Fair to say, this season has not gone quite to plan for Glasgow Rangers and in particular, new Gers boss Russell Martin.
Last time out, Rangers played out statistically the most boring Glasgow derby of all time, the two fierce rivals accumulating a combined xG of just 0.31 at Ibrox.
This means, for the first time since 1983, the Light Blues have failed to win any of their opening four fixtures in a Premiership campaign, having previously played out 1-1 draws with Motherwell, Dundee and then St Mirren.
Scoring goals has certainly proved to be one of the many key issues Martin has faced as Rangers boss, with a lot of attacking talent departing Govan this summer, but could one of his summer signings ultimately solve this issue and turn out to be the new Václav Černý?
Václav Černý's importance at Rangers
Last season, across 58 matches in all competitions, Rangers scored a total of 115 goals.
Well, their top three scorers, namely Cyriel Dessers, Cerny and Hamza Igamane, contributed 63 of these goals (55%), but the trio have all departed during the summer.
Dessers was sold to Panathinaikos for £3.5m on deadline day, Igamane joined Lille for around £10.4m a few days earlier, while Černý did not return, following the expiration of his loan from Wolfsburg.
Instead, the Czechia international joined Beşiktaş for around £6m, but, considering the İstanbul-based giants failed to qualify for the league phase of any European competition, while Rangers are back in the Europa League, supporters may feel aggrieved that he isn’t heading back to Ibrox.
The table below underlines Černý’s importance last season.
Goals
18
2nd
Assists
6
4th
UEL goals
6
1st
Shots
136
1st
Big chances created
9
4th
Shot-creating actions
42
1st
Goal-creating actions
5
2nd
Progressive carries
40
1st
Key passes
14
2nd
Average SofaScore rating
7.40
2nd
As the table documents, Černý was a pivotal figure at Rangers last season, his six goals in the Europa League particularly noteworthy.
The 27-year-old took his tally to eight international goals on Friday night, bagging the second as Czechia beat Montenegro 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Podgorica, but could Rangers have unearthed a winger with even greater potential?
Rangers' Václav Černý upgrade
In a season that has so far produced very little for Rangers fans to cheer, the form of Djeidi Gassama has certainly been something to get excited about.
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The 22-year-old arrived in Glasgow for a reported fee of £2.2m, joining from crisis club Sheffield Wednesday, who are being completely run into the ground by wantaway owner Dejphon Chansiri, thereby sanctioning a fire sale of all the Owls’ assets.
Thus, it appears as though Rangers have taken advantage of the disastrous situation at Hillsborough and snapped up a bargain.
When he first arrived, manager Martin labelled Gassama “exciting”, adding that he will get fans “on the edge of their seats”, asserting that “he is on an upward trajectory… we look forward to seeing him in action.”
Well, the 21-year-old certainly made a good first impression, scoring four times during the early rounds of Champions League qualifying.
He spectacularly netted on his debut against Panathinaikos, also on target during the return leg in Athens eight nights later, before bagging a brace when Viktoria Plzeň was vanquished 3-0 at Ibrox in the third qualifying round.
As already outlined, what made Černý’s contribution so outstanding was his end product in European competition, something Gassama has already shown signs of being able to replicate.
In the Europa League league phase, the Gers will face: Genk (H), Sturm Graz (A), Brann (A), Roma (H), Braga (H), Ferencváros (A), Ludogorets Razgrad (H) and then Porto (A) on the final matchday.
Even when considering Rangers’ horrendous start to the season, there are certainly some winnable fixtures in that bunch so, if they’re to match last season’s run to the quarter-finals, or even better it, Gassama will be key to the Light Blues’ hopes.