No Light Blues player has managed to score more than one goal in the Scottish Premiership in the early stages of the season, but it isn’t just the general scoring statistics that are giving fans at Ibrox something to worry about after the opening four games of the league season.
In their deep dive into the statistics from the start of the season, BBC Sport (14 September) revealed that no player in the top flight has had more attempts on goal this season than Danilo or Sam Lammers, both registering 13 efforts for their single league goal each.
Even more worryingly for supporters is the fact that both strikers have missed the target more often than they have tested the keeper, not what Beale would have hoped for from the two goal scorers who were expected to help try and fire Rangers to the title.
Cyriel Dessers has also been unable to take to Scottish football as hoped and only Aberdeen’s Luis Lopes has had more touches in the opposition box without finding the net than the Nigerian. Beale’s side in general have been poor in front of goal sitting ninth in the division for chances converted, with only 25 of their 81 shots on target.
Those efforts have only produced six league goals and it is clear that all of the forwards at Beale’s disposal need to start taking their chances for the Light Blues to begin to close the gap on Celtic following the international break.
It hasn’t even been as though the forwards have been making chances for one another to make up for their lack of goal-scoring. The BBC report says that the chief creators for Rangers this year have been the two full-backs, Borna Barisic and James Tavernier.
Something is going to have to start clicking in Beale’s side to ensure these chances are being created by all of the players on the pitch rather than relying on the two defenders and then the opportunities that are being made have to be put away.