Rangers vs Celtic: Cyriel Dessers ‘hurting’ ahead of Old Firm derby as Ibrox prediction issued
Cyriel Dessers will have a “big say” on the outcome of the Old Firm derby for Rangers, believes Lee McCulloch.
The former Gers captain said on PLZ Soccers’ The Football Show on 5 April that the striker will be “hurting” from criticism from his last appearance against Celtic (30 December) and is a strong pick to be crucial at Ibrox on 7 April.
Aside from that the usual suspect, captain James Tavernier, is named as a likely “pivotal” figure for the Light Blues, alongside the more surprise choice of Dessers.
McCulloch said (30m 15s): “I think Dessers plays a big part in the game. He’ll be hurting from the last Old Firm game where he missed that chance and got a little bit of stick for it.
“He’s in decent form. I think he will have a big say on the outcome of the game. But I agree Tavernier, just like every other game he’ll be pivotal as well.”
Rangers striker set to complete Ibrox redemption arc?
Predicting Dessers to be the difference in a crucial Old Firm game a few months ago might have been met with derision but the Nigerian international has come along way at Rangers since then.
He clearly still misses a lot of chances but he is increasingly drawing praise for his contributions and has now scored a total of 17 this season to suggests he could quite possibly be set for a vital outing.
Whereas other strugglers from the summer recruitment drive such as Sam Lammers and Jose Cifuentes only made it as far as the January transfer window before heading to the exit again Dessers has only seen his role grow in that time.
Injury to Danilo and Abdallah Sima, on top of Kemar Roofe’s endless fitness struggles, left the 29-year-old a key man up front and for the most part he has responded to show more and more of what convinced Michael Beale to spend around £4.5million on him [Daily Record, 3 July].
Now, if he can be a part of a crucial victory on Sunday then a large chunk more of that transfer fee would be repaid.
He has shown that he will keep getting in position to score, although whether he will find the net is sometimes a different matter, but that quality is only as good as his teammates’ ability to find him, so the whole Rangers side is going to need to put in a performance to turn the tables on their rivals in this fixture at long last.
In other Rangers news, a “massive boost” for the Light Blues is now tipped to lead to a “huge impact” on the derby on Sunday.
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