'As a partnership, they could be very, very interesting': Michael Beale reveals his thinking on goals and forwards

Cyriel Dessers during the pre-season friendly match against Hamburg, which Rangers won 2-1.

All three of his new strikers – Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Abdallah Sima – were given minutes in the 2-1 friendly win over Hamburg, as Tom Lawrence ended 11 months sidelined and Kemar Roofe also made his first appearance following a troubled last season. Roofe has previously had prodigious scoring runs at the club but the new trio Dessers, Lammers and Sima haven’t extensive pedigree when it comes to find the net. Beale doesn’t see that as an issue as the club adapted to the post-Alfredo Morelos era, the Colombian having netted 124 times across his six seasons in Glasgow.

“I wanted to end the Hamburg game with Sam in behind Cyriel and Kemar because it’s something I’m looking at,” Beale said. “You see what Abdallah is going to give us in terms of his work ethic. With the players coming in, there’s a change of energy – that’s what I was looking for. I think Dessers will be one of three or four players who can get us double figures in goals this season. If we’re a good team, we’ll share the goals out.

“But Cyriel has come in and he’s really fresh, energetic. We’re trying to get as many forwards as we can on the pitch. We ended the game today with Dessers, Roofe, Lammers, [Tom Lawrence] Lawrence and Cantwell so it’s very front foot. It’s important we have cohesion defensively because I think we’ll naturally score goals. You could see with Cyriel and Kemar that they’re very similar. As a partnership, they could be very, very interesting. They’ve probably both done about five or six days of pre-season so you’re seeing them at 30 or 40 per cent fit. Tom has come back after 10 months out. He has been training outstandingly but you can see he needs to pick up his fitness. Almost a year out is a long time.”