If one defender became Rangers fans’ new scapegoat it was definitely Nasser Djiga. After Russell Martin’s horrendous management of him (and everyone else) the Burkina Faso international struggled. Nasser Djiga criticism increased.
He couldn’t play alongside John Souttar, and he was being blamed by fans for everything that went wrong at the rearguard.
Curiously enough, with a smooth run of games of late, the digs at Djiga have massively reduced.
His Sofascore ratings in those matches?
7.4, 6.2, 6.9, and 7.5.
The 6.2? Porto.
Despite Djiga’s CV (four trophies including two league titles and 14 Champions League appearances) he was pillared by Rangers fans.
Ibrox Noise has crunched the numbers and Djiga is by no means a poor performer.
For interceptions he ranks 36 in the Premiership with 19. Top is Cammy Devlin with 53.
For clearances he’s got 66, 42nd in the league. But this is based on less appearances than most of the others.
When we change to percentage, Djiga suddenly improves.
He becomes Rangers number one central defender for ground duels won, at 71%. In other words, Djiga rarely loses out when combating an attack one on one.
Emmanuel Fernandez is definitely stronger in the air than Djiga. 76% there.
Djiga hasn’t absolutely sparkled at Rangers, but he has not let himself down either. The moment that turned so many fans right off him was that error of judgement against Braga. Comically the wind was ridiculous that evening and the ball’s flight was all over the place. He was still man enough to own up and apologise to supporters.
That didn’t emerge till days later when many supporters had alright decided he was a flop.
Djiga has suddenly started to feel more at home at Rangers recently. Results have been better, Rangers’ defence has been tighter, and while he’s not quite looking his CV yet, criticism against him has quietened down.
We believe he and Derek Cornelius would be our best potential defence, but both are loans and one is injured.
When results are in a team’s favour, scapegoats like Nasser Djiga criticism reduce. That’s very much the case in Djiga’s case and we hope he continues to improve.
He’s a much better defender than so many fans give him credit for.