Rangers begin preseason without 4 men as Ajax come to play | OneFootball

So today Philippe Clement’s Rangers takes on its first proper friendly of the summer, a clash with Dutch giants Ajax, themselves also in something of a transitional period having finished a dreadful 5th in Holland and now under new management with Francesco Farioli at the helm.

The Dutch colossus have been something away from their traditional goliath selves in recent times, and Rangers meet them with both sides looking to find some momentum to take forward.

Rangers’ team?

All we know is James Tavernier, Dujon Sterling, Todd Cantwell and Danilo are unlikely to take part with all four either injured or simply not ready.

There will obviously be no place for new signing Hamza Igamane, who won’t be joining the squad in Holland, and Clinton Nsiala has been confirmed by the manager as a project player.

Connor Barron has at least settled into the squad well, so that’s a plus, and Jefte is also blending in ok as well. Liam Kelly has finally linked up with the squad, replacing the departed Robby McCrorie like-for-like.

Results at this point are obviously not the be-all but they do matter for morale – it’s better to win than lose, but critically Clement’s ideas need to start seeing some progress.

This is now his squad, his preseason, and this is where he is legitimately judged on his management and the players he is signing.

And getting a solid start against a decent European side like Ajax would be useful.

Of course the performance and result v Liege could have been better, but that was a hastily-arranged bounce match and was purely for two teams to get minutes in their legs.

Today is a pre-planned friendly against a side looking also to get themselves motoring a bit now so there’s a bit of expectation here.

Rangers’ defence, unfortunately, remains the same as always, without James Tavernier at RB. Adam Devine has joined the squad in Holland, having made a delayed flight following B team duties and Tavernier’s fitness, but we don’t know if he’ll play today.

Otherwise the squad is not that dramatically different to last season, at least not yet.

Clement says Rome wasn’t built in a day, but his construction job seems to be as quick as Ibrox’s Copland upgrade.

Our expectations for today are on the fence, at best.