Rabbi Matondo missing for six weeks as Rangers prepare for Livingston in the League Cup
Rangers were booed off after their last match, despite beating Motherwell
Rangers winger Rabbi Matondo is set to miss six weeks of football after he suffered a knee injury during Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Motherwell.
Matondo joins a growing injury list at the club, with Kieran Dowell, Todd Cantwell, Tom Lawrence, Nicolas Raskin and Danilo all sidelined.
Only Dowell has a chance of playing before the next international break.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, assistant manager Neil Banfield said: “Rabbi has sustained a knee injury, I think he is going to be six weeks but we’ve got the squad all prepared for tomorrow.
“He’s added onto the injury list, which has come through the games and it’s part of what we’ve got, and we’ll the build the squad for tomorrow and go again against Livingston.
“It’s understandable, you can see it, but I think when you come into these games, this period of games, I think it’s tough for the players mentally.
“They had a big result on Thursday and it’s how you get over that and you approach the next game, and I think the games have gone well in the results.
"Obviously we’ve seen that we got a little bit anxious on Sunday, not getting the second goal – that does create a little bit of anxiety among the team.
"We defended well, we won the game, and now we push on the cup game on Wednesday night.”
Banfield also confirmed that the coaching staff at the club are fully aware of the growing pressure on manager Michael Beale amidst supporter unrest.
The team were booed off the Ibrox pitch after beating Motherwell but Banfield remained confident that the team will improve:
“We can’t get away from that.
"When we all come together, we speak as a group and you analyse and you prepare for what’s coming and I think we’ve prepared for this and we deal with it.
"I think with the injuries as well, you know that we’ve built a strong squad and it’s time for players to come into the team and hopefully take us into the semi-final.
"When you look at our three recent clean sheets, the way the team defends, the structure of the team and the way we are playing at times then I think it's coming.
"It's definitely coming and it only bodes well for the future."
Rangers host Livingston in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final on Wednesday night.
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