For all the talk of Rangers taking a battering in Sunday’s Old Firm derby, the underlying numbers suggest that it wasn’t quite so one-sided a tale as the 3-0 scoreline would have you believe.
Celtic scored three goals from just four shots on target, after all. Rangers, meanwhile, managed the same number of attampts on Kasper Schmeichel’s goal and scored not even once.
The XG, meanwhile, has Celtic and Rangers almost level-pegging. A tally of 1.55 for the former, and 1.24 for the latter.
“Celtic were the better team, I’m not denying that,” Ibrox legend Graeme Souness tells The Three Up Top podcast, the statistics backing up his point. “I just didn’t think that Rangers got pummelled in the Old Firm derby.
“Jack Butland only had two saves to make, although he did need to pick the ball out of the net three times. (Celtic managed) two more shots on target all game. Is that a suggestion that (Rangers) were on the back foot? No.
“That said, Celtic have better strikers than Rangers do right now.”
Albion Rrahmani shows Rangers what they are missing
Games between the two top teams in any division often boil down to whoever has the more clinical finishers at their disposal.
And despite a terrific start to the season from the oft-maligned Cyriel Dessers, there is no doubting that Celtic’s quality in the final third far outstrips that at Philippe Clement’s disposal.
Kyogo Furuhashi, firing a laser-guided finish past an unsuspecting Jack Butland to double Celtic’s first-half lead, now has eight goals in just 15 Old Firm derbies.
Compare that to the man leading the line for the visitors. Dessers has just one in six Hoops clashes, with a weak one-on-one finish – albeit from an offside position – once again raising questions about whether the Nigeria international has the killer instinct to be trusted with such ammunition in the biggest moments.
Despite being linked with a host of strikers throughout the summer, the closest thing Clement got to a new number nine was Moroccan youngster Hamza Igamane.
While thrown on off the bench against Celtic, Clement obviously feels that the 21-year-old is far from the finished article.
The luckless Danilo, meanwhile, offered a tantalising glimpse of his talents with a well-taken finish against Ross County. That, however, looks likely to sandwich too lengthy injury absences. The Brazilian has undergone surgery on his long-standing knee issue for a second time, per the Daily Record.
So, while Clement was largely content with Rangers’ transfer activity, a side without any sort of genuine depth in the number nine role – and with Dessers often flitting from awesome to awful – gives the impression of a car passing it’s MOT but then suffering a puncture on it’s way out of the garage.
The flying start made by Albion Rrahmani at Sparta Prague, meanwhile, may soon be used as a stick with which to beat Rangers’ recruitment department, headed up by Nils Koppen.
Koppen reportedly held talks with Rrahmani’s agent in June, after all. Romanian publication Digi Sport even claim that the transfer was ‘very close’ at one point.
But despite Rapid Bucharest being open to far lower offer than was previously rumoured – Sparta Prague secured a deal for just over £4 million – and despite the prospect of a swap deal involving the out-of-favour Ianis Hagi, the opportunity passed Rangers by.
Rangers Review claim that a fee was never agreed between the two clubs.
Superb start to life at Sparta Prague
A prolific goalscorer both in Kosovo and Romania – he won the Golden Boot in the former back in 2023 – Rrahmani has started as he means to go on in the Czech Republic.
After netting on his debut against Malmo in Europe, the 24-year-old then marked his Fortuna Liga bow with a goal and an assist last week. He almost single-handedly fired Sparta to a 2-0 win away to Hradec Kralove.
“I liked Rrahmani as long as he had energy and strength. He didn’t have much time to train with us because we always had matches to play, but he is calm with the ball at his feet, good at finishing and sees his team-mates well on the pitch,” Sparta coach Lars Friis tells iSport, delighted with his striker’s immediate impact.
“Rrahmani has played in two matches and has already been involved in three goals. It’s a big deal.”
“He performed superbly,” adds team-mate Tomas Wiesner, speaking to Sport. “He calmly put the ball into the net.
“That’s why Sparta bought him. He is an incredible killer, which he has already shown against Malmo.”
While Dessers has won over many of his critics in the last few months, the former Feyenoord ace still has only three goals from 12 shots in the Premiership this term. Dessers is also underperforming his Expected Goals tally, per WhoScored.
And with opportunities at a premium against teams of Celtic’s quality, the lack of a striker who can finish off even half-chances such as Rrahmani, an expert at making the most from very little, could remain Rangers’ biggest achilles heel.
