Just saying the name of Cyriel Dessers provokes strongreactions from people. From Celtic fans, it has tended to be laughter. From Rangers fans, there would usually be a shake of the head, before they would repeat his nameprefaced with wordslike ‘That bloody’. Or, usually, something a bit stronger.
But after his crucial goal against Dynamo Kyiv, is it now time to put some respect on his name?
There is a sliding scale upon which all Rangers strikers are judged, ranging from Ally McCoist at the top end to Filip Sebo at the bottom. The way people talk about Dessers, you would think he was closer to Filip the flop than old ‘Golden Bollocks’ himself, but do the facts really back that up?
The Nigerian international scored 23 goals in his first season at the club, and admittedly, it could have been a whole lot more. It is the number of chances that he misses – something McCoist himself was no stranger to – that causes frustration.
I am not for one moment suggesting that Dessers is in the same league as Coisty, just for the record, but he doesn’t deserve to be a punchline either, or a punching bag for Rangers’ failings as a team last season.
He’s as game as they come, and one thing he does have in common with McCoist is that he never lets his misses bother him. He always comes back for more, and he got his reward on Tuesday night as he stole in at the near post to slam home what could be a vital and potentially lucrative equaliser for Rangers in Lublin.
If that gets Rangers into the playoff round and allows them to bank the €4m that comes with it, then he has all-but repaid the outlay it took to bring him to Ibrox last summer, and potentially opened the door to a much larger windfall if they can then progress to the league stage of the competition.
Dessers was only outscored in the Premiership last season by Lawrence Shankland, Matt O’Riley and his teammate and captain, James Tavernier. Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi scored two goals fewer than Dessers, but escapes the sort of criticism that seems to come the way of his Ibrox counterpart.
Kyogo misses chances too, after all, and fairly regularly. In what was actually an impressive performance from the Japanese striker against Kilmarnock, he nevertheless passed up a sitter towards the end of the game, getting himself in a right old fankle as he attempted to apply the finishing touch to what would have been a stunning team goal.
Where Kyogo has the edge over Dessers though is that when it comes to the big occasion, invariably he is dialled in, and he delivers. The Celtic forward, for all his troubles last season, scored goals in the Champions League. And, perhaps more importantly, he scored goals against Rangers.
Kyogo has seven goals in 14 appearances against his club’s bitter rivals and has been on the losing side just three times in those matches. Dessers has just one goal in five outings against Celtic and has yet to taste victory in an Old Firm fixture.
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Dessers may be slowly turning a coin with the Rangers support, and even perhaps edging towards cult hero status for his work ethic and resilience, but if he really wants to be taken to their hearts - and be taken seriously as a Rangers number nine - then the next step for him is to turn up and make an impact in these massive games.
Philippe Clement bristled the other day when questioned about the reliability of Dessers, with teammate Leon Balogun also coming to his defence prior to the match against Kyiv, which is both predictable and justified.
But the only way to change perceptions of him among the Rangers support andshake off the reputation he has for profligacy, particularly when it really matters, is to do it when it really matters.And in Glasgow, that means against Celtic.
It was painful, for instance, watching him going clean through at Celtic Park last season. The stadium held its breath, but by the time he had made up his mind over what he was going to do, he wasn’t the only one choking.
At other times, the criticism has been harsh, as with his close-range miss against Hearts last weekend. It was an unfortunate nick off Kyle Rowles that took his header onto the bar and post, rather than wasteful finishing.
If Rangers manager Clement continues to hang his hat on Dessers, even with Danilo back in the mix, then I predict he will comfortably be challenging to be the top scorer in the division. He is no Sebo, that’s for sure.
Whether he can hang his hat on him on the big occasion, though, remains to be seen, and that is the next challenge for the flawed, frustrating, butindefatigable Dessers.
