It’s only been 143 minutes but, I’ve already made up my mind on Fashion Sakala.
The Zambian international has had an interrupted start to life as a Rangers player and yet there are early signs that he is going to be an important member of Steven Gerrard’s squad moving forwards.
The most notable moment was, of course, his goal against Real Madrid but he has also shown the threat that he carries behind opposition defences, blessed with pace that we haven’t seen for a while in the Rangers forward line.
Against St Johnstone he was barely on the park for ten minutes and yet played a key part in James Tavernier’s winning goal, a clever run ended up with him driving possession into the box before deciding to recycle rather than waste the ball, the skipper doing the rest.
Decision making has been poor in the final third so far this season and on most occasions we would have seen a shot blocked or fired wide of the target but Sakala showed the composure needed in such a situation, composure that has been lacking at times.
He was also fractions away from scoring a third for his side, which would have made the last five minutes a lot more comfortable, being judged offside saving his blushes caused by missing a chance that he probably should have done better with, but he had the speed to get into a position to score.
Hopefully that is him over his injury problem and that we can get him properly up to speed, if he doesn’t start against Lyon I’d love to see him line up against Motherwell at the weekend. It can’t be easy trying to make an impact with just ten minus left on the clock and yet that is exactly what he has been able to do.