Joe Garner scored Glasgow Rangers’ goal in the defeat to Dundee, but then put himself in the supporters’ bad books.
Rangers’ Joe Garner
Shortly after Joe Garner’s arrival at Ibrox, it appeared that Rangers fans were ready to give him cult-hero status due to his tireless displays. However, it took the summer signing just two minutes during the Gers’ defeat to Dundee to encapsulate why the supporters are starting to give up on him.
Shortly after the hour mark, the former Preston North End man handed Rangers a lifeline by scoring a wonderful effort from just outside the penalty area to make the score 2-1.
However, just over one minute later, he infuriated a large section of the fans by picking up his sixth booking of the campaign to pick up a suspension that will now keep him out of the Old Firm game in mid-March.
Considering that Garner was one of Rangers’ marquee additions in the summer having cost around £1.8 million (via Daily Record), it is hardly a surprise that the patience now appears to be running out with the 28-year-old.
His effort has certainly not been questioned – the same cannot be said for several of his teammates – but his strike-rate has simply not been good enough considering how much was spent to bring him to the Scottish Premiership in the summer.
He has scored just four times in 20 league games for the Gers. Two of those goals, including Sunday’s, have come in defeats while another was the third in a 3-0 win, so just one of his goals have arguably actually proved to be worth something.
But he showed with his goal against Dundee that he may actually have the quality to make a much greater impact in front of goal.
And the situation becomes all the more frustrating when it is considered that Celtic striker Moussa Dembele has scored seven in his last three having only cost the Hoops just £500,000 last summer (via Get West London), little over a quarter of what Rangers paid for Garner.
Garner then proceeded to compound the frustration by picking up a yellow card that will take him out of the next Old Firm game. While it would have been disappointing had Garner not applied pressure on the defender, the challenge itself which led to the booking was completely unnecessary given that the defender was simply clearly the ball somewhat aimlessly up the pitch.
The naivety of the caution has led to plenty of criticism from Gers supporters as it highlighted that there should be question marks regarding his mentality if he is not thinking about the bigger picture.
His contributions and the goal itself do deserve praise, but the fact that the goals have been less frequent than yellow cards this term is surely why the faith in Garner is dwindling almost on a weekly basis.
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