Warburton: Old Firm start won’t scare Senderos
RANGERS manager Mark Warburton insists he has no doubts new signing Philippe Senderos is ready to step into the Old Firm cauldron after watching him come through a debut appearance in a 7-0 friendly win over Linfield in Belfast.
The former Arsenal defender, who left Swiss side Grasshoppers at the end of last term, was given a 58-minute run-out at Windsor Park for his first game in almost four months.
And Warburton insisted he would have no qualms fielding the 31-year-old in Saturday’s league visit to Celtic Park, with Danny Wilson set to be assessed this week as he recovers from a calf injury picked up in the warm-up ahead of the recent 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock.
‘He was comfortable,’ said Warburton. ‘He has dealt with training effortlessly and has a good physicality. It was great for him to get an hour under his belt and he looked very assured.
‘We had to look at Philippe, but he has great technical ability and is very comfortable on the ball. He needed match practice and strolled through the hour.
‘You could say he wasn’t overtested, but he did everything he had to do with aplomb and, with another good week of training, he will absolutely be in contention for Celtic.
‘I would have no qualms about putting him in whatsoever. You don’t play at the level he has and with the clubs he has without that level of expertise.’
Warburton fielded Andy Halliday at left-back against Linfield in the absence of Lee Wallace, who withdrew from the Scotland squad through injury, but he is confident his captain will be ready for Celtic Park.
‘He’ll be okay,’ he said. ‘The Scotland medics were very good.
‘It was precautionary. He wasn’t right to train and, if he wasn’t right to train, he wasn’t right to play and travel. He’s very keen to get into the international set-up. There is no lack of desire on his part, but it was the right thing to do.’
Warburton also welcomed striker Martyn Waghorn back from a hamstring injury, putting him on for the last 32 minutes of the rout at Windsor Park.