Rangers fans are almost at the stage where they want to see Sam Lammers taken out of the starting XI for his own good, as much for the team’s.
Lacking any sort of confidence, the 26-year old Dutchman has so far failed to make the fresh start that he would have been hoping for after leaving behind a difficult spell in Italy – could a stunning goal and an assist against Dundee get him back on track.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun though, former PSV Eindhoven coach Kevin Hofland, believes that it is only a matter of time before Rangers see the best of Sam Lammers.
Rangers urged to be patient with Sam Lammers
Rangers fans saw flashes of what Sam Lammers was capable of in pre-season and he looked the most likely of the summer signings to make an immediate impact, however, an open goal miss against Servette has seen his form fall off a clifff.
“I worked with Sam all three seasons he was with PSV. He scored a lot of goals — he could score easily, with both feet and his head.
“In terms of technical ability, I never saw anyone like him. There was no one at PSV who had any doubts that he would have a professional career.
“In the Netherlands, newspapers compared him to Ruud van Nistelrooy.“
And on Lammers best position, Hofland, somewhat surprisingly said:
“He’s an out-and-out striker. That’s his position. He can play as a No 10 but he’s a goalscorer.”
The problem, is that Hofland is speaking about a player he worked with ten years ago.
Players change over time and youth players in particular are rarely the same when they make the step from playing with their peers to experienced professionals.
So far for Rangers, after signing for a reported £3m, Sam Lammers is better known for missing a series of sitters and has just one goal to his account in nearly 20 appearance.
He might well be the type of player that, once he scores one, the rest will come, but Rangers isn’t a club that can afford that long a settling in period.
Better strikers than Lammers have arrived and then been sold within a year when they couldn’t live up to expectations.
Playing in a deeper role just doesn’t seem to suit Lammers and, with Danilo nearly fully fit, it is unlikely to see the former PSV forward starting higher up the pitch.
The problem is, with his confidence so low, it doesn’t matter where he plays and a spell on the bench could do him some good.
