BBC Sportscene pundit delivers live verdict on Fashion Sakala chances of Rangers start v Liverpool
Fashion Sakala showed “excellent” movement in the lead up to his goal for Rangers as part of a noticeably improved performance, said Stuart Kettlewell.
The Zambian has become somewhat of a forgotten man at Ibrox in the early weeks of the season but was given a start against St Mirren with Ryan Kent dropped to the bench.
He scored the fourth in the 4-0 win, finishing off a great team move that went from Leon King to the attacker via James Tavernier and Alfredo Morelos, and Kettlewell believes he saw more control and understanding with the Gers captain than usual.
Speaking live on BBC Sportscene on Saturday night (8 October, 8.07pm) he said of the 25-year-old: “He’s done well. Certainly his involvement in the second half, scoring the goal, again his movement’s excellent. It’s a really well worked move from Rangers start to finish.
“I thought he linked slightly better with Tavernier today. Sometimes I find with Sakala you’re never quite sure what he’s going to do, and there was a little bit more cohesion down that right-hand side with him.
“I don’t personally think it’s enough for him to start in the European game, but I think it now gives the manager something to think about.
“He came on midweek and he shows that energy, and that pace that he has, but sometimes I think it just has to be with a greater control, and he’d probably done that in the second 45 minutes today more so than he has done for quite some time.”
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St Mirren are hardly bottom feeders in the SPFL, shocking Celtic recently (18 September) and coming into the game third in the table.
Sakala is often singled out for inconsistency but he provided a decent return against them in the win considering his lack of action since the start of the campaign.
It wouldn’t be a surprise for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to turn back to star man Kent for the visit of Liverpool on Wednesday (12 October), but the Englishman has not been in great form lately.
Given the chance to perform in what Kenny Miller called the “shop window”, with his contract currently expiring at the end of the season, he failed to do so in the 2-0 away loss.
On his day he is probably the better player, but there haven’t been enough of those days lately, so there are far worse decisions than to let Sakala continue the momentum he got from 90-minutes on Saturday in the Champions League game.
At the very least he has put himself in the equation for more involvement in general, after just five appearances so far.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton reacted sarcastically live on BT Sport when the Gers were awarded a penalty against St Mirren.