Champions League Winner Drops Harsh Truth About Rangers’ Attacking Lineup

Rangers have seemingly found their footing in the Scottish Premiership with four wins on the trot, but the next couple of games will truly test the character of Derek McInnes and his men.

The Gers will now take on their cross-town rivals Celtic in two back-to-back Glasgow derbies, one in the Scottish League Cup this Sunday and the other in the Premiership the following weekend.

McInnes will be without two of his top attacking reinforcements from this summer during both of these encounters, as both Daisuke Yokota and Lawrence Shankland have been ruled out for a period of more than two months.

On the other hand, Celtic's plans for the derbies have been boosted by the return of Kasper Hogh, the Danish target man whom they signed from Bodo Glimt this summer.

Both Glaswegian clubs had a decent summer transfer window, but their approaches were completely different.

Unlike the previous few transfer windows, the Celts were able to bring their desired reinforcements this summer in the form of Hogh, Camilo Duran and Haissem Hassan in order to strengthen their attacking line-up.

As for the Gers, Ibrox seemingly focused more on quantity rather than quality, as they added 14 new players to their squad this summer, giving McInnes an almost new set of team to work with.  

Now, former Celtic man and 1997 Champions League winner Paul Lambert gave his opinion on the attacking line-up of the two sides before the back-to-back derbies.

While speaking to Boyle Sports (h/t Glasgow Times), the former midfielder talked about the forwards of the two clubs, saying, "Lawrence Shankland knows the Scottish game, but he's struggled a little bit since his move to Rangers.

"Okay, he got a couple of goals, but now his injury is going to keep him out for a long period. It remains to be seen how Kevin Kelsy adapts.

"I don't think many people know much about him, so that'll be interesting to see how that goes."

While speaking of Hogh, Lambert explained, "He's started the season pretty well, getting his hat-trick against Kilmarnock; he's started his Celtic career really well.

"He seems to have a good relationship with everybody there, including the crowd, with his teammates, and the two wide lads, Duran and Yang.

"So yeah, I think he could be a real handful."

Lambert's take on the situation might look a bit opinionated, but at the moment that seems to be the most appropriate assessment of the two sides' current attacking options.

Despite the League Cup game taking place at Ibrox, Celtic look to be the favorites to go through owing to their squad stability. However, where Glasgow derbies are concerned, the results at the final whistle have often been surprising.