Philippe Clement must haul off Cyriel Dessers at HT v Olympiacos if Rangers want to win
Philippe Clement has to haul off Cyriel Dessers at half-time against Olympiacos if he wants Rangers to win on Thursday.
It is goalless in Athens after 45 minutes despite the Light Blues creating several chances against Olympiacos in the UEFA Europa League on 7 November.
Two of those opportunities fell to Dessers, who appears to have forgotten his scoring boots and received criticism from Neil McCann.
“Dessers has got the speed to get in behind [the Olympiacos defence] but he’s yet to show he has the composure and ability to find the net”, he said on BBC Sportsound.
Philippe Clement must axe Cyriel Dessers at half-time in Olympiacos v Rangers
Dessers had his first sight of goal in the eleventh minute when Nedim Bajrami played him through. Although he appeared to be offside and a goal might have been ruled out anyway, the striker went on to hit the ball straight at Olympiacos goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis.
Six minutes later, Vaclav Cerny set him up for a first-time shot from close range, but Dessers failed to keep it out of Tzolakis’s reach. FotMob registered both those instances as big chances missed, with his xG reading 0.56.
The Nigeria international has also been hardly involved, managing only 14 touches of the ball. In another disappointing stat, he only completed two of his six passes (33 per cent).
Having also lost all but one of his four duels, Dessers needs to be substituted at half-time if Clement wants to lead his team to victory.
The forward’s recent performances have left much to be desired and it would sense for the manager to take him out of the firing line.
In other Rangers news, Michael Beale has been mooted to wreck the Light Blues’ chances of hiring this manager.
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