Glasgow Rangers dropped to six points behind the top two this weekend after they were beaten 1-0 by Kilmarnock away from Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The Light Blues conceded a late goal to Marley Watkins that cost them against Kilmarnock, after they failed to provide enough of a threat in the final third throughout the rest of the match.
It was a disappointing result and performance for Philippe Clement, who have lost two of their opening eight matches in the division, and they will have to bounce back quickly to get back in the title race.
One player for the Scottish giants who will be frustrated with the part he played in the winning goal for the hosts is central defender John Souttar.
John Souttar's performance against Kilmarnock
The Scotland international appeared to be the favourite to get on the end of a bouncing ball in the penalty area but was bullied out of the way by Watkins, who then got to the ball first to prod the ball past Jack Butland.
It was unusually weak play from the former Hearts titan, who was too easily brushed out of the way by the former Norwich City and Bristol City attacker.
Souttar won seven of his eight physical duels during the game, but lost the most vital one in the end, and this shows that he was having a dominant game up until the 87th minute.
The central defender also made two blocks and one interception to protect Butland, and completed 80 of his 88 attempted passes in possession, which shows that it was far from a terrible performance from him on the whole.
His one slip-up may not have mattered, though, if the attackers had done enough to trouble ex-Gers man Robby McCrorie at the other end of the pitch, as Cyriel Dessers was one player who was even worse than Souttar on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers' struggles against Kilmarnock
The Nigeria international was selected to lead the line for the Light Blues against Kilmarnock and produced a frustratingly ineffective display.
Dessers, of course, ended the match without a goal or an assist, as Rangers lost 1-0, and the underlying statistics are even worse than the headline.
The former Cremonese man lost possession 13 times from just 22 touches of the ball and only completed six passes, failing to create a single chance, in 71 minutes on the pitch.
Minutes
71
Goals + assists
0
Dribbles completed
0/1
Pass accuracy
50%
Duels won
0/4
Possession lost
13
As you can see in the table above, Dessers only completed 50% of his attempted passes in the match and lost 100% of his duels with Kilmarnock defenders, which shows that the opposition found it far too easy to get the better of him.
The Rangers lightweight offered nothing in the final third, with zero goals, assists, or key passes, and was a liability off the ball with his weak centre-forward play.
Therefore, the striker was even worse than Souttar, who defended brilliantly for 86 minutes before his costly error, and should now be in danger of losing his place in the XI.
Rangers can complete Koppen's massive objective by signing SPFL star
Rangers chief Nils Koppen wants to sign a player from another Premiership club.
ByDan EmeryOct 17, 2024