Linfield friendly a good fit for manager’s purpose

RANGERS Mark Warburton minds the gap and hopes Belfast trip will boost side’s match sharpness ahead of Old Firm clash, finds Graeme Macpherson

RANGERS manager Mark Warburton agreed to Saturday’s friendly against Linfield after believing his players suffered in the Scottish Cup final due to a lack of match fitness. With just three players – Barrie McKay, Lee Hodson and Jordan Rossiter – away on international duty, Warburton plans on taking a strong squad to Belfast for Jamie Mulgrew’s testimonial so his players don’t “lose their intensity and focus” ahead of the first Old Firm game of the season the following weekend.

Rangers did not play a competitive match for three weeks between their final Championship game of last season against St Mirren on May 1 and the Scottish Cup final against Hibernian on May 22 and Warburton feels that gap proved costly as Rangers lost the game 3-2. His players will start an extended break from today but will step up their training regime upon their return on Thursday.

“We’ve got a gap of two weeks so the boys will have four days off,” said Warburton. “But we also have to keep their match fitness and intensity up. So we’re looking forward to going to Belfast and having a good encounter.

“It’s a balancing act this game as you don’t want to pick up any injuries. But you could wrap them in cotton wool and they lose their intensity and focus. We go into this game looking to maintain levels of fitness. You can do a lot on the training ground but we saw in the cup final that sometimes these gaps are too long. So the players will have four days off and then back to training on Thursday and Friday, travel, game and then back in, and we will go from there.”

McKay is the only Rangers player to make the Scotland squad for the first 2018 World Cup qualifier away to Malta next Sunday, and Warburton believes the winger has the talent to go on to become a seasoned international.

“He deserves his call-up and the more he can impress the [Scotland] manager the better,” Warburton said. “He’s 21 and he will only get better and better. His work ethic is good, as is his technical base and physically he will only get stronger. When we first came here, Barrie was good aerobically for around 65 minutes and then struggled in the latter stages. And then you saw [the difference] in the Celtic game [in the Scottish Cup semi-final] when he played for 120 minutes and scored the goal.

“I hope he goes on to collect a lot of caps because he has all the ability in the world. If he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll be in a really good place in three or four years.”

James Tavernier, meanwhile, revealed he has been inundated with comments from Trabzonspor fans on social media after being linked with a move to the Turkish side. But after years spent switching from one club to another, the full-back is happy to put down roots at Rangers.

“I first heard about it from my mum,” he said. “She’d seen the links and obviously I looked into it. But the club haven’t heard anything and I haven’t heard anything. I’ve had Trabzonspor fans on to me on Twitter saying, ‘please come here’. Loads of them. And we’ve had Rangers fans arguing back saying, ‘he’s going nowhere’. It’s been fun to watch.

“But I’m happy where I am. I’ve just signed another extension and I’m delighted to have done that. If any speculation comes around I don’t think it will affect me because I’m in a happy place and settled.

“I’ve only been here a year and I loved that year. We’re in the Premiership now and it’s another step in the right direction. I know there are European places up for grabs and that’s where you want to be.

“I’ve been around different clubs and I want to be settled. The club and the gaffer have given me that foundation. They’ve been great to me and I want to be great back to them. I’d come to a point where I’d moved my family around different loans. It got harder with kids growing up. It’s just great now, the kids are at school, and we’re settled. Happy days.”

It’s a balancing act this game as you don’t want to pick up any injuries. We are looking to maintain fitness