Rangers in major Panathinaikos injury boost as star ruled out
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But they will have to do without Kyriakopoulos for both games after he suffered a serious knee injury in training.
The 29-year-old Greek international will go under the knife this weekend after suffering a cruciate knee injury.
He will be out for several months and won't feature in the games against Rangers.
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Scotsman
a minute ago
- Scotsman
Russell Martin earns 'most authentic manager I've assessed' tag as Rangers rant dissected by expert
Motherwell post-match interview dissected by 'human lie detector' Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Rangers head coach Russell Martin has been described as the "most authetic manager I've been asked to assess" by a body language expert. It comes after Martin laid into his Rangers players after the 1-1 draw at Motherwell on the opening day of the Premiership season that has left them playing catch up to Celtic already. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The damning post-match interview which saw Martin call out his team for having a "mentality problem" has been analysed by Darren Stanton, who is known as the 'human lie detector'. And he felt the former Southampton boss spoke directly from the heart as he detected no ulterior motives behind the forthright address. Rangers head coach Russell Martin at full time after the 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group) | SNS Group 'This was a great bit of footage,' said Stanton. 'You don't often see managers that are so direct. 'I think basically this guy wants to give the impression that heads are going to roll. He's attributed all the faults, everything to certain players even though he's called out the culture as a whole. He's got pressure on himself for sure to get the team to perform but the non verbal signals are clear.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There's a lot of anger,' continued Stanton. 'His eyes are pulled together and pulled down. 'Martin was looking down and left for most of the interview, if you notice, which is what we call auditory internal dialogue. This happens in a split second. He's thinking very carefully about what he's saying but it does tell me that he's been genuinely authentic. 'He's not trying to mask anything' "He's speaking from the heart. If he was trying to manage the risk of what he's saying to the media we would see some bilateral shoulder shrugs, which is where one only shoulder moves. He seems genuine because he did lots of double shoulder shrugs. He's not trying to mask anything.' Martin's direct comments caused a stir and Stanton reckons the new Ibrox boss will need to walk a fine line when it comes to putting his emotions on full display. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'When he was asked the follow up question, he changed,' added Stanton. 'He looked up and left. That's the only time he showed a shift in emotion but principally he's shown a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, and I think he's going to be making sure people will be leaving. Rangers manager Russell Martin (right) and James Tavernier (left) shake hands at the final whistle after the William Hill Premiership match at Fir Park, Motherwell. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) 'I don't believe he's being driven by fear. There was no fear here. I think it's purely anger and frustration because he basically thinks people are taking him, the fans and the club for a ride. 'I think it's going to be a very fine line for Martin to walk. He's got to be careful because if he's coming in all guns blazing, I think some of the players could cause him problems. Like anybody that works in the public eye, including sports people, they've all got egos as big as the moon. 'Clearly there's a motivational issue going on there because if they are being lackadaisical when things aren't going so great, if they don't tend to fight back when things are difficult, that's really bad.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Laying down the law Stanton believes the manner in which Martin filleted his players on day one of the league season shows he is "not going to suffer fools glady at Rangers". 'He wants to lay the law down and those that don't want to play ball in his own words can walk and sometimes you've just got to pull a scary face in life,' added Stanton. 'It's nice to be nice but you've also got to stand up for yourself and defend your values and say what you think is wrong. 'If the fans get behind him and support his strategy to go in there and start kicking some arse then I do think heads will roll but it's all about leverage. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'No one person is bigger than the team, or at least that's the idea isn't it, so he has to control the framing and the narrative because at the end of the day he's the manager or the coach, especially if there's one or two players who run against that.
The Herald Scotland
30 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Rangers flop on verge of surprise £20m move to European giant
And his individual performances left a lot to be desired, frustrating fans with his lack of output despite arriving with the pedigree of a player once signed for £35 million. Silva ended up with six goals in a Rangers shirt. But just one year on, the 23-year-old could be on the move to a giant of the European game. Read more: He has been playing with Las Palmas in La Liga, scoring 10 goals in 25 appearances last season. Still contracted to Wolves, his loan at the Spaniards is up and he is now looking for his next club. The Express & Star say Dortmund have been in discussions with the Premier League side and the talks are progressing well. However, Wolves do not want to let the player leave on the cheap after paying £35m to sign him from Porto. Dortmund are reportedly looking to pay £17m but the Molineux outfit could push for more and the price could land at £20m.
Daily Record
32 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Russell Martin may fear Rangers in the Champions League could be a career ender
Tonight the Rangers boss will lead his side into the third qualifying round of the most competitive environment on the planet Now that the clock is rushing down towards kick-off tonight at Ibrox, it's worth pausing for a moment to ask a difficult question. What exactly is it Rangers are hoping for in this early season journey towards the league phase of the Champions League? And the answers might not be as straightforward or as unanimous as they probably ought to be. Of course supporters and players alike should regard qualification for UEFA's elite event as something of a default setting. It's the place where each and every one of them should aspire for their club to be seen. And it might be a no-brainer for new owner Andrew Cavenagh as his American consortium ramp up their attempts to raise the stakes on the domestic front. For Cavenagh and his colleagues, instantly accessing and unlocking the kind of fortunes which are available in Europe's most lucrative playground, may also help them to expedite and turbo charge their plans to make Rangers great again. If there is as much as an added £30million or £40m funnelling into the club's vaults in this, their first season at the helm, then it stands to reason that their aims and ambitions can be better funded and accelerated accordingly. In terms of the business model alone, it's very hard to see a downside. But one man's panacea is another man's pandemonium. And right now Russell Martin might have reason to believe fast-tracking this Rangers rebuild into the most dangerous competitive environment on the planet could turn out to be a career ender where his own long term aspirations for Rangers are concerned. Yes, Martin will send his team out to face the Czechs tonight hoping to mastermind a first leg win along the same lines of the 2-0 victory which set up an aggregate victory over Panathinaikos in the previous round of qualifiers. Winning games of football is the ultimate priority of any manager's job, after all, and - after his team was jeered off the pitch at Fir Park on the opening day of the league season - he could do with a validatory performance to get a suspicious home support back onside. Large sections of this fan base remain largely unconvinced following his appointment and some of them are deeply concerned that the man in charge of their team is so stubborn and locked into ideology that he may end up doing more harm than good. Those fears cannot be easily dismissed given the rather calamitous way it all ended for Martin at Southampton last season and, as he admitted himself the other day, 'often change can be messy'. But if Martin can't trust his men to get in and out of Motherwell in one piece then just how messy might it get for them if they're forced to go to places like Munich, Madrid or Milan? And, whether the majority of the supporters trust his vision or not at this early juncture, there can be no denying that the scale of the changes he's implementing this summer are both sudden and vast. Nine new players have arrived already with a great deal more comings and goings expected before the transfer market closes down for business at the end of the month. And while the personnel is being overhauled Martin is also attempting to completely reinvent the way his side operates on the pitch. He's not just changing the faces and trying to improve the culture of a dressing room, Martin means to create an identity for a team which has looked lost and directionless under so many of his predecessors. And there's hardly a Rangers fan out there who hasn't been crying out for someone to do all of the above over the last decade or so. So yes, while he does need a signature win and a display which encourages faith in his methods, he may also have cause to wonder if he might be biting off more than he can chew by leading Rangers any closer to UEFA's promised land. Like Icarus, Martin might be in danger of flying a little too close to the sun. Of course, even if Plzen can be disposed of over two legs Rangers will still be required to deal with either Brugge or RB Salzburg in the final play-off round. And that feels like a long shot. But, from a purely football perspective, Martin could be excused for thinking a season in the Europa League might be the safest place for him and his players to grow together. Just ask Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who is only just getting over the scars inflicted upon his reputation from successfully leading Rangers into the Champions League the last time around three years ago. The Dutchman was not provided with the tools required to survive at that level and ended up on the wrong end of a succession of six consecutive hidings - including a 7-1 evisceration on home soil. His players were made to look and feel absolutely inferior with each of these savage beatings, their self esteem and confidence were being crushed. Van Bronckhorst tried to stem the bleeding but could not recover from the trauma and the damage inflicted upon him. He was sacked in November of that year - just six months after leading Rangers to the Europa League final in Seville. And that was a man who arrived in the job knowing there was nothing but goodwill behind him. Martin, on the other hand, is already looking over his shoulder, blinded by the glinting of sharp blades. Just three games into the job. Yes, he needs time and patience if he's to navigate his way through to a better place but Martin has the misfortune of taking on this role at a point in time when calm heads, empathy and understanding have long since left the building. There may also be some players left inside his camp who are also nursing scar tissue from their last misadventure on Europe's biggest and most unforgiving stage. Men such as skipper James Tavernier, for example, a captain who may have no wish to lead his team back out there. Tavernier is one of the few survivors but, despite his service and longevity, he remains under serious scrutiny and is regularly accused of looking scared by his shadow whenever the flood lights are switched on. The long held suspicion among some supporters is that Tavernier has suffered several bloody beatings too many during his decade at the club. That he's been through so many ordeals in his time that he's been rendered gun shy by them. That Martin has not removed him from the frontline or at least handed his armband to someone else, has added weight to the arguments that the new boss doesn't yet have a handle on what is really required to reverse away from this period of underachievement. Ultimately, that's for him to determine as part of the whole conundrum. But what do Rangers hope to get out of Europe this season? That just might be the toughest question of them all.
