DID you ever read The Da Vinci Code? Buy a James Blunt album? Watch the Twilight movies? Is the real answer the one you would admit in public?
Now ask a Rangers supporter what they think of Cyriel Dessers.
Sometimes, it becomes fashionable to dislike something or someone – even when they are doing well. Record book sales, a platinum album, a box-office smash: forget it. If everyone is roundly trashing them, it’s easier to jump on the bandwagon. But there is always space for individuals to turn around public perception.
Do you think Dan Brown checks the comments section on Amazon for validation when he has sold over 200 million copies of his works worldwide? James Blunt, meanwhile, has managed to reverse-engineer his negative press with an ingeniously self-deprecating social-media persona which refracts the negativity and turns it into a promotional tool. I can’t stand up for the Twilight movies. They really are awful. But neither Kristen Stewart nor Robert Pattinson, the emotionally challenged lead duo, have done badly since.
During the first half of the current Premiership season, meanwhile, brickbats for Rangers striker Dessers were par for the course. To be fair, the big Nigerian seemed to take as long to get revved up and motoring at Ibrox as an old leaded-diesel-powered Lada car on a frosty February morning.
Rangers and their city rivals have certainly made the odd faux pas in the transfer market in the last couple of decades but shelling out £4.5m to Italian second-tier outfit Cremonese for a then-28-year-old Nigeria internationalist was an intriguing move by the club’s recruitment team.
One of the main criticisms of that Govan headhunting outfit last month was for not seeming to go after Hearts hitman Lawrence Shankland, an apparently ready-made goalscoring machine who could fire Rangers to just their second title in 13 years. After scoring a brace against Ross County at an expectant Ibrox on Wednesday night, however, when a glut of goals could have slingshot Philippe Clement’s side above Celtic at the top of the table, Dessers took his tally in the league this season to 10 in 22 matches.
OK, for a No.9 at one of the top sides in the division that might sound like piecemeal compared to Shankland’s 17 goals in 25 Premiership games, but four of those strikes coming in the five league encounters since the return from the winter break augurs well for Rangers in the battle for silverware in the second half of the season.
When Michael Beale ripped out his entire attacking line last summer and brought in a host of forward signings – out went Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, Antonio Colak and Fashion Sakala, and a crew of recruits including Dessers, Abdallah Sima, Danilo and Sam Lammers arrived – it was inevitable that there would be a bedding-in period required, a luxury Beale seemed blissfully unaware would not be afforded him. This was the folly of his monumental rebuild, the Englishman paying the price for a lack of cohesion and mixed results at the start of the campaign by being relieved of his duties in October after just 10 months in charge following a costly 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen at Ibrox.
The loss to the Dons came just a couple of weeks after a damaging home derby defeat to Celtic. During that match, Beale thought Kemar Roofe had put his side ahead in the first half, but a VAR review spotted an infringement in the build-up by Dessers, who provided the assist for the Jamaica internationalist to fire past Joe Hart and send Ibrox into raptures.
At the time, I wrote in this column that the decision against Dessers was harsh but correct, and I remain adamant that VAR should not be used to intervene in such incidents.
In real footballing terms, it was simply good forward play: sniffing out danger when Gustaf Lagerbielke – the Celtic summer signing who, unlike Dessers, finds himself well out of the picture now across the city – was caught dallying on the ball and was dispossessed by the forward. Had the goal stood, all and sundry of a Celtic persuasion would have been hauling the defender over the coals for allowing Dessers to sink his teeth in and very few would have been clutching at the straw that was a point of contact between the Rangers man and the Swede during the challenge.
Those two defeats in September sealed Beale’s sorry fate, and with confidence rock bottom there was a somewhat protracted search for his successor, with club legend Steven Davis placed in temporary charge of the squad. None of this would have been a settling environment for the clutch of players recruited from far and wide just a couple of months prior.
In his next derby just before the turn of the year, Dessers was this time criticised roundly for his profligacy in front of goal. Indeed, the striker should have scored when put through one-on-one with Hart on two occasions, appearing to hesitate himself when his big moment arrived. Again, this looked more of a confidence issue than competence, as on both occasions he had done well to get into the position to score.
Compare and contrast that with his first strike against County on Wednesday night. After James Tavernier split the visitors’ defence with a flighted ball from his own half, Dessers deftly slowed the ball down at the edge of the box with his head before lifting it over onrushing goalkeeper George Wickens and into the net.
It was a calm, classy finish and it was a clear indication of a player full of confidence. Adding a second with a headed finish from another Tavernier cross will only have inflated that feeling.
The question now is, with the draw for the last-16 of the Europa League on the horizon next week and with the Nigerian’s third shot at the Scottish champions still several weeks away at the start of April, can he keep up his goalscoring form when it counts? Or will the naysayers have the last laugh?
We've seen two sides to Dessers so far this season, whether Rangers prise the Premiership trophy from their rivals come May could well depend on which one turns up for the remainder of the season.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel