Jim Goodwin could not disguise his disappointment when Rangers brought in reinforcements ahead of St Mirren’s trip to Ibrox.
But the Buddies boss is encouraged about his new-look defensive line-up ahead of their potential meeting with Steven Gerrard’s fresh strike force.
With Jermain Defoe missing the Scottish Premiership opener due to a hamstring injury and Alfredo Morelos struggling for goals amid speculation over his future, Gerrard’s options up front were looking thin.
But the Rangers boss signed former Leeds striker Kemar Roofe from Anderlecht and Switzerland international Cedric Itten on Tuesday to give him plenty of alternatives after Morelos led the line in Thursday’s Europa League defeat by Bayer Leverkusen in Germany.
Goodwin said: “When we looked at the fixtures, we knew Rangers were away in Europe and of course from our point of view you are hoping that they maybe have a bit of a hangover from that, like you see sometimes.
“But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed to see the two new guys come in. They have spent five or six million on two really good new additions.
“I don’t know a great deal about Itten, I have to admit. I did look at him on Wyscout (a scouting and analysis platform), but I have seen enough of Roofe during his time in England. He started off in the lower leagues in England and he has managed to build himself up through the leagues.
“He is about a goal every two games in the last three or four years and he had a very successful time at Leeds, and scored half a dozen goals in 13 league games in Belgium.
“He’s a very, very good striker and he’s a handful and it gives Steven Gerrard another attacking option to add to Morelos.
“We will need to see what selection Steven comes up with but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two new lads in the starting line-up, or at least one of them.”
Goodwin handed debuts to former Rangers goalkeeper Jak Alnwick and defenders Richard Tait, Marcus Fraser and Joe Shaughnessy in their opener against Livingston and was given “loads of encouragement” by their display in a 1-0 win.
“Jak Alnwick in goal and the back four took a lot of plaudits on Saturday and rightly so,” he added.
“That’s the first time they have actually played together full stop, never mind in a pre-season friendly, because Marcus and Joe Shaughnessy came in late and with the coronavirus problem we had, that game against St Johnstone got postponed.
“Considering everything we had to deal with in the build-up to that game, missing four days of training, valuable, valuable days of training, putting a new back four together with a new goalkeeper, coming away with the kind of performance the lads put on was quite remarkable. And it gives me great confidence going forward.”
