Barry Ferguson has had the rarest of things since taking over in the Rangers hot seat.
Titles have been lost by both Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Philippe Clement largely because they ran out of options and ran out of goals.
The current interim Rangers manager is spoilt for choice though with three fully fit strikers as well as three No.10s, who all started against Dundee on the bench.
Cyriel Dessers marked his 100th appearance with a goal, eventually, with Hamza Igamane putting several chances on a plate for his strike partner.
However, it took for the introduction of Danilo for Rangers to see the composure and quality needed to make the breakthrough, not that Andy Halliday is in the mood to give him any credit.
Andy Halliday slaughters Rangers striker Danilo
Speaking on Clyde Superscoreboard on Monday 31st of March, the former Rangers midfielder was asked if Danilo or Igamane would have made any difference as the focal point of the attack.
He agreed that Igamane might not get into as many good positions, but that his finishing would be better, with a different opinion on Danilo entirely:
“The Danilo one is then really interesting, because he’s not getting the stick Dessers is getting, because he’s not good enough to get on the pitch,” claimed Halliday.
“I got absolutely hammered on this show three months ago for saying Dessers was miles ahead of Danilo. I don’t think many people are disagreeing that.
“I mean, Dessers is clearly miles ahead of Danilo, who costs a lot of money as well. But you’re up there to be shot at, ultimately.
“You see the best and the worst of Dessers on Saturday. But I bet when Barry Ferguson picks the team to play Hibs this Saturday, Dessers is, you know, wearing the number nine, starting the game.”
What advantage does Dessers have over Danilo?
There is one clear difference between Dessers and Danilo.
Against Dundee, Dessers made his 100th appearance whilst Danilo was making his 41st. Both were signed by Rangers in the summer of 2023 within weeks of each other, Danilo for £6m, Dessers for £4.5m.
Ironically, Dessers arrived from Cremonese injured with Danilo bang in form for Feyenoord in pre-season only for Beale to go with the striker who was trying to regain fitness.
Danilo, given the same number of games, would probably have similar statistics, but anyone who has watched them both play can see he is a better technician than Dessers and the numbers back this up.
Despite scoring 23 goals this season, very rarely does Dessers look composed or comfortable, everything seems to be an effort.
It doesn’t have to be a one or the other situation.
Having a group of strikers in the Rangers squad pushing each other on can only be a good thing and, if Danilo stays fit, he will more than play his part as his goal or assist every 85 minutes since joining Rangers proves.
