BOLD CAIXINHA SHOWS NO FEAR
Rangers boss happy to reveal an injury-hit team for Kilmarnock trip a day in advance
FOR some managers, a defensive injury crisis that extends to your captain missing the biggest game of the season might be cause to circle the wagons.
Not so, Pedro Caixinha. Asked about the fitness of Lee Wallace and others at the start of yesterday’s media conference, the Portuguese offered an unexpected response. By publicly naming the entire starting line-up that will step out at Rugby Park this evening.
Revealing debuts for 18-year-old full-back Myles Beerman and 20-year-old central defender David Bates, Caixinha insisted he had no fears about delivering advance warning of Rangers’ intentions.
Indeed, rather than fretting about what Kilmarnock counterpart Lee McCulloch might do with the knowledge, the 46-year-old believes his players should draw belief from the move.
‘I can tell you — it’s Wes (Foderingham), James (Tavernier), David (Bates), Danny (Wilson), Myles (Beerman), Andy (Halliday), Jason (Holt), Emerson (Hyndman), Barrie (McKay), Joe Garner and Martyn (Waghorn) — this is the first eleven that will start the game,’ said Caixinha.
‘It’s not a question of that’s all we have, it’s a question of confidence in the players in the first team, as well as youth players who work with us on a regular basis.
‘Besides that, even if Lee knows the first eleven he will not be able to change anything about the way he plays.
‘We know it will be a tough game and we will have to adapt and call the game ourselves — this is the reality and this is our first eleven. I don’t care if they think differently knowing our team 24 hours before we play.
‘I would not put a player in if I didn’t trust him or have confidence in him. If we have trust and confidence, we are able to take more risks and the players will as well.’
It counts as a second bold move from Caixinha in the space of a few days. When injuries and illness forced him to replace Wallace, Clint Hill and Lee Hodson at half-time in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell, he formulated a back three that had playmaker Jon Toral at its centre.
Caixinha explained yesterday that he hadn’t called Philippe Senderos from the bench because the Swiss centre-back could only last 15 minutes due to a calf issue.
Senderos now joins Hill and Rob Kiernan on the injury list tonight, although the latter two are expected to have recovered from knocks in time for Sunday’s trip to Aberdeen. Hodson will also sit out the game against Kilmarnock as he recovers from a virus.
More significant is the absence of Ibrox skipper Wallace. He underwent surgery yesterday on an abdominal problem sustained while playing for Scotland in their friendly against Canada at Easter Road.
The recovery period will rule the left-back out of the Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic on April 23, when Caixinha’s men will try to wreck their rivals’ Treble ambitions. Wallace could also miss the final Old Firm league meeting six days later.
‘Lee Wallace should be finishing his surgery right now, so maybe for the next three to four weeks he will be out of the team,’ confirmed Caixinha. ‘His problem is in the stomach area but he can still celebrate with us at the end of the season, which means I hope to have him back for further on than the semi-final.’
For Caixinha, the pursuit of Premiership points combines with continuing his assessment of the squad left by predecessor Mark Warburton. The all-consuming nature of the two strands of the process have led to dawn starts.
‘On Sunday, I was at Murray Park in the morning until the night analysing our previous match,’ said Caixinha.
‘I went for lunch out of here because I’d die if I spent all day here, but on Monday morning I was in at 5am to prepare everything.’
Unhappy with the way they were dominated by Motherwell for 45 minutes last Saturday, the Ibrox manager expects to see a different display at Rugby Park.
‘We faced some different problems in my second game that we didn’t face in the first game,’ added Caixinha, who expects to confirm his No 3 coach next week.
‘It has to be about more than one team looking to take the game to their style of play and we must follow that.
‘That requires game intelligence and knowing what is needed in the match at that exact moment, and also for us to remember what our identity and our style of play is in order to beat the problems the other team is causing us.
‘We have had the chance to analyse the Motherwell game, like we do with all of them, and we got into that with the players.
‘We expect more opponents to try to do the same (as Motherwell did) so, in order for us to have our players ready, we have to face the same conditions or problems and be ready to overcome them.
‘This sort of assessment — on a daily basis, on a one-to-one basis — will allow me to choose which players are going to continue with us and which ones are not.’
Rangers trail second placed Aberdeen by 13 points with a game in hand. The Ibrox boss, though, is refusing to give up hope.
‘If we just had one game left against them, I would say it is almost impossible,’ he argued.
‘But we have two games. We understand that we ne e d to win both of the games for it to be possible. While it is still possible, why not keep the flame in that direction?’
The Rangers Charity Foundation will host a True Blue Hero Fun Run at Ibrox on Saturday to raise funds for partners including Unicef, Breast Cancer Care Scotland, the Beatson Cancer Charity and four services-related charities.
Registration cost £10 (£5 for juniors) and supporters can take part by calling 0141 580 8775 or emailing rangers charity@rangers.co.uk