Some of Rangers’ new signings haven’t been able to hit a barn door this season. Abdallah Sima, on the other hand, has been kicking it in.
The Senegal international’s two sensational finishes against Hibs on Saturday boosted his tally to nine for the campaign – extending his scoring sequence to five straight games, and seven goals in seven matches. It’s impressive stuff and what is perhaps even more exciting for Rangers fans – who were given their first glimpse of Phillipe Clement’s style of play at the weekend and loved what they saw – is it looks like there is so much more to come from Sima.
At times his control lets him down and his linking of the play could be better. But send him in behind and he’s deadly, with searing pace to match the blistering finishes that are fast becoming a trademark. The quietly spoken 22-year-old, on loan from Brighton, has made the kind of impact with the Ibrox support that teammates like Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers can only dream about.
But that much-maligned pair played their part on Saturday and Dessers’ goal, which rounded off the 4-0 win – with Nicolas Raskin also on target – was greeted with delight from the stands and on the pitch alike. Sima’s reaction afterwards spoke volumes for the team spirit at Ibrox, which must have been tested in the dying days of the Michael Beale era.
For a striker, it is important to score,” he said. “For him, it has been hard because he had not managed to score for a few games. So we are all happy that he has scored again.
“It’s not just about Abdallah Sima scoring. I am happy when any of the strikers, or anyone else in the team, scores goals. The important thing is that the team won the game, but for Cyriel, he was very happy to score and we were very happy for him, also, and we will keep helping him to score again.
He is someone who works really hard for the team. It’s like in life, sometimes there are hard moments, but even in those moments, he has worked so hard and has remained positive.”
Naturally, the conversation turned to his own goal tally and he admitted he could hardly be happier with his strike rate.
“It’s always special to score goals, so seven goals in seven games is really special for me, but I have to keep going. As I said, I think as a striker, it is very important for me to score goals and if I am scoring in almost every game it is helpful for my confidence and I feel it is getting higher all the time and I am hoping to score goals in every game.
The manager has said he is happy with what he saw from me before he arrived. He has told me to keep going and to perform in the way I was before he came here.
“He is a new manager with new thoughts and a new mentality, so it will take time for his ideas to come across. But he wants us to work harder than before. We know this is going to be a long season, so we have to keep working hard.
“That’s why I joined this club – to give everything, every day. I know this is a big club, which has a big support and great fans. So I have to work hard and give everything to them and for the team. It’s not just me. It’s all the team. We all feel the same. We know we have to give everything for each other on the pitch.”
Next up for Sima and his team is a trip to Prague as they try to atone for a shocking performance last time out in the Europa League, when his goal wasn’t enough to stop Aris Limassol defeating them.
The loanee has history in the Czech capital, having played for Slavia Prague, and is expecting stick from the Sparta fans – who will remember all too well the events of December 2020, when Sima scored twice in a 3-0 win over Slavia’s city rivals. “I just played one game against them and I scored two goals,” he smiled. So I would love to do the same on Thursday.
“I was a Slavia Prague player, so for sure, the Sparta fans will not like me! I don’t think it will be a crazy game, but I do believe it will be very physical. We have physical players, and so they have physical players, so it is going to be like that.
