Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury during the club's recent 1-0 league victory over Motherwell. Manager Derek McInnes expressed concern that the 31-year-old striker could be out for months, comparing the injury to a similar issue he experienced in January.
Shankland pulled up in the eighth minute of the match and was replaced by eventual matchwinner Ryan Naderi. The injury also rules him out of contention for Scotland's upcoming Nations League matches against Slovenia and Switzerland. He is scheduled for a scan on Monday to determine the full extent of the injury.
"He has a similar feeling to the hamstring injury he had at Hearts last January when he was out for three months," McInnes stated. "Obviously, we don’t want to speculate too much, but he says it feels similar and in the same area."
McInnes acknowledged the high output from Shankland in recent games, including on artificial turf, and noted that the player felt fine going into the match. "He just felt it and pulled up. It’s a shame for the boy because he was obviously in good form, getting himself moving and enjoying some of that attacking threat we’ve had over the last few games," the manager added.
The absence of Shankland, coupled with Youssef Chermiti being out for the season, places increased pressure on new signing Kevin Kelsy. McInnes confirmed Kelsy, a £9 million acquisition, made a late cameo appearance and will be expected to feature more prominently. Bojan Miovski and Min-su Kim also provide attacking options for the club.
Despite the setback, McInnes was pleased with his team's performance in securing their third consecutive league win. "I thought the scoreline made it suggest it was tighter than it actually was," he said. "Motherwell are good enough to create opportunities, but I thought we nullified their threat throughout the game, really, other than maybe one or two moments on transitions."
He also highlighted the strong performance of vice-captain Dan Neil, calling it potentially his best since joining the club. "What I enjoyed even from my vantage point today was I could hear Dan and Nico (Raskin) speaking, organising, and really driving the press, and I thought we turned the ball over so many times."
Motherwell head coach Alfred Johansson, meanwhile, praised goalkeeper Alex Paulsen for his saves throughout the match, despite an error that led to Rangers' goal. "You don’t want to concede goals. It doesn’t matter if it’s this or that," Johansson commented. "The reason why it stays 1-0 today is also because of Alex Paulsen."
"Congratulations to Rangers, I think they were better than us. We didn’t play to our best, especially not on the ball. Then the game becomes too much transitions, and Rangers are good there," Johansson concluded.