Dynamo Kyiv 1-1 Rangers: Recruitment, poor trend and Dessers

Philippe Clement's side, who started the season with a 0-0 draw against Hearts on Saturday, were improved from the weekend and found a late response to Andriy Yarmolenko's first-half effort through Cyriel Dessers.

The Rangers Review picks apart the key talking points from the game in Lublin.

Read more: Check all the Rangers transfer news & rumours throughout the transfer window

The tie's alive

The Lublin Arena, situated in Eastern Poland, played host to 8315 spectators with the game unable to take place at Kyiv’s home stadium due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The lack of a hostile atmosphere perhaps aided Clement’s men who looked comfortable and assured for much of the first 45. Rangers tried to disrupt Kyiv’s possession high up the pitch and largely found success with their pressing moments. Compared to last Saturday’s meeting against Hearts, spells of possession were more coherent and carried out at a quicker pace. And yet, the lack of individual quality many highlighted pre-match in Clement’s starting 11 was apparent in the most important moments. Kyiv No.1 Georgiy Bushcan had to stop a long-range Tom Lawrence effort and watched a Ross McCausland shot clip his right post. It would instead be the Ukranian side who hit the net having forced Jack Butland into the game’s best stop, finding particular joy down the Rangers left. On 38 minutes, after a Ridvan Yilmaz error allowed Kyiv to regain the ball high up the pitch, a pass down the side was reversed into the path of Andriy Yarmolenko by Vladyslav Vanat to find the back of the net from close range. Jefte replaced Scott Wright on the left at half-time and almost immediately created his side’s best chance of the game to date after swinging in a left-footed delivery from deep that Cyriel Dessers met perfectly, only to be kept out by a Bushcan stop. A looping Lawrence, header, also created by the energetic Jefte who brought far more on the ball than Scott Wright after the break, was the next effort that came close. Late on after the visitors broke away Jefte kept a move alive to find Vaclav Cerny on the right. His whipped cross was on the money and allowed Dessers to make his mark and equalise the tie.

Jefte impressed from the bench  (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group)

Team strength questions 

Twitter timelines were set ablaze at around 6pm when tonight’s teams dropped. Rangers included just one new summer signing in their starting 11, Connor Barron, just like Saturday's 0-0 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle. Robin Propper was deemed “not fresh” to start by Philippe Clement having flown out of the UK to complete visa requirements after signing for the club last Thursday. There is no disagreement with the statement that Rangers’ current squad is nowhere near strong enough and the starting 11 should look vastly different come the end of the month. And the balance of looking long and short term during this window is a tricky one to strike for Clement and Nils Koppen. With that said, criticism is warranted at the lack of change in this starting 11 and Saturdays when compared to the tail end of last season, especially considering the fact that a number of players have been brought to Ibrox already. Given the financial implications attached to not only reaching the group stage but reaching the play-off round, the readiness of Rangers’ starting 11 must be queried. With that said, Clement was able to end the game in a stronger position bringing Jefte, Cerny and Sterling into the match. It was the former pair that converted Dessers late chance to level the game.

A telling mistake in the first-half 

As the clock hit 38 minutes in Lublin Clement was the happier manager. Ross McCausland had smacked the post with a left-footed strike and while Kyiv hadn’t conceded many dangerous moments of note, Rangers were largely keeping the game in their half and growing in possession. There’d been a few slick moves through the centre with the right-side in particular making inroads. The concern? When Rangers lost a duel the Ukranian outfit had plenty of space to transition into. Clement’s man-for-man system relies on strong duel winning because plainly, his team’s structure is coordinated around the opposition’s structure more than the ball. When Ridvan lost the ball cheaply near his own box as half-time edged closer the hosting side were all but in on goal as Yarmolenko added the finishing touches. Clement turned to his bench in frustration acknowledging the fact that despite enjoying plenty of control to that point the clinical moment had been provided by Kyiv. For most of the opening 45 minutes, Rangers’ intensity was far improved from the weekend and that continued after the break. They were facing a team who’d scored nine over two matches in the previous round but continued to look to open to transitions when one error played out.

Ridvan was at fault for Kyiv's goal (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group)

Dessers gets his moment

Clement defended his Nigerian forward in the lead-up to this game and was vindicated in injury time. Dessers can frustrate even the most patient of fans and misses his fair share of moments, but he also notched 22 last season. With almost the final kick of the game on the night, the 29-year-old poked the ball into the net on a night where he often played on the periphery of the game. Although he merits criticism in certain moments it's also important to praise the former Feyenoord forward for his ability to block out the noise and keep coming back for more. This could be a big goal in the context of Rangers' season.

What's the state of play?

Rangers don’t have the Ibrox factor to count upon when they host next week’s return leg and that should not be underplayed. While the narrative of the home crowd can be overblown in European competition, big nights in Europe have been too routine since 2018 to discount the atmosphere. For all of the issues that remain obvious and additions required before the window shuts, and despite Kyiv’s emphatic 9-2 win to reach this stage, tonight’s 90 minutes showed Rangers can progress with an improved performance. The late leveller could be key to improving the mood heading into Saturday's meeting with Motherwell. Rangers needed a performance and result to hold onto in Lublin and thanks to their late leveller achieved both.