Giovanni van Bronckhorst made one change from the side that beat Hearts 4-0 last weekend, and it proved to be an effective one.
Fashion Sakala replaced Ryan Kent who, ironically, actually played well at Tynecastle, and the Zambian international replicated the Englishman’s feats by scoring and assisting against St Mirren. It might only be one game but there wasn’t much more he could have done to put his hand up and let Gio know that he should be starting more often.
Speaking after the game, the Gers gaffer revealed his delight at the 25-year old’s performance and that we could well be seeing more of him in the future:
“I’m really happy with Fashion because the more options I have, the better it is for me. He came on in midweek at Anfield and did well so we wanted to give him a chance.
“I thought he was really good and did what we expected. We’re now able to use the speed we have up front. It makes it so much easier when we have strength in depth in attack.
“I never wanted Fashion to leave in the summer, it was never my intention to let him go. He was talking about his future, like all the players, but it was never my intention to let him go. A lot of players showed with their performances today that they want to play on Wednesday.”
One thing that Sakala has that can’t be questioned is serious pace. Both of the goals that he was involved in saw him getting away from St Mirren defenders because he is so sharp. Against Scottish Premiership defenders in particular this could be α huge asset going forward in games when we have maybe been one-dimensional in the past.
He is also more of α forward rather than α winger having been α central striker before moving to Rangers, his instinct is to go for goal with and without the ball rather than head to the byline to get α cross in.
Yes, he loses control of the ball and can be frustrating but he is also the best finisher out of any of the players we normally play wide, his goals and assists ratio proves this, sometimes you’ve just got to take the rough with the smooth, not every player is perfect.