According to Duncan Shearer, Rangers defeated Ross County 4-0 on Sunday after Cyriel Dessers was the victim of a tackle by Kacper Lopata that defied sense.
When the Aberdeen great saw the highlights of the Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox on February 2, he blasted Lopata for a “crazy” foul on Dessers that let Ianis Hagi score from the ensuing free-kick.
Shearer is convinced that even the Ross County coaching staff would have been perplexed by the defender’s belief that he could get away with challenging the striker.
In his blog on the Press and Journal website, Shearer stated, “After watching the highlights from Ibrox, I noticed Rangers’ second goal (after 25 minutes) after defender Kacper Lopata fouled Cyriel Dessers on the edge of the box” (4 January).
After a fortunate deflection off Jonathan Tomkinson, Ianis Hagi scored his second goal from that free-kick, and John Souttar added a third goal just before halftime.
“I don’t know how Lopata thought for a minute he could get away with a tackle like that.” “It was a crazy thing for a center-half to do. It defies logic, and Don [Cowie] and his staff will be saying: “What was he thinking?” The winter transfer window was an interesting time for Dessers as he clawed his way back into Philippe Clement’s starting lineup and was linked to a move away from Ibrox.
In the days before the deadline, he was strongly rumored to be returning to Italy, with Cagliari showing interest in hiring him [La Gazzetta dello Sport], but he ultimately remained in Italy.
This followed the Nigerian international’s January goal total of six goals and two assists in all competitions.
Rangers finally chose to retain him at least through the end of the season, despite having the opportunity to utilize his recent success to demand more money for a transfer [Scottish Daily Mail].
After regaining his spot in Clement’s starting lineup, Dessers will be looking to continue playing a significant role for the Gers through the remainder of the season.
That will, after all, give the Glasgow giants the advantage in summer transfer discussions and help them meet their goals on the field.
