Glasgow Rangers head coach Michael Beale's future has come into question following the club's latest defeat to Aberdeen on Saturday.
The Sun claimed that the Englishman's spell at Ibrox is in 'doubt' after the 3-1 loss in the Scottish Premiership and journalist Graham Spiers went as far as to predict that he would be sacked, due to his "hapless" football.
As it stands, the board have not made the decision to part ways with the 43-year-old boss, despite the club's poor start to the 2023/24 campaign.
Beale came in to replace Dutch boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst during the break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar last year and did not win a single trophy for the Light Blues last season.
Scottish Premiership
Second
Champions League
Group stage
FA Cup
Semi-final
League Cup
Runners-up
The ex-Queens Park Rangers chief has also endured a poor start to the current campaign domestically and in Europe. Beale failed to lead the side to qualification for the group stage of the Champions League as his team were beaten by PSV over two legs.
Rangers have also lost three of their four Premiership matches so far this season and are already seven points adrift of Celtic at the top of the table.
It remains to be seen how much more patience the board will have with Beale and that is why he must make some big decisions quickly. One move that could help him to save his future at Ibrox, or at least buy him some more time, is to ruthlessly ditch Cyriel Dessers from the starting XI for an extended period of time.
How did Dessers perform against Aberdeen?
The Nigeria international, who joined from Cremonese for a reported fee of £4.5m during the summer transfer window, put in a frustrating performance at the top end of the pitch against Aberdeen as he struggled in and out of possession.
Dessers failed to offer his team a useful outlet to hit in the final third. As per Sofascore, the 28-year-old lost three of his five aerial battles and six of his seven duels on the ground over the course of his 84 minutes on the pitch.
The 6 foot 1 centre-forward was truly dominated by the Dons defenders throughout the match, which allowed the away side to win the ball back off him with ease.
However, opportunities still came his way to punish the opposition and get Rangers back into the game but he was unable to take them. The Nigerian missed two 'big chances' and had four shots in total without scoring.
After the match, Beale admitted that Dessers is probably "below the level" that he would like to be but also said that he is confident of the £4.5m signing eventually finding his feet in Scotland.
How many goals has Dessers scored this season?
The former Feyenoord star has found the back of the net three times in 13 matches for Rangers in all competitions since his move to Scotland.
He has particularly struggled in the Premiership so far this season as the number nine has failed to provide a consistent goal threat at the top end of the pitch.
Dessers has averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.72 across six top-flight outings this term, the 22nd-highest score within the squad which shows that he has been one of the worst performers in Glasgow – as only two players with at least one league start have averaged lower ratings.
The summer signing has only scored one Premiership goal and is not able to blame his teammates for a lack of service to him as he has missed a worrying six 'big chances'.
His poor finishing within the box has been frustrating to watch and the ex-Serie A striker has also struggled out of possession with his lack of physicality.
As per Sofascore, Dessers has lost a staggering 83% of his duels on the ground and 71% of his battles in total to go along with 0.2 tackles and interceptions per game.
This shows that the Rangers forward has found it difficult to adjust to the physicality of Scottish football as defenders are finding it far too easy to get the better of him.
Who could replace Dessers for Rangers?
Danilo, Sam Lammers and Kemar Roofe were all absent from the matchday squad against Aberdeen but B team star Zak Lovelace came off the bench and showed promise in his cameo.
The 17-year-old won 100% of his duels and created one chance in just 19 minutes of action on Saturday and Beale must now unleash him ahead of Dessers if the aforementioned trio remain out ahead of the upcoming games.
Since joining from Millwall at the start of last season, Lovelace has scored 17 goals in 32 B team outings and 15 goals in 26 Lowland League appearances.
The English youngster has also contributed with two goals and four assists in six UEFA Youth League clashes for the U19 team in that time.
In total, the Rangers youngster has netted 19 goals and provided ten assists in 38 games for the academy, which shows that he has the potential to produce quality on a consistent basis in the final third.
He has averaged a goal every other match for the young Light Blues, whilst also being able to offer creativity from a number nine or wide position, whereas Dessers has scored once in six league outings for the first team.
Beale's position is seemingly under pressure after a poor start to the season, following on from a trophyless debut campaign in Scotland, and continuing to go with the underperforming Nigeria international does not seem likely to save his job.
Therefore, the English head coach must ruthlessly ditch Dessers and unleash Lovelace in order to potentially turn Rangers' fortunes around in front of goal.
