The former striker feels sorry for Cyriel Dessers who has come under criticism due to his inconsistency in front of goal.
Cyriel Dessers is currently Rangers’ top goal scorer with ten goals in all competitions but the 30-year-old is still being criticised.
Despite being their main goal threat so far this season, Dessers has earned criticism from Rangers fans.
The Nigerian international has had quite the up and down spell since arriving at the Ibrox club in the summer of 2023 and boss Philippe Clement has described Dessers as an ‘enigma‘.
If anyone can relate to what the 30-year-old is going through it’s ex-Rangers player Ross McCormack.
Ross McCormack gives his verdict on Dessers form
McCormack came through the youth set up at Rangers but only managed to make 13 first-team appearances and scored three goals.
The former Leeds United man knows the difficulties of being a striker and believes the Ibrox front man tends to score when it’s least expected.
Speaking on the Daily Record Hotline, the former Scotland international compared Dessers to a former Celtic player who was in a similar position to him.
“I’ve got a little bit of sympathy with Dessers because I like strikers who put themselves in those sorts of situations time and time again.
“I go back to the year Celtic stopped Rangers getting 10 in a row and there was a guy playing upfront called Harald Brattbakk for Celtic and he was quite similar to be honest.
“Chance after chance he would miss but he would never shy away, he put his body on the line and he would be in between the six-yard box waiting for those chances.
“The only sort of thing with Dessers for me is that he seems to be a reactive striker, I expect him to score when he hasn’t got time to think about it.”
Dessers facing competition from Danilo and Hamza Igmane
Dessers scored 22 goals last season in 54 games for the Light Blues and led the line due to Danilo being out injured for most of it.
Hamza Igmane replaced Dessers in the 4-0 thumping over FCSB in the Europa League and impressed by scoring the fourth goal in the game.
| Cyriel Dessers | Danilo |
| Expected goals (xG) 0.75 | Expected goals (xG) 0.93 |
| xG on target (xGOT) 0.69 | xG on target (xGOT) 1.12 |
| Shots 4.06 | Shots 6.11 |
| Shots on target 1.93 | Shots on target 3.06 |
| Assists 0.17 | Assists 0.17 |
Danilo came on in the 2-1 league cup semi-final victory over Motherwell and brought a new lease of life to the final-third.
Dessers has scored some important goals for the Ibrox club, but now he has to be on his best game as Danilo and Igmane will be wanting that spot as the Govan club’s number one striker.
