Rangers exit from the Champions League wasn’t just because of the referee, Jefte’s red card played a major part, but there were other factors at play.
Philippe Clement still doesn’t have the depth of quality needed in his squad to compete, also, it didn’t help that his side were playing at Hampden instead of the famous European caldron that is Ibrox.
A number 9 and 10 pairing of Cyriel Dessers and Tom Lawrence is hardly the most mobile or dynamic, with the much-maligned striker coming in for criticism once again.
Rangers told not to sell Cyriel Dessers
Coming to his defence has been Barry Ferguson who, speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, reckons that some of the stick is unjustified:
“Big Dessers comes in with another goal (against Motherwell). I know he comes in for a lot of criticism but I spoke about it last week, one thing the big man gives you is 100 per cent.
“Listen, he’s scored two goals in two games, 22 goals last year and I don’t think you can get rid of him. I know Rangers still need in my eyes another number nine to come in for competition, but I like the big man’s attitude, sometimes he lacks that bit of quality, but if he had that quality he’d be playing somewhere else in a different league.”
On paper, Dessers should be the second choice back-up when you consider Danilo’s age, previous record and the £6m transfer fee paid to bring him to Rangers.
Rangers need Danilo to find his feet and hit form
A statement that Clement’s comments after the loss to Dynamo Kyiv also support when asked about the lack of game time afforded to the Brazilian since the start of the season:
“I have been watching him for a long time. I wanted to get him to Brugge when he was in Ajax and was not playing there.
“He had that walk also in that moment so nobody needs to worry about that. There is nothing going on with him.
“Today I wanted to put him in, that was the idea, but the circumstances of the game were not there.
“People will see him in the next couple of weeks. They don’t need to worry about that.
“It is seven months out, you need time to gain match fitness and the right moments to get these minutes. It depends also on the scenario of the game.”
Ferguson is right to an extent. Dessers does get a hard time given his numbers, however, against Dynamo it was apparent again that he isn’t the striker to take Rangers where they want to be.
Chances don’t come along very often at that level but, whenever he did get the opportunity to pull the trigger, he hesitated and lost possession.
It’s not so much that Rangers want to get rid of Dessers, but they really need Danilo to be fit and capable of rotating with the Nigeria international.
The groundhog day of seeing the same players through a shortage of options is only going to get more frustrating until it is rectified.
