As Philippe Clement reflects on a disappointing start to the Scottish Premiership season, there’s one unavoidable truth at Rangers.
The Belgian’s underperforming team are – quite simply – not scoring enough goals.
With Rangers now 11 points off the Scottish Premiership summit, the club are the division’s 6th highest scorers with the paltry return of 17 goals even flattered by a 6-0 win over Ross County.
Rangers need to get their strikers fit and firing and as Clement comes in for criticism for his treatment of Cyriel Dessers, Brazilian striker Danilo is finally returning to the pitch.
But there’s another option in the background of Ibrox who is going to need to step up and be counted for Rangers during the coldest winter of his life.
Hamza Igamane yet to find feet at Rangers
When Rangers signed Hamza Igamane this summer, the young Moroccan striker was not supposed to be the club’s first-choice hitman.
Indeed, the £1.7m investment made to FAR Rabat for Igamane was about looking to the future, with the talented forward to build his way into the Ibrox team.
Philippe Clement claimed the striker has a ‘lot of talent and potential’ in an interview with Rangers at the time, whilst Nils Koppen branded the kid an ‘exciting young talent’.
But despite showing flashes of his capabilities in a 1-0 win away to Dundee United earlier in the season, Igamane’s opportunities have been limited and the striker is toiling.
Coming off the bench against the Arabs at Ibrox, Igamane might’ve got on the scoresheet on another day but the drab match was summed up by the 22-year-old clutching his face after an innocuous challenge.
As the days tick by, Igamane’s only goalscoring contribution to date was against Standard Liege in the Europa League. It needs to be better if Rangers are to progress.
Philippe Clement needs Rangers striker firing
Philippe Clement’s soundbites about this being a young Rangers squad begun to grate on Ibrox supporters by the end of August.
That the under-fire manager continues to fly this flag three months later is only adding to the furore surrounding his position in the Ibrox dugout.
Robin Propper was caught complaining this week as the Dutch defender struggles to settle into the demands of Rangers and of Scottish football in general. He’s 31.
Rangers are a squad and team who look so misinformed about the reality of life at Ibrox and completely unprepared to deal with it.
Hamza Igamane, who has been mollycoddled through the first part of the season, is part of that number.
Now, just when Rangers are set to need the hitman most, Scotland is headed for a harsh winter exemplified by last week’s particularly cold snap.
For a youngster who has never played football outside of Morocco – and with the pressure rising outside a frosty Ibrox – it’s set to be the harshest winter of the striker’s life.
How Hamza Igamane flowers into the spring could hold the key to Rangers lifting silverware this season.
How Hamza Igamane deals with the cold of the Scottish winter could hold the key to Philippe Clement keeping his job.
