Former Everton and Rangers midfielder, Steven Naismith, has questioned the decision of Rangers head coach, Philippe Clement, to bench Cyriel Dessers in his side’s win over St. Johnstone, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 29-year-old Nigerian forward has been Rangers’ first choice striker since joining last season, but has continuously struggled to win over the Ibrox fans due to his inconsistency in front of goal.
Philippe Clement opted to leave the Super Eagles forward on the bench in Rangers’ UEFA Europa League clash against OGC Nice, preferring Moroccan Hamza Igamane in his stead.
Igamane scored a brace and was taken off for Dessers with half an hour left on the clock, but the former Cremonese striker didn’t help his cause as he scuffed a chance from six yards out. As a result, he was left on the bench again on Sunday, and didn’t come on at all.
Naismith, who donned the Rangers’ colours between 2007 and 2012, revealed the coach is in a tough situation, but then mentioned the treatment wasn’t proper.
“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 (Clement) is searching for that one guy who is going to stand up and consistently hit the net, which eases everything for a Rangers performance,” the former Norwich City midfielder said in on BBC UK via Sportscene.
Quizzed about who would be his preferred option to lead the line for the Gers, the 38-year-old said;
“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 in 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,” Naismith concluded.
In 22 games for Rangers this season, Cyriel Dessers has scored 10 goals and provided two assists, and has the most goal contributions in the team since joining from Cremonese last summer.
