more prevalent if progress, and results, aren’t forthcoming sooner rather than later.
It would have taken a performance and a defeat even worse than the 5-1 loss to Celtic in April for the Light Blues board to push the panic button on Saturday evening.
While many observers fancied Brendan Rodgers’ side to pile on the pressure, there was little chance that Caixinha would then pay the ultimate price.
In terms of the Premiership standings, the Old Firm defeat wasn’t that costly for Rangers. The same can’t be said for the manager, though.
The points that were lost can still be made up over the course of the campaign, but the outcome was another black mark on Caixinha’s record. He can’t afford many more.
Seven games into the new Premiership campaign, Rangers are already eight points adrift of Celtic and seemingly powerless to prevent Rodgers leading his side to a seventh successive league title.
But it is not their Old Firm rivals that are Rangers’ main concern at present.
In some regards, it is not even Aberdeen, with whom they will again battle to be best of the rest this term. The focus from Caixinha has to be on his side and finding ways to cure the ills that have plagued their campaign so far, and that could derail their attempts to achieve their aims of second spot and some silverware in the coming months.
Celtic are not back on Caixinha’s radar until the final week of the year but the run of fixtures between now and then are far ar from straightforward for Rangers. angers.
It includes ncludes away matches at Hamilton milton and St Johnstone before the Betfred Cup semi-final with Motherwell. erwell.
A trip rip to Hearts will be a stern test, while the two matches hes ini n four days against Aberdeen en could be decisiveecisive for Rangersangers and defining efining for Caixinha aixinha before re he takes his side to Easter Road to kickoff the e festive schedule. ule.
Supporters pporters had every right to o look at the first six league ague outings ngs leading ng into the he meeting with Celtic and expect the Gers to be sitting with maximum points. The reality is somewhat different, though, and leaves Caixinha under mounting pressure. The Portuguese has yet to win three Premiership matches on the spin since he arrived at Ibrox six months ago, so there is little to suggest that his side are capable of putting together the kind of run that could take them clear of the Dons. Caixinha is going intoi nto every match at present with questions of ‘what if?’ surrounding him from many quarters. He needs to put together six, seven, eight, nine wins back-to-back to give himself a shield for when the next points are dropped and the flak starts flying once again.
“That would point to progress and provide him with a bit of breathing space.
But it is an ambition that looks beyond a team that struggles to combine two 45-minute performances at present,pr never mind rack up the w wins over a prolonged spell.
RANGERS remainrem consistently inconsist inconsistent and even the matches th that have been won – against Moth Motherwell, Ross County and Dunde Dundee – haven’t been smooth sailin sailing. Now, the waters are becomingbecomi increasingly choppy for Caixinha. Having beenbee given the backing of the Light Blues hierarchy,hiera to the tune of aroundar £8million, in t the summer, the 46 46-year-old must sta start repaying their fait faith with considerabl siderable interest. He wil will be given time, fo for now, but as pati patience wears out on the terraces there will come a point where it become comes thin in the Direc Director’s Box if Ran Rangers’ f ortun tunes don’t imp improve. T This is Caixinha inha’s side and the problems with it are his to solv solve. If he doe doesn’t find the answers, so someone else w will be asked the questions. It is not a healthy situation for a manager to be in when there is conjecture around his position week after week and results are the only thing that will silence the critics and win over the doubters.
The years without success have made supporters increasingly desperate for the glory days to return and, after seeing Mark Warburton fail to deliver, it is on Caixinha’s shoulders that the burden now rests. They want him to do well, but doubt whether he can.
He is friendly and personable yet has a fiery streak. He is passionate about the game and has a determination to succeed, but understanding the job and doing the job are very different things at Ibrox.
THE fans can take to Caixinha the man, but have still to be convinced of Caixinha the manager as he prepares for a run of fixtures that will shape Rangers’ season and define his Ibrox career.
The tipping point hasn’t yet arrived for Caixinha and he will hope that time proves a healer as he attempts to get more out of the likes of Fabio Cardoso, Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera.
It became evident fairly early on last season that Warburton wouldn’t see the summer at Ibrox, Rangers can’t afford to fall into a similar situation this time out.
The result weren’t good enough to show real signs of improvement, but they weren’t bad enough to leave the board with no option but to sack their manager as Rangers stumbled through the season.
There is still time for Caixinha to avoid the same fate. Time is of the essence, though.