Philippe Clement's 'biggest' Rangers frustration as in-game decision tells a story

12/02/2024 04:00 AM

Cyriel Dessers has gone from Rangers’ first pick striker to not getting on at all against St Johnstone.

The Nigerian has been an enigma throughout his time at Ibrox and has his detractors despite scoring a decent amount of goals for the club.

Philippe Clement hasn’t been spoiled for choice when it comes to alternatives with Danilo spending large spells out injured but Hamza Igamane staked his claim with a brilliant display against Nice on Thursday night.

The Moroccan ran the French side’s backline ragged and crucially contributed with two goals as well.

He impressed so much that he kept his place for the trip to Perth and while it didn’t go as well for him against St Johnstone, the worrying thing for Dessers will be that Danilo was used before him as a sub.

Clement has rotated the side plenty and there will be games where one is used instead of the other but it would seem Rangers don’t have an undisputed first choice striker right now.

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Rangers strikers cause Clement frustration

The striking dilemma was discussed by Steven Naismith and Mikey Devlin on BBC’s Sportscene.

Naismith pointed out none of the centre forwards are yet to show they can consistently deliver which he feels is probably the biggest concern for Philippe Clement.

Speaking on Sportscene, he said: “That’s probably the biggest frustration for the manager. He’s got three forwards who are all slightly different in their type of profile as a player.

“For any Rangers forward it is about the consistency. You see it through the years, strikers who consistently score goals or are involved in goals.

“Dessers has done that the most but has took a bit of criticism recently. He’s (Clement) searching for that one guy who is going to stand up and consistently hit the net, which eases everything for a Rangers performance.”

Asked for which one he would pick, he added: “I don’t think it’s so much about what one. It’s about the build-up of the games, who we’re playing against.

“Igamane midweek had a brilliant performance. He had a calmness in front of goal and his work rate to create the goals was great.

“But today…you see the first pass in the clip, he gives it to St Johnstone which kills the attack.

“His performance never really got going today but then the manager bringing Danilo on instead of Dessers probably tells you he is unsure of all three.”

Devlin had his own say on the situation and reckons the failure to use Dessers tells a story.

“That maybe tells its own story in terms of where Philippe Clement sees his centre forwards,” he explained. “He made the decision to go with the inexperience of Igamane on Thursday night but he repaid him with a brilliant performance.

“But I think we see the rawness he possesses today. I think we saw his qualities that he undoubtedly has on Thursday night but when it came to today we see that he’s still fairly erratic.

“His decision making and the quality he brings to the game still need to improve but he is young and that will come. There is certainly a willingness there and attributes that will improve.”

Igamane can improve but Rangers will look to market

Hamza Igamane showed two sides to his game over the past week with that impressive night in Nice and then toiling a bit at McDiarmid Park, a little bit like Rangers as a whole.

Mikey Devlin is convinced the 22-year-old can continue to improve on the encouraging signs he has shown but also urged him to try and concentrate more on goals than working hard outside of the box.

Asked if Gers will look to sign a striker, he said: “Potentially. I think when you look at Igamane’s game, a lot of his good work is done outside the box. He is a strong runner in the channels.

“I think to get the level and numbers of goals that Rangers require, he needs to focus on being on where it matters between the goalposts.

“If he can add that to his game he can bring that but I’m sure they will look to strengthen in that position.”