Warburton won't pick strongest Rangers line-up during the League Cup group stage

[JFK-1 1,693]

MARK WARBURTON won’t unleash his new Rangers recruits against Motherwell as he looks to mix and match his squad through the Betfred Cup campaign.

 

The Light Blues will have their first run-out of the season when they face Charleston Battery next week before they return to Glasgow from their training camp in America.

 

The trip to Fir Park on Saturday, July 16 is the first of four games Warburton’s side will play in nine days before they host Burnley and Hamilton Accies on successive weekends.

 

And the likes of Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Jordan Rossiter are likely to miss out on the Steelmen showdown as Warburton puts plans in place for the Premiership.

 

He said: “The big concern is the League Cup. It’s one of the big tournaments with its history and tradition but we have players joining us on July 10 and then we’ve got a match on the 16th – and it’s a TV match.

 

“Our focus has to be the start of the league so everything has to be geared towards that and I’m hoping but the Burnley friendly on the 30th we should be able to play what we feel is our strongest starting 11.

 

“We’ve got four games in nine days and the biggest fear is injury.

 

“Joey will play in some of them but will he play on the 16th? Probably not. And it’s the same with Niko and Jordan.

 

“We will have different squads for the 16th, 19th and 25th and we will use a lot of the young boys too.

 

“I am conscious we have TV games, it’s the League Cup and we have supporters expecting to see our strongest side.

 

“But we have to use the squad. It will play, recover, quiet session for 10 days.”

 

After returning to training at Auchenhowie a fortnight ago, Rangers have been put through their paces in Charleston as preparations for the big kick-off continue.

 

It is only a few weeks since Rangers suffered heartache at Hampden as they threw away a lead and lost the Scottish Cup final against Hibernian.

 

The day will be remembered for all the wrong reasons following the pitch invasion at full-time that has sparked probes from Police Scotland and the Scottish FA.

 

But the disappointment of the 90 minutes that unfolded lingers with Warburton as he looks to ensure his side are in better shape for next season.

 

He said: “I was lying on a beach in Naples still feeling irate. We didn’t want to end a good season on a disappointing note.

 

“We said to the players ‘you’ve only got three and a half weeks off, don’t ruin your summer’ and we did.

 

“As a group of staff and players we weren’t god enough on the day and maybe it was a game too far.

 

“We also couldn’t use any of the players we had sent out on loan due to SFA rules – Jordan Thomson, Ryan Hardie, Tom Walsh.

 

“They had to be registered by the semi-final but what comes out of that is that maybe that rule should be changed because surely playing young players in a cup final would be fantastic.

 

“Losing Dom Ball was a blow. We couldn’t replace him. He would have given us that physicality in midfield. I’m not saying he would have changed the way things turned out but he is 6ft 2”.

 

“But we knew what we had to do this summer. We knew what we were losing so we went out and got them and when players became available we took them.

 

“I can’t speak about the aftermath. It’s a police matter and the authorities are dealing with it.”

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/14594105.Mark_Warburton__I_won__39_t_pick_my_strongest_Rangers_line_up_during_the_League_Cup_group_fixtures/

[Craigy1881 79]

good plan, we really need to get another striker in soon.

[buster. 5,185]

Priority is the League, if we go out of the League Cup it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

Pre-season and preparing the players and systems for the new seasons has to take preference.

[Waltersgotstyle 307]

I imagine Barton will want to play as soon as possible

Edited July 2, 2016 by Waltersgotstyle

[Tannochsidebear 2,405]

The Motherwell game is of course the difficult one, but there is absolutely no reason to think Motherwell will be at their strongest for this game either, and I am sure they are looking at these group games the same way as we are - bounce games for the start of the league campaign. No matter what squad we select for the other 3 group games there can be no excuse not to win them all very comfortably and therefore we should, even if we lose at Fir Park, still qualify as a best placed runner up if I am understanding the qualification process correctly.

 

Warburton will have all this worked out as well. It may have been different if we were playing Motherwell in a straight knock out basis, but while the manager is trying to be polite about it, he is treating these league cup games as squad bounce games with the only difference being the restrictions on subs he can use. I am guessing the fans will treat these games with the contempt they deserve, and crowds will be very low indeed. I see we have already notified fans that we have closed the Club Deck for the league cup games.

[JFK-1 1,693]

I too was wondering if Motherwell might field a comparative second string. I suppose they might but at the same time this is Rangers and I supect the league cup might mean a lot more to Motherwell than it does to us and just beating Rangers would be a relatively big deal for them.

 

We're focussing on winning the league, they're not going to be winning any leagues. A cup is their best chance.

[calscot 0]

As it's the first game and against us and on tv, I fully expect Motherwell to play their strongest side.

[Waltersgotstyle 307]

I too was wondering if Motherwell might field a comparative second string. I suppose they might but at the same time this is Rangers and I supect the league cup might mean a lot more to Motherwell than it does to us and just beating Rangers would be a relatively big deal for them.

 

We're focussing on winning the league, they're not going to be winning any leagues. A cup is their best chance.

 

They have 5 friendlies before they play us. I imagine it will be a full strength Motherwell team.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Waltersgotstyle

[Tannochsidebear 2,405]

I too was wondering if Motherwell might field a comparative second string. I suppose they might but at the same time this is Rangers and I supect the league cup might mean a lot more to Motherwell than it does to us and just beating Rangers would be a relatively big deal for them.

 

We're focussing on winning the league, they're not going to be winning any leagues. A cup is their best chance.

 

Staying in the league will be their priority. Similar to us, they will be confident of winning their other matches in the group and proceeding as a second place team. Perhaps we can agree a draw just now that suits both?

[Bearman 9]

I too was wondering if Motherwell might field a comparative second string. I suppose they might but at the same time this is Rangers and I supect the league cup might mean a lot more to Motherwell than it does to us and just beating Rangers would be a relatively big deal for them.

 

We're focussing on winning the league, they're not going to be winning any leagues. A cup is their best chance.

 

I agree with everything you say mate except the bit I've highlighted. It'll be a sad day indeed if Rangers ever allow this trophy to mean more to their opponents than themselves. I'm sure it was a typo though...you'll be just as excited as the rest of us when we compete for it in the Final, perhaps against Motherwell?