Rangers vs St Johnstone preview: Damage control

Morning all, we have a chance to watch our beloved Rangers at 17:45 today, we take on St Johnstone in the League cup at Hampden. It's a game that I think even in our current state of being an absolute omnishambles, we should see ourselves winning.

It seems like so long ago now but it's important to remember that we won this trophy last season. It didn't quite provide the springboard many fans expected for Rangers to go on and win the league, but any silverware is welcome and as always we should be looking to retain the cup for another season.

It goes without saying that things are at quite a low ebb from a Rangers point of view, the defeat on Tuesday left a bitter taste in the mouth. That can be seen in pretty much all the spaces Rangers fans occupy, you couldn't look anywhere on Twitter/X, Facebook or a Rangers forum without fans congregating to discuss just how bad things are.

We are teetering on the edge of full blown fan apathy, much like Arsenal in the last season under Arsene Wenger all the way to Arteta's appointment, or Man United last season. Being a fan is a two way relationship, as one sided as that relationship is, when the club isn't giving the fans even 5% of what they are giving to the club, it's hard to maintain that same level of energy and enthusiasm.

There's almost no unpredictability left now, I think that's what's so hard for fans. I could write about how we aren't sure what Rangers team will turn up, but in reality, it's going to be the same players (mostly) as the last 3 years, with the same 6.5/10 performance as we've gotten used to, and maybe it will be enough to win the game.

It's a febrile atmosphere at the moment, so I am seriously praying for a win or we might just tip over that edge into fan apathy.

Clement said in his presser that the whole squad and staff are working hard to turn things around, and that he knows the club needs to win games for the fans. He also asked for time in building a squad while praising the impact of Cerny so far.

I think this is really all he can say at the moment, he seems to truly believe in the team, let's hope the team believes in him, because I'm not sure many fans do right now. Until results and crucially, performances turn round he's going to be giving this interview many times over.

He also revealed that Ridvan will be out for 4-6 weeks after going off on Tuesday. There were some links to former Manchester United fullback Brandon Williams coming in as a free agent, but Clement was quick to say he didn't think we had anything in the budget for emergency left back.

I expect given the way Clement spoke about Robbie Fraser we will see him start tonight with Jefte in-front of him. I liked what we saw of Fraser towards the end of last season, he's raw but undoubtedly positive with the ball if a little naive at times. If he plays I won't be too concerned.

In transfer news, there's nothing new on incomings aside from those Williams links. On outcomings, everyone got their hopes up for about 5 minutes when Rabbi Matondo was linked with a move to Leeds. These hopes were quickly quashed by a Leeds based journalist confirming there was no such interest, damn.

Clement was asked about that and was keen to point out that there are lots of players who have been told to leave and are still hanging around. We knew this, but it's interesting for the manager to confirm it, and it probably points to his frustration at the lack of transfer business this window.

There were quite a few shots of Igamane in training so maybe he will get some minutes tonight. I have to say it would be quite something if despite appearing in every squad this season, Igamane made an appearance for Rangers before Danilo this season.

I think if he can play it would be good to see him, the fans need some kind of hope or excitement, so no pressure wee man.

In terms of the rest of the lineup we will see a bit of rotation, this is limited by us having no players. I'd like to see either Nsiala or Propper alongside Souttar probably, Propper needs more minutes to settle in so this is a good chance for that.

Kelly will probably come into goal to give Butland a rare rest. I expect Dowell might start given his appearances off the bench this season. Aside from that, we don't have many people to rotate in, so it will probably be the usual suspects in the rest of the team.

That's all for today, let's hope we are toasting glasses of champagne this evening following a dazzling Rangers victory.