Rangers flop is fast becoming the new Dessers and he’s not even a striker

Glasgow Rangers suffered a blow in their hopes of winning a first Scottish Premiership title since the 2020/21 campaign after their draw on Sunday.

The Light Blues have not lifted the trophy since Steven Gerrard led the team to glory almost five years ago, playing behind closed doors, and they are now six points adrift of first place with nine games left to play.

Danny Rohl’s side were 2-0 up against Celtic at Ibrox at half-time on Sunday thanks to a brace from Youssef Chermiti, and a win would have kept them within four points of league leaders Hearts.

Unfortunately, though, the Gers were unable to hold onto their lead in the second half and had to settle for a 2-2 draw and a point, drawing for the third time in three league matches.

Ultimately, these slip-ups from the Gers against Celtic, Livingston, and Motherwell could be the difference between winning the title and finishing second or third.

What went wrong for Rangers against Celtic

Despite Mikey Moore and Chermiti’s heroics, particularly in the first half, Rangers were unable to claim all three points in front of their own supporters on Sunday.

One of the reasons why the Gers fell short of winning the game was because of how passive they were after the break, allowing Celtic more of the ball, which meant that they had more opportunities to create chances and score goals.

The fact that Celtic ended the game with 55% of the possession at Ibrox after Rangers had a 2-0 lead at the break sums it up. There was not enough control of the ball to see the game out.

Rohl can shoulder some of the blame for that because he did not bring Mohamed Diomande on for Ryan Naderi to add an extra body in midfield until after Kieran Tierney pulled a goal back, but the players also have to take responsibility for not taking enough care of the ball.

Several players failed to step up and deliver what was required to see the game out in the second half, and one of the Gers flops is looking like Ibrox’s newest Cyriel Dessers.

Rangers flop is looking like Ibrox’s newest Dessers

It is fair to say that Dessers divided opinion during his two-year stint at Ibrox, because he scored a lot of goals and missed a lot of huge chances to win vital points for the club.

The Nigerian centre-forward scored 34 goals in 73 appearances in the Premiership for Rangers, but he missed a whopping 47 ‘big chances’ along the way. He was far too wasteful in front of goal and was not a reliable striker, which is why he was a liability to the team at times.

Now, John Souttar is fast becoming Ibrox’s newest version of the former Gers centre-forward because he is becoming as unreliable with his mistakes defensively in recent weeks.

The Scotland international was one of the Rangers players who set the tone for the sloppy second half against Celtic, giving away needless free-kicks and kicking the ball straight out of play under little pressure several times.

Souttar ended the game with two fouls given away and a pass accuracy of just 80%, 10% lower than his seasonal average. When the Gers needed their centre-back to be reliable and to calm the game down, he put more pressure on his own side with poor passes and sloppy fouls.

His passing was not as poor against Livingston as it was against Celtic, completing 92% of his passes, but the central defender gave away two free-kicks that both led to goals for the team at the bottom of the league in a 2-2 in the previous match.

Souttar, who was described as being “really sloppy” against Livingston by RangersJournal’s Kai Watson, has failed to prove himself to be a reliable figure at the heart of the defence when Rangers have needed a strong presence to win them vital points in the title race.

Just like when Rangers could not rely on Dessers to be efficient in front of goal, the Light Blues cannot rely on the Scottish defender to avoid giving away ‘sloppy’ free-kicks to avoid being loose in possession in the bigger games.

Whilst it is not solely down to him, the Gers have not won the league title since they signed Souttar from Hearts in 2022, and that may not change this season because of the points that they are dropping through his mistakes in defence of late.

With this in mind, signing a new centre-back to partner Emmanuel Fernandez in the 2026/27 campaign and beyond should be a priority for Rohl and the recruitment staff.