Monday, December 23, 2024

Rangers ‘need a lot more’ from attacking players

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[BBC]

BBC Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Fraser asked: Do you think Philippe Clement is happy with his strikers? Does he honestly believe they will deliver the goals to win the league?

Tom answered: Hi Fraser. I’m going to throw some numbers at you. Cyriel Dessers, for all his shortcomings, has scored the same number of league goals as Kyogo Furuhashi this season and scored two more than him last season. Not comparing them as players at all, just the raw numbers. Dessers’ numbers are very respectable, though he should score more.

Clement must be massively frustrated with all the injuries Danilo has picked up because he was a huge financial outlay – in relative terms – and has hardly got out of the starting blocks. It’s early days for young Hamza Igamane, but on the evidence so far it looks like he has a lot to learn.

Rangers have scored 12 league goals this season compared to Aberdeen’s 15 and Celtic’s 22. If that trend continues then they have a problem. Everything gets lumped at Dessers’ door and I think it’s unfair.

Over the last couple of seasons, look where Rangers have got the bulk of their league goals from – James Tavernier 17 last season and 16 the season before; Abdallah Sima 16 last season; Todd Cantwell seven last season; Antonio Colak 14 the season before, Fashion Sakala scored 12, Malik Tillman got 10.

Tavernier has scored one goal in his last 21 games for Rangers. The penalties have dried up. Sima, Cantwell, Colak, Sakala and Tillman are no longer there. So who picks up the slack? It can’t all be down to Dessers. The others have to deliver, too.

Vaclav Cerny and Tom Lawrence have both got three in the league so far. That’s pretty encouraging, but Rangers need a lot more from their attacking players, not just their strikers. Nedim Bajrami and chums need to step up.

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[BBC]

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