On Sunday afternoon, Glasgow Rangers defeated St Mirren in the Premiership, their second win in four days.
But the Buddies looked like a strong attacking threat the entire time, and if it weren’t for a close offside call in the second half, the Ibrox team would have easily won. As a result, they made the Ibrox team work for the victory.
Although the performance wasn’t as seamless as it was against FCSB, perhaps this can boost confidence before Wednesday’s matchup with Aberdeen, who are currently playing well.
Rangers’ and St. Mirren’s best and worst players
After being transferred to a more advanced position, Mohamed Diomande won four of seven duels, made 100% of his long balls, and managed three shots in total before scoring the first goal within 15 minutes.
Vaclav Cerny continued his recent goalscoring form, netting the winner and looking lively at times down the right flank.
In an attempt to carry on where he left off against FCSB, Hamza Igamane was granted a rare start. The striker was replaced by Cyriel Dessers at halftime after failing to put up a single attempt on goal.
The Moroccan summer acquisition is still being worked out. He will improve the more he plays. However, despite being a seasoned professional, the St. Mirren attack intimidated Robin Propper.
Vaclav Cerny, who scored the game-winning goal and occasionally looked energetic down the right wing, maintained his current goal-scoring form.
In an attempt to carry on where he left off against FCSB, Hamza Igamane was granted a rare start. The striker was replaced by Cyriel Dessers at halftime after failing to put up a single attempt on goal.
The Moroccan summer acquisition is still being worked out. He will improve the more he plays. However, despite being a seasoned professional, the St. Mirren attack intimidated Robin Propper.
Robin Propper’s game in numbers vs St Mirren
Over the past several weeks, the centre-back has partnered with John Souttar frequently, solidifying his position as one of the team’s first-choice defenders. Philippe Clement accompanied the Dutchman, Leon Balogun, against the Buddies on Sunday.
Despite his advanced age, Balogun was outstanding once more and exuded class. However, Propper, the former FC Twente defender, did not have the same success.
In fact, throughout his sixty minutes on the field, the centre-back lost five of his nine contested duels, made zero interceptions, was dribbled past once, and only made three of his eight long ball attempts.
The Dutchman was unable to handle the physical threat provided by Toyosi Olusanya, who capitalised on Propper’s lack of physicality, despite the statistics indicating he wasn’t at the races.
After his subpar performance during the 2-1 victory, WhoScored gave him a match rating of 6.4/10, with additional criticism surfacing elsewhere.
“Said it after Tannadice, Propper doesn’t have the physicality for our league and the opponents we face,” writer Graeme Hanna said in his post-match critique of Propper. He is yet another dubious first-choice acquisition.
Propper, who is 31 years old and nearing the end of his career, was likely signed to fill the void left by Connor Goldson rather than as a player with a promising future in Scotland.
Against Aberdeen, Clement must surely go with a defensive partnership of Balogun and Souttar in order to prevent the Dons securing another league win against the Light Blues on Wednesday evening.
