Cyriel Dessers ‘terrific’ in Rangers win as ridiculed striker leaves smile on Tom English’s face
Cyriel Dessers was the pick of the Rangers performers from the stunning 3-2 victory over Real Betis after he overcame a lot of criticism to score a “terrific” goal, according to Tom English.
Speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast (15 December) the day after the Nigerian forward had produced the Gers’ excellent second in the Europa League win the BBC writer admitted “I had a smile on my face” when the goal went in.
With Danilo injured long-term Dessers started in Seville and scored in the 20th minute as he wrong-footed Marc Roca to chop onto the outside and then steered a shot through the keepers legs and in to impress English with his resilience in the face of ridicule in recent months.
English said (5m 40s): “Dessers, do you know what? When Dessers scored I had a smile on my face, because this is a guy who everyone has taken a hop off and fair play to the guy.
“He keeps coming back. His goal tally is not that bad. It’s not a disaster by any means. That was a terrific goal that he scored.
“But you don’t pull off a result like that unless everyone comes to the party, and they all did.
“[Jack] Butland was exceptional but for me Dessers was the one. I thought, ‘Do you know what? Fair play’.”
Can’t argue
Dessers hasn’t largely looked like the player he was billed to be upon his summer arrival but if he can produce a few more interventions like the one in Spain he will start to do so.
It has been tough going for him since his signing from Cremonese and at times he has been the poster boy for the failed summer overhaul under Michael Beale, with even some of his more positive impacts appearing more through luck than design.
But he stepped up in a big way when called upon by Philippe Clement in the wake of Danilo’s knee injury and was a key reason why Rangers are back in the Europa League knock-out phase.
If he can follow it up with a telling contribution to the League Cup final against Aberdeen on Sunday then all of his previous struggles are bound to be forgiven.
Bigger names than the 29-year-old have been crushed by the pressure of a poor run of form in the spot light so it is impressive that he is still battling to come good.
There have been no indications of anything other than full commitment behind the scenes throughout his early-season difficulties, and with 12 combined goals and assists now in all competitions he is contributing, even if not as much as was hoped.
The win over Betis had the look of a breakout for a few players and none more so than Dessers, so there will be raised hopes now that he can go on a run.
In other Rangers news, according to Chris Jack a “no-brainer” Light Blues deal is at risk of being hijacked.