Glasgow Rangers delivered one of their worst performances of the season as the Ibrox side slumped to a Premiership defeat at Rugby Park.
Although Kilmarnock scored late on to secure a 1-0 victory, repeating their success from last term, the Light Blues didn’t look like scoring throughout the 90 minutes.
Far too many of Philippe Clement’s side were passengers during the tie. They were outfought in the most important battles and failed to offer a significant threat in the final third.
While much of this was due to Tom Lawrence and Vaclav Cerny not creating enough opportunities, Cyriel Dessers was the biggest culprit, as he was dismal yet again.
Cyriel Dessers’ performance in numbers
The Nigerian centre-forward may have scored seven times this season, but he has failed to find the back of the net in a league tie since the 6-0 win over Ross County in August.
Due to the lack of competition in his position, Dessers started once again on Sunday afternoon, yet at times, it appeared like the Gers were operating with ten men due to his ineffectiveness in the final third.
Goals
0
Assists
0
Touches
22
Key passes
0
Possession lost
13
Total duels (won)
4 (0)
The 29-year-old did manage two shots, with one effort hitting the bar, but there is no doubt he could have done better with those attempts. Dessers also completed just 50% of his passes, won no duels and lost possession 13 times against Killie.
Another woeful display. The Ibrox faithful have got used to this, however, but there was another player who could perhaps benefit from a spell on the sidelines after yet another underwhelming performance – Mohamed Diomande.
Mohamed Diomande's performance in numbers
The Ivorian hasn’t exactly enjoyed the best of starts to the season, failing to look like the £4.5m player that Clement signed back in January.
For someone of his quality, games like those against Kilmarnock are ones he should be dominating in the midfield.
Minutes played
90
Touches
61
Accurate passes
42/51 (82%)
Duels won
4/9
Shots
0
Successful dribbles
1/2
Key passes
0
Operating alongside Connor Barron once again, the 22-year-old finished the game with an 82% pass success rate, succeeded with only one of his five attempted long balls and made zero key passes.
Defensively, he was even poorer. The midfielder lost possession ten times throughout the game, won four of his nine attempted duels and committed two fouls as Diomande struggled to have a positive influence in the heart of the midfield.
Scotsman journalist Matthew Elder gave the player a match rating of just 5/10 for his display at Rugby Park and, with a few important matches coming up, could Clement drop him to the bench?
Nico Raskin is waiting in the wings for a run in the team and there is no doubt he could be an ideal replacement for Diomande ahead of the Europa League clash against FCSB on Thursday evening.
The Ivorian has plenty of potential, for that there is no doubt. In order to get the Ibrox faithful on board, however, he must drastically improve before Christmas.
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