Former Rangers forward Steven Thompson has drooled over midfielder Graham Dorrans following his display in the 2-2 draw with Villarreal on Thursday.
The Gers had to come from behind twice in order to grind out a draw with the La Liga outfit in their opening Europa League group game.
Villarreal went ahead after one minute thanks to a goal from Carlos Bacca, but Rangers managed to hold out for the draw with goals from Scott Arfield and Kyle Lafferty.
BBC pundit Thompson has raved about the 5ft 10in [Transfermarkt] player following his performance on Thursday night, labelling him as “top drawer” and the player that Rangers have been missing since he returned from injury.
“That’s top-drawer from Dorrans. Rangers have been missing him – a player who can unlock the door from the number 10 position,” he told BBC Sport [7.43pm].
“He drives forward, skins one defender and plays in Arfield. The challenge coming in really puts Arfield off just as it looks like he’s going to finish.”
OPINION
Ex-Bear Thompson is spot on here – Dorrans put out an excellent performance on Thursday night. He made things happen for Rangers, and that is just the type of player that they need at the moment. They need players who can provide creativity and “unlock doors”, and Dorrans is just the player to provide that. As Thompson said, the Gers missed him while he was sidelined with injury – and now that he has returned, they will have that extra bit of quality in the midfield that can give them the edge over the likes of Celtic. It seems like he made a huge difference to this game – he almost created the match winning goal – even though he was only brought on as a subsitute in the 85th minute. That shows the sort of impact that he is capable of making, even in a short space of time – and he is a player that Steven Gerrard will certainly be excited by.