Derek McInnes Backs Lawrence Shankland at Rangers Despite Slow Start

Derek McInnes is convinced Lawrence Shankland will come good at Rangers – and insists the striker’s armband offers no guarantees in his new-look side.

Shankland has just one goal in five appearances since his move to Ibrox and started on the bench as Rangers finally clicked with a 5-1 dismantling of St Mirren in the League Cup, their first win of the season. Ryan Naderi got the nod up front and repaid that faith with the opener, while Nico Raskin wore the captain’s armband.

For McInnes, none of that dents his belief in his 31-year-old Scotland forward.

“Too good not to score regularly,” was the manager’s verdict. He has history to back it up. Under McInnes at Hearts last season, Shankland plundered 22 goals and looked every inch a penalty-box predator.

“When you have a player like Lawrence, who knows his way around the penalty box and how to score goals, I do not worry too much about it,” McInnes said. “Sometimes people can over emphasise these things. For me, it is a case of letting him play his natural game.

The best strikers have that instinctive side to their game, where everything looks natural and seamless. I have no doubt he will do well here.”

Shankland’s status as club captain has not shielded him from selection calls. McInnes was blunt with him about that from the outset.

“I said that when I spoke to Lawrence,” he explained. “Being captain does not guarantee anything, and he accepted that. He is not going to stamp his feet about it.

“Having worked with Lawrence before, he is a brilliant captain and a brilliant boy. You want your captain to have a big influence on and off the pitch, and I believe Lawrence will have that.”

While Shankland adjusts to life at Ibrox and battles for a starting place, another key figure sits at the centre of transfer noise. Nico Raskin has been heavily linked with a move away, but McInnes insists the 25-year-old Belgium midfielder has remained fully locked in.

“Every player's got a price,” McInnes said. “Every player has got a time where it maybe suits them to move on, suits the club or whatever.

“But I think it's important for me to say that Nico's been a dream since we came in, in terms of how he's set about his work, and he doesn't look like a boy who's distracted in any way with that.

“I've no doubt there's a lot of stuff going on in the background with him. I just need to play it by ear really to be honest. I'm enjoying working with him.”

Rangers now pivot from domestic relief to European jeopardy. Jablonec arrive at Ibrox on Thursday for the first leg of a Conference League play-off, riding a six-game winning streak and with their own confidence surging.

McInnes is wary of labels.

He called it “difficult to really assess who are the favourites”, preferring to put the onus firmly on his own dressing room.

“It's just a game that we put the emphasis on ourselves to go and win,” he said. “They're clearly a well-organised team. They've got a few good individuals who can make the game a bit more problematic for you, but we feel as though we've got a good handle on what they are.

“They can change from shape to shape a lot even within the same personnel so we've got to be ready for that.

“I'm just really trying to concentrate on us finding our level and us getting big performances. If we can do that then, although I'm expecting a tough game, I expect it to be tougher for them.”

Shankland’s goals, Raskin’s future, European qualification on the line – McInnes knows the margins are thin. The question now is whether this first emphatic win becomes a turning point, or just a brief pause in the pressure.