Philippe Clement makes five changes, first start in three months handed out – Rangers confirmed XI vs Dundee
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has named his starting line-up for Saturday’s (9 December) Scottish Premiership showdown with Dundee at Ibrox.
The Gers boss was forced into making changes, as confirmed by the club’s Twitter account [9 December], due to injuries sustained in midweek.
With Danilo ruled out until next year, the big decision Clement had to make for the visit of Dundee was with regards to who would lead the line.
Some speculated whether Clement would shift Abdallah Sima into a centre-forward position, but Cyriel Dessers – whose Ibrox career has yet to take off – instead gets the nod in that position.
Dessers returns to the side as one of five changes from the 1-0 win over Hearts on Wednesday (6 December), with Rabbi Matondo another back in the XI for the first time since September.
John Souttar, Borna Barisic and Jose Cifuentes also get the nod, with the latter replacing the injured Tom Lawrence – another out until the new year.
The XI named by Clement is strong, even factoring in those injuries, but the decision to go with Dessers is the one that will garner the most interest.
Dessers has scored just four goals in 12 Scottish Premiership appearances, and six in 23 outings overall since his summer arrival.
Using Sima through the middle looked like being a smart choice, especially with Matondo now back in the line-up, but the Senegal international will continue operating on the left.
That will see Todd Cantwell once again play in the number 10 position, while Matondo will be out on the right.
Let’s just hope the call to persist with an inconsistent Dessers is not one Clement lives to regret.
In other Rangers news, Kris Boyd joked he and Chris Sutton told each other they would behave while covering the Gers’ most recent match live for Sky Sports.