Following on from our assessment of Greg Stewart, next up in our series of Rangers Half-Term Reports is veteran striker Jermain Defoe.
Defoe is still technically a loanee, but he’s been at Ibrox for a year now and he’s fared well.
He’s very much the club’s second-choice striker. Steven Gerrard doesn’t like to refer to him as such, but he’s the support act to Alfredo Morelos.
Much more often than not, the Colombian plays the big games, and Defoe comes in for cup matches or straightforward-looking home fixtures.
At 37, it’s a role he’s clearly content with and the manager could hardly have asked much more of him in terms of results.
There have been certain games and scenarios in which he hasn’t quite been as effective as he may have hoped. For example, he struggled to impose himself when handed at surprise Old Firm start in September, while he was also ineffectual off the bench in the League Cup final.
However, in the main, he’s been brilliant.
Over the first half of the season, he netted 14 goals, before adding another in the Scottish Cup Fourth Round win over Stranraer on Friday night [Transfermarkt].
11 of those strikes have come in the league, meaning he’s scored just one goal fewer than the much-heralded Odsonne Edouard, in around half of the time.
The veteran has two league hat-tricks to his name both coming at Ibrox against Hibernian and Hamilton respectively, while he also scored a brace as a substitute away at St Johnstone.
Sometimes he can cut an isolated figure up top and he lacks a physical presence in the area.
However, despite the fact that his professional career now spans over 20 years, his movement and finishing are still both razor-sharp.
Defoe is a master of his trade, a born goalscorer, and over the first half of the season, he served as a perfect foil to Rangers’ talisman.
The England international has never won a league title, but if he keeps up his form over the second half of the campaign, he could help the Gers to secure their 55th.
