Glasgow Rangers returned to Ibrox with a bang over the weekend as they secured progress to the semi-finals of the League Cup for the fourth season in a row.
Hampden Park wasn’t the best hunting ground over the first few games of the season and a return home could reinvigorate Rangers.
It was a relatively straightforward 3-0 victory for Philippe Clement’s men over Dundee, as Cyriel Dessers scored either side of a James Tavernier penalty which sets up the Light Blues nicely for the Europa League tie against Malmö this week.
A first start was handed to Nedim Bajrami, who delivered an inch-perfect cross for Dessers to score his second and, despite playing outside his comfort zone on the left flank, it was a positive start for the Albanian.
For once, there wasn’t much to complain about as Clement got his tactics spot on. After drawing a blank in his previous two matches, Dessers returned to the scoresheet against the Dens Park side.
Despite the criticism he has faced in the past, a return of seven goals from just nine matches this term has certainly proven that he can now be relied upon to score on a regular basis.
It marks a major difference to how poor he was during the first half of the 2023/24 campaign, as there was plenty of criticism directed at his direction…
Dessers' numbers in the 2023/24 season
Michael Beale sought to improve his attacking options last summer following Alfredo Morelos’ departure, which led to the Englishman signing Dessers for a fee of £4.5m as a replacement.
The Nigerian centre-forward had scored ten goals during the 2022/23 season, hardly a clinical marksman that the club required to prise the Premiership title back off Celtic.
He managed to open his account against Servette in the Champions League qualifying stages, before grabbing two assists against PSV Eindhoven in the next round. He went scoreless in the first four league matches, however.
Between August and the start of January, Dessers found the back of the net just six times, while missing a host of big chances in the process, hardly a suitable replacement for Morelos.
The nadir came during the second Old Firm clash of the season against Celtic, a game which the Light Blues lost 2-1.
Metric
Premiership
Europa League
Goals
16
1
Assists
4
1
Goal conversion percentage
16%
33%
Big chances missed
27
0
Big chances created
8
0
He played the full 90 minutes in the defeat, failing to register a single shot on target while winning just three of his 14 contested duels as the striker was bullied during the match.
What Chris Sutton said about Cyriel Dessers
If he was more clinical in front of goal, the Light Blues might have snatched a point from that game, and his performance was criticised by former Celtic striker Chris Sutton after the game.
The Englishman discussed Dessers performance when talking to Sky Sports, saying: “Dessers killed Rangers today.
“He had opportunities, wasn’t decisive enough and it’s not like his link up play is up to much as well. Rangers need to address that situation – they may have already done in Fabio Silva, who wasn’t a phenomenal goalscorer for Wolves but is a young player.
“There’s been a lot of money spent on him in recent times. But there’s an opportunity for him to be the main man for Rangers.”
After that defeat, the 29-year-old scored 13 goals in all competitions, yet the club came up short in both the Scottish Cup and Premiership.
The criticism from Sutton clearly saw the player return to some sort of goalscoring form and, while there was interest in him during the summer transfer window, but nothing materialised as he remained at the club.
First Impressions
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Cyriel Dessers’ statistics this season
After failing to sign key target Albion Rrahmani during the summer window, Clement only added one centre-forward to his squad – Hamza Igamane.
It was clear he was going to take a few weeks to build up his match fitness, however, which meant Dessers was tasked with being the main option for Clement, especially with Danilo taking baby steps after his knee injury.
An equaliser against Dynamo Kiev in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier certainly boosted his confidence, no doubt, and this was followed by goals against Motherwell in the League and against St Johnstone in the League Cup.
He has certainly started the campaign much better compared to his maiden season at the club. Given his stature as the number one choice to lead the line, Clement clearly still trusts him to score often.
While he may be scoring on a more regular basis, he could still be much more clinical in the opposition box.
Across five matches in the Premiership this term, the attacker has missed four chances, but his goal conversion rate currently stands at 25% at the time of writing. This will certainly decrease as the season goes on, but it certainly proves that he has improved in front of goal.
The striker has also demonstrated his all round game too, registering one league assist along with creating two big chances, averaging 0.8 key passes per game and succeeding with 0.8 dribble attempts each match.
Dessers will have some competition in the coming weeks from Igamane, who is slowly building up his match fitness and could prove to be a very positive signing for the Light Blues.
Until such a time comes, however, the 29-year-old will be tasked with leading the line, both domestically and in Europe, as Clement chases more silverware with the Gers.
The season is still young, but if Dessers can continue his current scoring rate, there is no doubt that he will surpass the 22 goals he registered throughout 2023/24.
The onus for him will be to start finding the net in the big matches, against Celtic, for example. If he can do that, then the former Feyenoord forward could endear himself to the fans, that’s for sure.
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