With Steven Gerrard struggling to get Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe firing on all cylinders, every possible alternative is being considered.
Giving Fashion Sakala a run of games after his stunning hat-trick against Motherwell is one option with on-fire B team star Juan Alegria the exciting prospect that fans want to see in a match day squad, however, as Rangers fan and analyst Patrick Caskie discovered when he revisited potential summer signings – including Kyogo Furuhashi – a surprising name stuck out.
Cedric Itten.
When comparing the two sets of strikers at each Old Firm club and players that had been identified as suitable options, the Switzerland international regularly out performed Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe in key metrics – as shown in Patrick’s data visualisation below for expected goals, expected assists and shots on target.
Now, I’m not suggesting that Itten should be immediately recalled to answer all our prayers but it’s frustrating that when we finally decide to go with two strikers every week, we let one go who was used to playing in a pairing. He also offers a completely different skillset to Roofe and Morelos in that he can contribute from wide areas.
He might not have played as many minutes as the others but he also proved that if he only gets one chance, he is likely to take it. In the Champions League qualifier against Malmo he was one of a few to come out of the game with any credit, despite not getting any decent service.
Like Itten, Sakala doesn’t seem to be getting much of a chance despite the first choice pairing not clicking, sometimes it’s not always the best individuals that make the best team as we saw earlier today.