It’s a sad state of affairs when some Rangers fans and some Rangers outlets outright scapegoat Rangers players for the sake of bandwagon-jumping.
After everyone’s favourite target Cyriel Dessers missed in a friendly, it was seized upon supporters as further justification to criticise the only fit striker we have, who happens, as we’ve preached endlessly, to be a lot less wasteful than Lawrence Shankland that the same fans seem desperate to sign.
And this isn’t a dig at Shanks, great striker, but despite Dessers having a 23 goals and assists in 43 rate this season, he is repeatedly attacked by fans in what is now clearly becoming the new player to hate given that Sam Lammers is gone.
Yes, he chipped the ball a little high last night and blew a chance, but in the last two matches for his country he has one goal. A one in two rate. Pretty sure that’s acceptable.
Or it isn’t?
Rangers fans are very, very quick to attack Dessers – yes he does blow big chances, we’ve seen it repeatedly, but only Shankland, Miovski and our own Tavernier have more goals than him in the league (FYI Shankland misses many more than Dessers does), and that’s not half bad.
That’s right, Cyriel Dessers is the top-scoring Old Firm striker.
And yet despite this, despite all the work he does, fans keep on pointing out the times he doesn’t score.
Funny thing? It was the same in the 80s with Super Ally.
He would be the first to tell you he missed a tonne of chances, that he wasted so many opportunities to stick the ball in the net. And yes, the fans slaughtered him too.
But the difference is now that we have t’internet and social media and Rangers groups online can take it in turns to criticise players. And this time they’ll see it outside of fans raging at Ibrox.
We’re hypocrites on this site, we do the same with Connor Goldson and have done with James Tavernier – we’re introspective to know we’re not perfect here on Ibrox Noise either.
But we’re not sure what there is to gain from criticising our best and most potent striker, or more to the point, the only one we have fit and who has a one in two rate for his country lately.
That, to us, seems like scapegoating. And with no real logic behind it.
Maybe it’s just us?