Predicted Rangers XI vs St Mirren: Heralded January signing dropped amid alarming struggles + one notable absentee
How we think Danny Rohl will set up his Rangers XI to face relegation-threatened St Mirren in their latest Scottish Premiership clash in Paisley
Rangers switch their focus back onto Scottish Premiership duties and revitalising their title bid as they prepare to make the short trip to Paisley to take on a managerless St Mirren side in freefall on Sunday.
Danny Rohl’s men are without a victory on their travels in five games and the Ibrox boss will be demanding a reaction from his players after they came up short twice in the space of a week in both league and cup encounters against their Glasgow rivals Celtic.
With the Hoops and leaders Hearts both in action on Saturday, the Light Blues will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on proceedings at Parkhead and Rugby Park today as they look to cut the gap at the top of the table.
But that is not a given at a notoriously difficult venue where they have dropped points at in recent years. Saints are battling to move clear of the drop zone and will continue their fight without manager Stephen Robinson who departed the club earlier this week for fellow top-flight side Aberdeen.
Danny Rohl on St Mirren vs Rangers
Rohl is encouraging his Rangers side to regain their momentum and approach the remainder of the campaign by taking each game as a cup final.
“It is our job to bring the momentum back in this final bit. I don't have the feeling that my players are really down, or in the case that they are scared for the next game, no. It is more about that we want to show in that next game that we can win again. I think this is the correct reaction and exactly what we need.
“These nine cup finals is for me crucial, and I see how we train and play, how we are connected and find each other. I see a step forward, and I see that we can win these games.
“At first, we have to do our job, to win games. Even I have not experienced this, but even in the split, the results will sometimes be tight and crazy. Everyone can beat everyone, and this is a good situation to reduce the gap. I think I have said this many times and said this to my players this week again, we have to do everything in the right direction.
“In football, sometimes everything is not enough to win games; there is no guarantee, but if you do everything, you have a big chance to achieve everything that we want, and this is what we need to do.
“We always want to control and dominate the game and want to take points, and this is our job on Sunday. We have to start on Sunday, and then it is game by game now. Let's see, at first we have four games before we go into the split.
“We need a good position, and then in the split I think everything is possible because this is also part when you look to our results, we took a lot of good points against the teams around us, and this should then be our goal.”
How Rangers could line-up vs St Mirren
Rohl will have to do without midfielder Mohamed Diomande for this fixture after the Ivorian sustained a shoulder injury that forced him off against Celtic in the second half last Sunday.
However, there is a chance of Connor Barron returning to the matchday squad having returned to training last week as he steps up his recovery from a knee problem that has kept him sidelined for the past three months.
Centre-back Derek Cornelius and winger Oliver Antman remain doubts despite nearing a return to action.
Rohl is unlikely to make radical changes to his starting line-up given they dominated for most of the 120 minutes against Celtic, but he could be tempted to hand Nedim Bajrami a rare start following his strong cameo in extra-time. He could take over from Andreas Skov Olsen who flattered to deceive once again and is struggling to live up to his lofty reputation.
Here’s who we think will start for Rangers this weekend, with ONE change made to the side that exited the Scottish Cup 4-2 on penalties.
Rangers predicted XI:
- Jack Butland - GK
- Dujon Sterling - RB
- Nasser Djiga - RCB
- Emmanuel Fernandez - LCB
- Tuur Rommens - LB
- Nico Raskin - CM
- Tochi Chukwuani - CM
- Mikey Moore - CAM
- Nedim Bajrami - CAM
- Ryan Naderi - CF
- Youssef Chermiti - CF
SUBS:
Liam Kelly (GK), James Tavernier, John Souttar, Andreas Skov Olsen, Connor Barron, Thelo Aasgaard, Djeidi Gassama, Bojan Miovski, Jayden Meghoma.