Rangers manager Philippe Clement has highlighted his reasons for making four changes for today’s Scottish Premiership clash against Ross County.
Leon Balogun, Tom Lawrence, Cyriel Dessers and Connor Barron all come into the Light Blues’ starting XI this afternoon.
Clement is glad to give extra minutes to certain players yet confessed the performance throughout the Premier Sports Cup last-16 win over St Johnstone last weekend didn’t leave him with enough selection dilemmas - and he’s urged his team to change that viewpoint at Hampden Park for this latest fixture.
Speaking to Rangers TV pre-match, Clement said: “We have to continue with this young group of players, with the new players coming in, with players coming out of injury, giving them game minutes like Dujon Sterling.
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“Giving him more minutes is important because he missed a lot of preparation. Tom Lawrence was sick last week so he also needs minutes to grow into his best form again.
“I also had to make decisions with starters and to have guys on the bench who can decide the game in the second half.
“There were not enough (selection) dilemmas from my side. I hope we will have much more dilemmas in the next couple of weeks.
“Today it was with the midfield, to give minutes to Tom and to Dujon, and also to gain rhythm again. And in that way it lets Dio rest a bit. He has played every game and a lot of minutes over the past couple of weeks, and he does a lot of distance every game. But he’s ready to come on in the second half to make the difference there.
Ross County travel to Glasgow’s Southside off the back of humiliating Premier Sports Cup exit after they were beaten by fourth-tier Spartans last weekend.
Clement isn’t taking the fixture lightly though and explained where the Staggies front pairing could cause his team problems.
“It’s a well-organised team with two strikers,” the Rangers boss stated.
“One target man and one player who runs into the channels, who can create problems, he’s very determined to shoot out of every angle. He’s a little bit of the type they had last season with (Simon) Murray.
“So, that’s their game plan to count on those two players to make the difference.”
