Kenny Miller defends Rangers star Cyriel Dessers after ‘Very Harsh’ fan criticism
Kenny Miller has lept to the defence of Ranger striker Cyriel Dessers after he hit the 20-goal milestone for the club in the win over St Mirren.
Dessers scored the winner in the 2-1 win to keep any title hopes alive on Sunday 28 April, taking him to 20 goals for the season despite coming under huge criticism this season from fans and pundits around the club.
And while appearing on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (29 April), former Ibrox hero and current BBC pundit Miller was quick to defend the Nigeria international and backed him to improve even more next season.
“Listen, I think the criticism that he’s faced has been harsh,” he said. “I think it’s been very harsh in the respect that it’s him all the time. There’s a whole other team there, but I think he’s been the source of frustration for the fans. Right from the outset this season.
“He’s been someone that the fans have got on. There’s probably been a couple of misses in games that have allowed the fans to jump on it.
“He’s hit 20 goals. He’ll probably get another two, three, maybe four before the end of the season. He’ll end up with maybe 23 goals, which will be a good first year for a striker considering he’s not taking penalties. It’s a good number.
“Danilo’s been injured, Roofe’s been injured, Silva came in to potentially back him up and help him but he’s clearly not a number nine. So Dessers has had to be out there every week to be shot at.
“He deserves credit for showing up. By the way, I’d much rather have him in that six-yard box missing chances than taking himself out of the equation not to miss chances, because at that point you’re not going to get to these kinds of numbers.”
Is Cyriel Dessers good enough to lead the line for Rangers?
It’s hard to dispute what Miller is saying about Dessers because his goal tally certainly looks good on paper and he has popped up with some big goals this season too.
But it simply cannot be ignored how often he has gone missing in big games or missed huge chances at key moments of games where the team really needed him to step up.
If the team really want to be serious about challenging for the title they simply have to have a striker leading the line who can be relied upon to be a regular goalscorer and Dessers just isn’t that.
With the way Rangers have played since Philippe Clement came into the club, a striker like Lawrence Shankland for example could have been a real difference maker and the team could potentially be ahead in the title race instead of chasing Celtic.
But Dessers has certainly proved that he has got something to offer to the squad and those who wanted him gone are surely eating their words at this point.
In other Rangers news, Abdallah Sima’s Ibrox career could be over after what Philippe Clement said.
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