Philip Clement defended his injury record at Rangers as he surveyed his depleted squad ahead of the game against Dundee, live on Sky Sports.
When the Belgian took over as manager in October 2023, he pledged to improve the fitness and availability of the squad he inherited from former manager Michael Bale.
However, Rangers are once again undermanned and particularly lacking in defensive options ahead of the trip to Tayside.
Thursday, January 9 at 7:15 p.m
Departure at 8:00 pm
Captain James Tavernier remains on the bench alongside John Souttar (thigh), Nraysho Kasanwirjo (knee), Jack Butland (leg) and Leon Balogun, while midfielder Tom Lawrence remains out.
Utility player Dougon Sterling is a doubt after suffering a knock in the 3-3 draw with Hibernian at the weekend which ultimately left Rangers 13 points behind Premier League leaders Celtic.
“The situation is completely different,” said Clement, who will miss the match with coach Tony Docherty's team.
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Rangers boss Philip Clement has told Sky Sports News there are various reasons behind their poor away form in the Scottish Premiership this season.
“Last season, we had big spells, 10/12, where players came off.
“Now we've got four of course. Well, Jack too, but that's an accident. It's not really an injury. It's a contact injury. And some of the other injuries are also contact injuries. That's part of football.”
“The difficult thing is that it's all in one situation.
“So this is a difficulty for every club in the world. You cannot predict it and it is not possible to have seven centre-backs in your team.
“So we haven't been in a situation this season where we've had 12 injuries at the same time and the club has also worked hard to strengthen some areas.
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Watch highlights of the Scottish Premiership match between Hibernian and Rangers
“So we got a really good physio from Aberdeen with Kevin (Payne), and we made changes in the performance department.
“So really good steps have been made this way, so we can't compare with the situation it was like last season.
“It's about finding solutions and that's what we've been doing in the last two weeks.
“For example, he put Ridvan Yilmaz at right-back and he is doing a really good job there.
“So we need to be creative, have a good level of defending and not concede the goals we conceded against Hibs on the two set-pieces.
“I need to make choices about that, and also about this game, because it's also one of Dundee's strengths.”
