Michael O’Halloran was left out of Rangers’ 18-man squad as they beat Aberdeen at Ibrox.
Michael O’Halloran was left out of Rangers’ 18-man squad by manager Graeme Murty on Wednesday night as the Light Blues earned an excellent 2-0 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.
Murty, 43, reverted to a 4-2-3-1 system that included wingers after first implementing a diamond formation when taking over from former manager Pedro Caixinha. However, he decided not to include winger O’Halloran.
Instead, the former Reading and Southampton defender started with Daniel Candeias and new signing Jamie Murphy on the wings, while attackers Niko Kranjcar and Eduardo Herrera took up their places on the substitutes’ bench.
O’Halloran spent the first half of the season on loan with top-tier outfit St. Johnstone, making 16 Scottish Premiership appearances and scoring five times including a brace against Motherwell in August.
Now, with less than a week remaining in the January transfer window, O’Halloran has a big decision to make. The 27-year-old will not want a repeat of being frozen out at Ibrox, but similarly he will want to break into the first team.
That should convince the former Bolton Wanderers to ask for showdown talks over his future with manager Murty in order to discuss what kind of involvement he will have at Ibrox during the second half of the season.
If Murty promises to use him regularly then there is no reason why the two-time Scotland Under-21 international should leave, but if the manager is unsure what he can offer O’Halloran, then he should look to leave Ibrox this month.
Following his omission from the squad on Wednesday night, it is more likely to be the latter and that could mean the end of O’Halloran’s frustrating spell at Ibrox since his move to the Gers in the winter window of 2016.
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