RANGERS TITILLATED BY CAMARA
AS the Rangers bandwagon rolls ominously towards another domestic league and cup double, rumours are abound as to who Dick Advocaat is set to bring in to bolster his side`s European challenge next season.
After an unsuccessful bid to snare Europe`s hottest property, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Advocaat has turned his attentions slightly closer to home and reports circulating in the press suggest that Liverpool`s Titi Camara could be next on the Ibrox shopping list.
Camara has been an able deputy for Gerard Houllier and Liverpool during the prolonged absences of Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler, and his goalscoring antics have made him a firm favourite with the Anfield faithful.
And while it is common practice for a side with serious ambitions to progress in the Champions League to have a quality squad, and not just a quality team, of players, the question arises; would Camara be an improvement on the strikers Rangers currently possess?
While the endless debate as to where the English and Scottish Premier League`s rate in relation to each other rumbles on, the bare fact remains, to score regularly in the English top-flight, you need to be a classy player. And Camara has scored nine times in the league for Liverpool this season.
Rangers` current striking incumbents, Rod Wallace and Billy Dodds, have notched 16 and 14 SPL goals respectively this season, making them the second and third top scorers in the league. And a measure of their pedigree comes when you look at the percentage of their shots that hit the back of the net.
Dodds scores with 29 per cent of his shots while Wallace is not far behind on 27 per cent, both phenomenally high ratios. In comparison Camara only ripples the netting with 17 per cent of his efforts, which is still a respectable total.
In overall shooting accuracy, Dodds is a class apart from both Wallace and Camara. The Scotland striker troubles the opposition keeper with 64 per cent of his efforts while Wallace`s 52 per cent and Camara`s 54 per cent pale in comparison. And, with Dodds` goals ratio to back up his shooting accuracy, it proves that the Rangers number 47 produces quality as well as quantity.
In the passing department, Dodds and Wallace both clock up decent figures and Wallace s 81 per cent success rate is particularly impressive. But this is an area where Camara falls down as, on average, four out of every 10 passes that he attempts go astray leaving him with a pass completion rate of just 61 per cent. If he were to join Rangers, the Guinean would soon find Dick Advocaat on his back should his poor level of passing persist!
This season Rangers showed that they have improved in European competition but the elusive step into the next stage of the Champions League was still out of their reach. There is no doubt that Camara would score goals for Rangers as he has a proven track record at Liverpool and Marseille. His presence would give Dick Advocaat another option but whether he would improve the current Rangers squad is debatable.
With Michael Mols, a class act in Europe this season, and Sebastian Rozental, a player who is just regaining full fitness, ready to make extended contributions next season, it would take a striker of exceptional class to improve The Gers` front line. And Camara does not look to be the man.
