da bwin： After a generally productive international break for many of Rangers’ stars, can they bring this form back to Glasgow?
da aposte e ganhe： John Souttar, Liam Kelly and Connor Barron were all part of the Scotland squad that remarkably qualified for a first World Cup in 28 years, while Nicolas Raskin started both of Belgium’s matches as they booked their spot in North America, thrashing Liechtenstein in the midfielder’s hometown of Liège.
On Tuesday, striker Bojan Miovski scored his ninth goal for North Macedonia, albeit there was little cause for celebration given that his team were demolished 7-1 by Wales in Cardiff, their heaviest defeat for two and a half years.
While Miovski being back among the goals is undoubtedly good news for Danny Röhl, he does need to improve his performances on the domestic stage.
Rangers' lack of attacking firepower
While many supporters would blame now-dismissed manager Russell Martin’s ineptitude, the club’s poor recruitment over the summer is surely the key factor behind their underwhelming form this season.
This is most abundantly clear in attacking areas where, despite being a goal machine during his two seasons at Aberdeen, Miovski has netted only twice since joining Rangers from Girona for £2.6m in August.
Meantime, Youssef Chermiti has scored only once for the club so far, despite arriving from Everton for £8m, potentially rising to £10m with add-ons, thereby making him the club’s most expensive signing of the post-liquidation era, surpassed only by Tore André Flo’s move in 2000.
This is in complete contrast to last season when Rangers’ top three scorers, namely Cyriel Dessers, Václav Černý and Hamza Igamane, bagged 63 goals between them across all competitions, which represented 55% of all goals the club netted.
With the trio having all departed, new manager Röhl requires the attacking players he has inherited to step up and start contributing, something one “huge talent” in particular is yet to do thus far.
Thelwell signing has been a bigger waste than Chermiti & Miovski
In the summer, Rangers spent around £30m on 13 new recruits, including splashing a reported £5m to sign Thelo Aasgaard from Luton Town.
Upon his arrival, Scottish football analyst Kai Watson labelled him a “technical dribbler” who “loves to take on opponents and get shots away”, while journalist Jamie Allen asserted that he was a “huge talent”.
However, supporters have not seen very much of that thus far, with Aasgaard’s most noteworthy contribution being that red card he received during the League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic at Hampden.
The table below underlines the fact that Aasgaard has not performed as expected to date. Aasgaard’s statistics are not terrible when compared to his Rangers teammates, ranked second for shots, first in terms of shots on target as well as in the top four when it comes to successful dribbles per 90.
Minutes
1,041
9th
Goals
1
7th
Assists
1
8th
Shots per 90
1.7
2nd
Shots on target per 90
1
1st
Big chances missed
2
2nd
Accurate passes per 90
19.2
12th
Key passes per 90
0.8
8th
Successful dribbles per 90
1.4
4th
Average rating
6.76
8th
Ultimately, however, he has scored only one for the club to date, on target against Dundee United last month, registering his first assist at Dens last time out, albeit scorer Djeidi Gassama did do most of the work.
This lack of end-product has seen his estimated market value, as recorded by Football Transfers, drop to around £3.4m, well below the fee Rangers paid to sign him.
Meantime, the Merseyside-born winger has been on fire for Norway, scoring four times in 24 minutes as his national team demolished Moldova 11-1 at the Ullevål in September, having marked his international debut with a goal in the reverse fixture in Chișinău back in March.
Thus, with Norway back at the World Cup for the first time since France ’98, Aasgaard will certainly be included in Ståle Solbakken’s squad that travels to North America next summer, but he’ll be desperate to improve his club form before then.
In Glasgow, Aasgaard has started three of Danny Röhl’s six matches in charge, but was introduced off the bench during the last two against Roma and Dundee.
With Röhl having switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation, there is one fewer attacking position up for grabs, and Aasgaard so far is not doing enough to suggest he should be ahead of Gassama, Miovski, Chermiti, Danilo or Mikey Moore in the pecking order.
Considering he cost £5m, surely Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell envisaged that the Norwegian would be a guaranteed starter, but this is certainly not the case. Considering he was a player that Martin pushed to sign, it isn’t ideal when the manager is sacked after just 15 matches in charge.
Thus, while Chermiti and Miovski have established themselves as key figures in Röhl’s team, one could certainly argue that Aasgaard has been the biggest waste of money from last summer.
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