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 smooth as it was against FCSB, hopefully this will 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 scored the game-winning goal and occasionally looked energetic down the right wing as he maintained his current goal-scoring run.
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.
The numerical performance of Robin Propper against St. Mirren
Over the past several weeks, the center-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 60 minutes on the field, the center-back lost five of his nine contested on the pitch, was successful with just three of his eight long ball attempts, made zero interceptions and was dribbled past once.
The Dutchman was unable to handle the physical threat offered by Toyosi Olusanya, who capitalized 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, Who Scored 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 potential future in Scotland.
To stop the Dons from winning another league game against the Light Blues on Wednesday night, Clement must undoubtedly start Balogun and Souttar in a defensive tandem against Aberdeen.