Struck Out Looking
A look at Rangers striker situation moving towards the business end of the season.
Rangers State of Play
8 in a row. That’s the feat Danny Rohl and his squad achieved on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Dundee. A win that felt important, with Hearts and Celtic sharing the points at Tynecastle. After Rangers disaster start, they now sit in sole possession of second place, only four points behind the leaders.
James Tavernier scored his 100th league goal for the club, which was supplemented by late goals from Danilo and Gassama. The midfield looked more structured. Raskin, Chukwuani and Aasgaard showed promise as a trio. Tavernier and Skov Olsen combined well to create some openings as well. Sadly, as with most of the good play from Rangers this year, everything fell apart in the box.
Bojan Miovski was given the start in this one. Taking over from the ill Youssef Chermiti who had made the place his in recent weeks. Rangers two main strikers have combined for 7 league goals this season. In the 8 game win streak they have netted in just one game each. Of course there is more to the position than just goals, but Rangers need their frontmen scoring more consistently.
So today I am going to take a look at both players. Analyse their strengths and weaknesses and some moments from their performances. I’d also like to discuss how much they suffer from service and how much the service suffers from them…
Youssef Chermiti
The 21-year-old Portuguese striker arrived from Everton in the summer in a deal in the region of 9 million pounds. A huge fee for the club that left many fans confused. Chermiti was an exciting prospect coming from Sporting Lisbon but failed to really make his mark at Everton. Such a huge outlay for a striker with no history of scoring goals was seen as inexplicable by most fans.
On the face of it, you can see the attributes that make Chermiti an attractive prospect. He is very athletic, a strong mover as well for someone who is 6’4”. His link up play has great potential and he can carry the ball in space to a decent level. For him to be worth the money though, he had to score goals.
The start was poor from Chermiti. He needed 7 appearances before he managed his first goal and another 8 before he scored a second. There were flashes of his skill in these games, mostly away from the goal though. He had showcased a talent for linking the play and holding the ball up, none of this mattered with only two goals to his name.
Then came Celtic Park. The Portuguese scored twice in an emphatic Rangers performance, winning a crucial game. The first saw Chermiti get across his man at the front post and fire a cool finish into the roof of the net. The second was pouncing on slack play from a throw in before driving into the box and sliding it into the far corner.
Since this performance, Chermiti has given us more of what we got before. Some impressive displays, but all of his best work away from the goal.
So let’s take a look at a few moments from these performances and analyse where Chermiti stands.
Chermiti vs Aberdeen
Having watched back a few of the recent Chermiti performances, I think the back to back games against Aberdeen epitomise what you get from him.
The first game was a 2-0 win at Ibrox in which the game passed the striker by. The best moments came from his hold up play, which has been a big asset when Rangers are pressed. Overall though, Chermiti did not impact the game, managing just one shot and was taken off before the 60 minute mark.
The second game was much more a showcase of his ability. Plenty of great link play, getting the team forward. He continued to be a big outlet when Rangers were under pressure and looked a bit more of a threat in the box. The outcome still the same sadly, no goals for the Rangers number 9.
I want to start with the good moments, looking at how Chermiti uses his athleticism and technical ability to impact games.
In the clip below you can see how Chermiti reacts to the long ball. He gets in front of the centre back straight away and backs in. Most forwards try to pin their defender with both arms but Chermiti has the strength to do it with just one. He wins the battle with the defender and reacts first to the second ball. His layoff is perfectly weighted to set Diomande in stride. Normally I’d complain about his lack of urgency getting to the box but I think he takes a sore one from the defender here.
This area of his game is very well developed for a player of his age. It has been an asset for a team that doesn’t have the midfield structure required to break through man to man pressing consistently. My only gripe with his hold up/link up play is his variation. His strength and size give him many opportunities to roll his marker and get on the run towards goal. It is something he doesn’t do very often and would add a lot to his game.
Here’s a look at some more of Chermiti getting Rangers moving up the pitch.
Now to look at the issues.
Chermiti is a great mover physically, despite his size he is very mobile, especially at top speed. The problem is mental, his intelligence and instinct is not good enough for a Rangers striker. His mind is too often focused on being the link in the attack rather than the focal point.
In this first clip, a quick combination between Tavernier and Aasgaard finds Raskin in a lot of space out wide. He looks up to find an early ball forward but sees no options in the box. This is because Chermiti’s first instinct is to drop into a pocket of space instead of moving into the penalty area. The position he picks up doesn’t offer Raskin an option and leaves the Aberdeen centre backs completely unoccupied and comfortable.
When Raskin finally does find an option, Aasgaard is the first one in the box. Chermiti does end up dropping into space around the penalty spot but moved too late, ending up on his heels when the ball comes in from Barron. The service isn’t great quality from Barron in fairness but the striker is not alert enough to provide a challenge for the Aberdeen defence.
The second clip shows Chermiti dropping in again, this time into a better position. Meghoma elects to go out wide instead. Once the pass is made, the striker moves slowly to the edge of the box and only reacts to Gassama crossing just as he strikes the ball. Chermiti is still on the edge of the box as the cross is hit leaving him far too late to have any effect, leaving Gassama with a tricky task to find Tavernier at the back post.
Aasgaard makes a good front post run here, dragging the centre backs with him. When Chermiti finally makes his move it is into the same spot, instead of running into the space Aasgaard just vacated. So even if the striker does make his move on time, it wouldn’t have been the right one.
Bojan Miovski
Thankfully for todays word count, there is a bit less to say about Bojan Miovski. The summer move to bring the striker back to Scotland was worth somewhere in the region of £4 million. The North Macedonian was already known to fans having put up back to back 16 goal seasons for Aberdeen, before moving to Girona.
As much as the deal for Miovski was expensive, it wasn’t the price that was perplexing about this deal. The more confusing aspect was what the recruitment team saw in the player. Averaging a goal every other game for Aberdeen is solid, but knowledge of the league gained at Aberdeen does not translate to Rangers.
It is difficult to watch Miovski in his time at Rangers and see a vision for his success. His main strengths are movement in space and instinctual finishing. He doesn’t have much effect on the game outside of that, virtually the opposite of Chermiti. The issue being that the spaces he was getting at Aberdeen just aren’t as easy to find in the defences Rangers play against. He also doesn’t have the technical quality to get good shots off consistently in tight spaces.
In the first clip you see Miovski in his element, finding space off the back of the defender. He shapes to run down the line before taking a touch inside and getting his defender off balance. The finish is smooth, using the defender to disguise is near post shot.
The issue with him here is lack of consistent quality. When he faces more alert defenders his technical skill doesn’t trouble them enough to create the shooting opportunity in the first place.
Here is Miovski with a very similar chance against Motherwell. This time the defender reads his move easily and Miovski doesn’t have the ability to react. Miovski ends up completely off balance and his weak attempt is easily blocked.
Off the ball Miovski is ineffective. For large spells he just isn’t involved in games. His abilities aren’t suited to teams who have a large share of the ball as his technical ability doesn’t allow him to be progressive in any way.
Most of Miovski’s link play is him dropping to receive the ball, taking a poor touch and then trying to win a foul. He is at least skilled enough with body control to keep the ball most of the time but his play outside of the box generally has little impact.
Below is an example from the most recent game against Dundee.
How Much is The Strikers Fault?
When analysing how effective a striker is, there is often not enough emphasis placed on the system that they play in. Outside of the really elite forwards, a lot of striker success comes from how much they are set up for it.
Rangers have relied massively on set pieces this season and largely failed to create from open play. Given these facts, it is easy to look at the numbers and think that the strikers are doing the best with what they have been given. In the league, Miovski has scored 3 goals from 2.96 xG. Chermiti has 4 goals from 2.6 xG.
Both players are averaging around 3 touches in the box per 90 minutes, which is low for a team that dominates the ball. Celtic’s Daizen Maeda averages over 5 for example. Both Miovski and Chermiti are asked to get involved in the play deeper in the pitch, so is this having an impact on their ability to get on the end of things?
I believe the answer for each striker is different. Miovski is a player who lives more in the box, he’s shown that in the past. At 26 years old he isn’t going to be moved out of that mould purely by instruction. His skillset and quality just doesn’t translate to Rangers and its demands. Getting goals at Aberdeen is not the same as getting them for Rangers and this was the fundamental mistake in the signing. I think Rangers should be looking to find him somewhere new in the summer.
At 21, Youssef Chermiti is still developing. While it’s difficult to develop the kind of instinct that’s required to become a great goal scorer, I think a Rangers team that needs him less in the build up will help him. If Rangers can start getting the ball forward more consistently through the midfield, then maybe Danny Rohl can begin getting him closer to the box.
At this moment, neither Chermiti or Miovski are of the quality Rangers need. Bringing in another striker that can create themselves and finish well would improve a lot. Given the time left in the window and the nature of the January market, this is a near impossible task. In the Summer, Rangers should be open to replacing both men if the offer is right. Miovski is unlikely to ever work for the club and while Chermiti has potential, it will take a lot for Chermiti to become ‘Rangers quality’.
For now though, the club have to hope that improving the team overall can bring more out of the pair. Time will tell if it is enough to win Rangers a title.