Ibrox View: How has Kemar Roofe fared for Rangers so far?
Rangers fans were excited to see new striker signing Kemar Roofe get his first taste of action north of the border
Unavailable for the European tie against Bayer Leverkusen and omitted from the squad against St. Mirren, the hitman finally got his chance in the 3-0 win over St. Johnstone last Wednesday.
The 27-year-old was given a 29-minute cameo by Steven Gerrard and then got another 32 minutes against Livingston on Sunday.
He’s still searching for his first goal but how did he get on in his first appearances for the Gers?
In a lot of ways, the St Johnstone game was a difficult match to drop Roofe into for his debut.
With the game already won, it felt as if the Gers took their foot off the gas just a tad, and without any particular intensity from his teammates, he never really looked like hitting top gear.
Moreover, Roofe’s last match was in December, so there was always going to be some rustiness.
But there were still hints of the danger that he poses.
The ex-Leeds United man had a 100% shot accuracy rate, and even though his xG was only 0.07, as per Wyscout, his single effort on goal was well struck and drew a good save from the keeper.
You could probably argue that Roofe struck this effort a little early, and that a more settled player with more recent minutes under their belt might have taken another touch before having the shot, but as far as sighters go, there wasn’t a great deal wrong with this.
There were other positives too.
Roofe completed nine out of his 12 attempted passes in this match, giving him a success rate of 75%.
That total is 1.4% higher than his career average, which would suggest that he’s not too far away from his usual sharpness in terms of linking up with his teammates.
There were even a couple of tidy balls into the box from advanced positions, which was promising.
In short, this wasn’t an earth-shattering debut from Roofe, quite obviously.
But was there enough here to give us just a flavour of the talent that we’ve managed to snap up, and there’s plenty to be excited about.
Roofe was then given 32 minutes in the disappointing 0-0 draw against Livingston on Sunday. This was the perfect opportunity to get the fans onside but he couldn’t manage the all-important breakthrough.
In fact, Roofe didn’t manage a shot in his second cameo and struggled to make any sort of impact on the game.
He drew the ire of some Rangers fans but, to be fair, the player is still finding his feet and getting back up to speed.
It’s too early to pass judgement and we think he just needs to find that first goal.
In other Rangers news, Ibrox Exclusive: Alex Bruce hails Rangers after ‘perfect’ start to season.