Glasgow Rangers are currently third in the Scottish Premiership table and are falling behind their rivals in the title race after an imperfect start to the season.
The Light Blues have accrued 16 points in the division so far and that is only enough to keep them within five points of Aberdeen and Celtic in the top two.
Their rivals have won all seven of their matches in the top-flight and the Gers have drawn once and lost once in their opening seven games under Philippe Clement.
The Gers have scored three fewer goals than the Dons and seven fewer than the Hoops so far this season, which suggests that goalscoring is one area that they need to improve on.
Rangers failed to score in both of the games that they have dropped points in, with a 0-0 draw with Hearts and a 3-0 defeat to Celtic, and the Belgian head coach will need to find ways to improve his side’s attacking output in the coming months.
The Light Blues need to consistently offer a big threat in the final third, in order to catch up with the top two and compete for the title, and dropping Cyriel Dessers could be a good start.
Cyriel Dessers' struggles for Rangers
Former Gers head coach Michael Beale swooped to sign the centre-forward from Italian side Cremonese for a reported fee of £4.5m in the summer of 2023.
Dessers racked up 22 goals in all competitions during his first season at Ibrox, which is a fantastic return on paper but it is not as impressive within the context of his performances.
The 29-year-old marksman scored 16 goals in 35 matches in the Premiership but also missed a staggering 27 ‘big chances’ for the Light Blues, 18 more than any other player in the squad.
Quite simply, Dessers was incredibly wasteful with the quality of chances that came his way, thanks to the creativity of his teammates and his movement in the box, and did not do enough to show that he is a reliable number nine for the Gers.
His ruthlessness in front of goal has not improved much this season as he has still struggled to offer consistency in his finishing for the Scottish giants in the Premiership.
Appearances
7
Goals
3
Big chances missed
6
Key passes per game
0.7
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, Dessers has already missed six ‘big chances’ in the league this season and has offered little in the way of creativity for his teammates.
With this in mind, Clement must brutally ditch the Nigerian forward to unleash Nedim Bajrami in a new role up front, as his mobility and creativity could help to make Vaclav Cerny unplayable.
Vaclav Cerny's potential at Rangers
The Czechia international arrived at Ibrox on loan from Wolfsburg during the summer transfer window and has endured a mixed start to life in Glasgow.
He has produced three goals and two assists in 13 appearances in all competitions for the Light Blues to date, including three goals and one assist in six Premiership outings.
Two of those goals, however, came in his last match for Rangers against St Johnstone at Ibrox before the international break, one being a curled finish into the far corner with his left foot and the other being a low-driven effort with his right foot inside the box.
Clement needs to find a way to get Cerny into goalscoring positions in and around the box more frequently, because his lack of mobility and dynamism has meant that he has struggled to get into those positions on his own.
The former FC Twente star, who has completed just 29% of his attempted dribbles in the league, is unlikely to dribble past several players from the halfway line to get himself into the areas of the pitch where he can affect games in the final third.
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This means that the manager must design the team in a way that creates situations where Cerny receives the ball to feet around, or inside, the box, to allow him to work room for a shot or cross without having to navigate his lack of athleticism and pace against defenders in space.
Why Nedim Bajrami could make Vaclav Cerny unplayable
One potential solution would be to unleash Bajrami ahead of Dessers as a centre-forward, in more of a false nine role, as he has spent the majority of his career as an attacking midfielder and has played as a second striker in the past.
The forward, who has predominantly played on the wing for the Gers so far, has the mobility and athleticism to offer more than Dessers to stretch opposition defences by making runs in behind, whilst also being able to drop deep to link-up play more effectively than the forward.
In the Premiership this season, the Nigerian dud has only completed 71% of his attempted passes and made 0.7 key passes per game, which shows that he has struggled with the ball at his feet.
Bajrami, who was hailed as “outstanding” by Albania’s Brazilian boss Sylvinho, could come in and offer more than the former Serie A forward in that regard.
He has only started one Premiership match but his displays in two starts in the Europa League offer a glimpse at the kind of quality he could provide for the Gers.
Appearances
2
Goals
1
Assists
0
Key passes
7
Big chances created
4
Dribbles completed
7
As you can see in the table above, Bajrami completed a whopping seven dribbles and created four ‘big chances’ for his teammates in outings against Malmo and Lyon.
The 25-year-old magician has the athleticism and quality to consistently beat opposition defenders with the ball at his feet, and has the creativity to put high-quality chances on a plate for his teammates.
Therefore, amid Dessers’ struggles up front, unleashing Bajrami as a makeshift centre-forward to get the best out of his mobility and creativity, ultimately making Cerny unplayable by getting him into the right positions by working off the Albania international’s movement, could be the way to go for Clement.
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