Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Play your cards right LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
JACK DETERMINED TO NOT SEE RED
THE only red Ryan Jack needs to see this festive season is on the suit of Santa Claus.
The Rangers midfielder revealed bitter experience has taught him the importance of timing his tackles to perfection.
Jack has become so pivotal to Steven Gerrard that, two Celtic defeats apart, he has never left a pitch this season with his team in a losing position.
It’s a stat he hopes to maintain when Kilmarnock visit ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm clash.
Jack’s first season at Ibrox, three years ago, was blighted by four red cards as his frustration came to the fore under Pedro Caixinha.
It was a long way off the standards he set at Aberdeen, where he was dismissed just three times in seven seasons.
Jack’s only early bath under Gerrard came against Young Boys this month, when he sacrificed himself in injury time to break up a Swiss counter attack with the score at 1-1 and copped a second yellow.
He said: “Nowadays, if you’re going to go in for a tackle you need to time it perfectly. If you don’t it will be a straight red. I’ve had a few red cards myself over the years but you need to learn from it. If you don’t it will be a sending-off.”
Rangers rose to the challenge in their 3-0 victory at Hibs as they put in one of their most emphatic displays of the season.
But Killie won’t be as open at Ibrox today under stand-in boss Alex Dyer although Jack reckons Rangers have the weaponry to cope with the challenge. He added:
“The Hibs game was as well as we’ve played recently. They had secured a couple of good results before they faced us.
“We’d worked all week on a plan and the way Hibs set up, after their win over Aberdeen, played right into our hands.
“Kilmarnock will be equally as tough – we didn’t score the winner until the last minute at Rugby Park at the start of the season. But we’re fully prepared for it and hopefully it’s the same outcome.”