John Hartson and Craig Moore slam Cyriel Dessers as Rangers man not doing his job at Ibrox
John Hartson and Craig Moore have hit out at Cryiel Dessers suggesting the Rangers striker must score at least 20 goals this season, or he’s not doing his job right.
The Nigerian forward has struggled since arriving at Ibrox this summer from Cremonese, only managing to score six goals in 23 appearances for the Light Blues, including only four goals in 12 Scottish Premiership matches.
While Dessers’ performances have shown some signs of improvement since Philippe Clement took over at Ibrox, Moore has suggested that he will still be deemed a failure in Glasgow if he doesn’t score 20 goals this season.
Speaking on The Go Radio Football Show (5 December, 9:25) he said: “Dessers, is honest and does have a part to play in regards to the first goal. But again strikers at Rangers need to be scoring 20-plus simple.”
Hartson quickly agreed saying: “You get the opportunities, you’re playing with internationals. I’ve always said it, if you’re playing for Celtic or Rangers and you’re not scoring 20-plus, you’re not doing your job right, because you’re getting several chances every game.
“You’re getting fantastic service from wide areas, for me a striker for either club must be getting 20-plus.”
Has to improve
As both Moore and Hartson suggested, when you’re leading the line for Rangers you get plenty of chances to score every game and that is perhaps what makes Dessers’ struggles in front of goal so worrying in the early stages of the campaign.
The 28-year-old was signed to replace the presence of Alfredo Morelos at the top end of the pitch, but so far he has been incredibly wasteful in the final third and lacked that clinical edge to really replace the Colombian’s goals.
In his opening 12 Scottish Premiership appearances this season, Dessers has missed 11 “big chances” and has only scored four times from an xG of 5.61. For a striker that has been signed in his prime, that return is nowhere near good enough [Fotmob].
It is going to take a big second half of the campaign for Dessers to hit the 20-goal mark at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership and until the goals start flowing for the forward he will continue to be criticised by supporters and the media alike.
In other Rangers news, Clement has promised that the injury situation will begin to improve at Ibrox sooner rather than later