Charlie Miller: Rangers cannot drop ‘struggling’ Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers
Charlie Miller has said that he doesn’t think Philippe Clement has the players available to drop Rangers’ “struggling” pair of Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers.
The Belgian boss has got off to an excellent start at Ibrox with two Scottish Premiership wins in his opening two matches, sandwiched between a Europa League draw away to Sparta Prague to ensure that he already has the faith of the Rangers supporters.
But despite the improved results, there are some remnants of the Michael Beale era in Glasgow as both Dessers and Lammers continue to struggle at Ibrox, but Miller doesn’t believe the time is right for Clement to drop the pair despite their recent struggles.
As quoted by the Daily Record (31 October) he said: “You can see some of the players are struggling, which is sad to see. Confidence is very low. Guys like Lammers and Dessers have come in but haven’t hit the ground running. Listen, these lads aren’t the first to join Rangers and find Ibrox a tough place to play.
“You can see they’re both really trying to turn it around. I’m sure the way Walter would have dealt with this would be to take them both out of the firing line. Unfortunately for big Phil, I don’t think he’s got the options to do that right now with so many players out injured.
“If I was them, I wouldn’t want to give up my place in the team. You can be quickly forgotten about at Rangers if someone else comes in and plays well. Lammers and Dessers just have to try to get back to the levels they’ve reached before because they both have come in with good reputations.”
Clock is ticking
In recent weeks, Miller has been right that Clement has not had the players at his disposal to rotate his side and take Lammers and Dessers out of the Ibrox firing line, but with more and more players closing in on a return to fitness that may not be true for long.
Todd Cantwell has been involved in both of the Light Blues’ last two matches and is more than likely to replace Lammers in his role as chief creator for Rangers and with Kieran Dowell returning to the matchday squad, he could leapfrog the Dutchman in the pecking order.
Danilo has impressed in his cameos from the bench since returning to action following his cheekbone injury earlier in the season, including an excellent winner against Hearts on Sunday (29 October) and will likely be pushing Dessers for a place in the starting XI.
The opening weeks of Clement’s tenure have given Dessers and Lammers an uncontested period to try and earn their place in the Rangers first XI and they have failed to take that opportunity. Now that competition for places is increasing, they could well have missed out on their chance, despite what Miller believes.
In other Rangers news, Clement is set for one major injury boost as Tom Lawrence is set to return to first-team training