Below is a transcript of everything the Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst said to the various media outlets ahead of Wednesday's visit of St Johnstone.
What’s your reaction to the Europa League draw with Borussia Dortmund?
It’s a really exciting draw, not only for me but for the team as well. It will be good for us to play two games against a quality opponent so for me it’s a nice draw.
It’s going to be really hard but you want challenges in life and also in football to compete with the best and we are able to compete with the best now so we have to be on the top of our game.
But it’s really exciting to see the draw against Dortmund.
Can you give us any more information on Kemar Roofe’s injury?
Hopefully he’ll be fit before the winter break but we’re not sure yet so we should definitely have him back after the winter break.
Are there any other injuries or players missing for tomorrow night?
No, we have the same players who were available on Sunday so no new injuries.
Does the fact St Johnstone are likely to sit in change the mentality of what you need to do in the game?
It doesn’t need a change of mentality. For me, it’s no different if you play against a team who will press you high up or defend really deep. Our mentality always has to be the same. With the way we play, tactically you should do something different which is normal but we prepared the team well enough to create chances tomorrow against St Johnstone and that’s what it’s all about.
Is there any update on Ryan Jack?
Ryan Jack is like Kemar, we hope to have him back as soon as possible, I think that would be back just before the winter break or during the winter break so we hope to have Ryan back fully fit when we start after the winter break.
Where are you in terms of January transfer targets?
We have quite a lot of meetings with Ross Wilson so we know what we want to do and in which areas we have to be prepared if something happens so in that way we are already preparing for the transfer window. It’s always good to have the squad you want at the end of the window. It’s never good when you are entering the window and at the end you have a lesser squad than you had when you came in so the objective for us, when the transfer window ends, we should have a quality squad as well.
Is Ryan Jack’s injury linked to last season’s injury?
He didn’t play a lot, we gave him some minutes to play but before the game against Lyon, the last training session he just had a moment again. Almost at the end of the session so he was disappointed but he felt it wasn’t as bad as he before so hopefully we get a quick recovery for him. I’m sure he’ll be with us in the next couple of weeks to train again.
Is the club looking to tie down Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo on new contracts?
If you play really well, you have interest in your players. I want my players to perform really well, when they perform really well at a club like Rangers, interest will come but we will look into their contracts as well. They’re an important part of the team and I’m very positive about them, I think the club is also positive about the players so eventually when you’re both happy you can sign a new deal but we have to see in the coming months how we progress with them.
Have you spoken or texted Gio or Claudio Reyna since the draw with Dortmund?
Gio sent a text to my eldest son, they’re almost the same age, so it was good to be drawn against him. It’s a special moment for both of us, I’ve known Gio his whole life, we visited him 18 months ago, we watched him play for Dortmund. I’ve already been in contact with his dad Claudio, we’re good friends so hopefully he can come to the games as well. Being the professionals we are we want to do our best for our clubs but for me it’s really special because I’ve known Gio his whole life, he’s named after me so they don’t come better than that.
Is Scott Arfield someone who fits into your system or are you happy for him to play an almost swashbuckling role?
I like Scott, I didn’t know him really well but that’s why it’s important for me to be on the pitch, to be with the players, look in their eyes to see their qualities in the training sessions but also in the games. Scott is a player who really uses his strength in the system we play. For me, he doesn’t have to play different than the system he is used to. He can play in the role that suits him, if you have that in your team and players can play their natural way, they’re always more effective. The last games he’s played really well. I’m really happy with the players in games offensively and also defensively and I think Scott is doing really well at the things we want him to do.
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