Joe Dodoo has only featured from the bench under Pedro Caixinha at Rangers – but now is the time for him to start at last.
Joe Dodoo may not have started a game in Pedro Caixinha’s reign in charge of Rangers but the young striker is surely edging closer to breaking his duck.
After being frozen out at times by predecessor Mark Warburton as well as during Graeme Murty’s temporary spell at the helm, the £250,000 summer signing from Leicester City is slowly forcing his way into Rangers’ first-team reckoning, as reported by the Scottish Sun.
Emerging from the bench with just twenty minutes to play against Aberdeen, the side ahead of Rangers in second in the Scottish Premiership table, Dodoo found the time to set up one and score another to put the icing on the club’s most impressive league win of the season a fortnight ago.
And, after another eye-catching cameo off the bench in Monday’s 2-0 win against Partick Thistle, Dodoo could hardly have timed his sudden form any better.
Rangers are limbering up for the most defining clash of their entire campaign, with Celtic lying in wait in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Saturday. And Caixinha certainly has a decision to make – although many supporters would suggest that Dodoo’s inclusion in the starting XI is nothing other than a no-brainer.
After all, the Portuguese has made it clear that he is not afraid to drop some of the bigger names in Rangers’ squad, with Barrie McKay, Emerson Hyndman and Martyn Waghorn being unceremoniously hooked for below-par displays in recent weeks.
“I will send a message to our players: ‘If some of them think they can slow down on Saturday they will not be playing at Hampden.’ It is that clear,” Caixinha claimed recently, as reported by the Daily Record.
If he’s picking an XI on form rather than reputation, Dodoo should take pride and place on the team-sheet.
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