Youssef Chermiti’s Rangers criticism assessed in midst of vital change witnessed at Ibrox
Youssef Chermiti’s hat-trick against Hearts could be the turning point in his Rangers career.
The Bears are approaching the run-in of the Scottish Premiership, and there would be no better time for their striker to hit top form.
Danny Rohl‘s seen a lift at Ibrox since the arrival of new signings in the winter, but Chermiti‘s also looked a new man against the Jambos.
The number nine has had his fair share of critics this season, but Gers may now know what to do to get the best out of the 21-year-old.
Derek Ferguson claims Youssef Chermiti criticism was deserved amid Rangers system change
As seen in the Sofascore graphic above, Chermiti earned a 10 rating against Hearts, a rating no other Rangers player has achieved this season.
It comes after the Portuguese man went on a barren run of six games without a goal, despite scoring a brace against Celtic last month.
- Chermiti has played 19 league games for the Bears
- He has netted seven times
While speaking on the Open Goal podcast, Derek Ferguson explained why Chermiti’s previous stick was probably deserved, and agreed that changes have been made for the better.
“What I witnessed wasn’t somebody who wasn’t putting himself about. He’s a big fella. Was he aggressive? No, did he miss chances? Yeah. So, we can only go off that.”
It was then suggested that having Chermiti play in a strike partnership against Hearts was key to his performance.
Ferguson replied: “The two up top, yeah [it worked], they tried to help him in the second half at Motherwell by bringing [Ryan] Naderi on, too, so why can you go from one display to a much better one?”
But it was just one full match where Ryan Naderi and Chermiti worked up top, as the pair will have to string together consistent performances from here on out.
How Andreas Skov Olsen benefited from Danny Rohl change
Rohl has played in a 4-2-31 formation for the majority of the season, with a heavy emphasis on impact from his wide players.
Switching to two up top took that central number 10 out of the Bears team and forced the German head coach to make another tactical tweak.
| Minutes | 80 |
| Chances created | 3 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Touches | 49 |
The switch saw Andreas Skov Olsen and Mikey Moore play as inverted wingers, which got the pair involved in action a lot more, despite them offering less width.
Skov Olsen, in particular, was a winner from this change and put in arguably his best performance at Ibrox so far, as the stats suggest he will now kick on should Rohl continue with this blueprint.
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