It’s fair to admit it: plenty Rangers fans, myself included at times, have been critical of Chermiti. Not in a personal way, not in a “write him off” way either. More that nagging feeling you get when a player arrives with a decent fee attached and you’re still waiting on the performance that makes it all click.
It was never about talent
The thing is, even when he wasn’t playing well, you could see bits that suggested there’s a footballer in there. That first touch, for one. He can take the ball in under pressure, cushion it, and set himself. In Scotland, where games can be frantic and second balls decide whole spells, that’s a handy base to build on.
But talent on its own doesn’t win you minutes at Rangers. Not for long. If you’re coming on off the bench, you’ve got to make the manager feel your presence. You’ve got to affect the tempo, show for the ball, and actually force the game to go through you, even if it’s only for ten or fifteen minutes.
Work rate and being “in” the game
Watching him closely at a couple of away games, that was the bit that stood out. When he came on, he didn’t always work hard enough to get involved. You’d see him with a nice touch, then long spells where he wasn’t demanding it again. At Ibrox, and especially away from home when the crowd isn’t carrying you, you can’t drift through a cameo. You need to be a nuisance.
And “work rate” isn’t just running about for the sake of it. It’s movement. It’s pressing with purpose. It’s the wee five-yard dart to show for a pass, then spinning to open a lane. It’s getting close enough to the play that your quality actually matters.
Training focus and the challenge now
That’s why it was interesting to hear Danny Röhl speaking after the St Mirren game about working on that side of Chermiti’s game in training. That suggests the staff have clocked the same thing fans have, and they’re trying to coach it rather than just hope it appears.
Delighted with what we saw yesterday, because it looked like that message has landed. Now comes the hard part. The target has to be consistency, not one bright afternoon followed by two quiet ones. If he can keep that hunger, keep showing for it, and keep making himself a problem for defenders, then the conversation around him changes quickly. Long may it continue.
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