JOE Aribo’s goal in Dundee earned Rangers all three points at Dens Park yesterday, as they ground out a win to retain their position at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Steven Gerrard praised his side for an ‘honest’ performance in which they did the ugly parts of the game well, winning the battle as much as they won the match.
While his team’s application was undeniable yesterday, Dundee would have been well worth a result of their own.
The Rangers Review brings you a unique look back on events in our StatsBomb Match Report.
xG trendline
On the basis of chances created, this was a game that Dundee should have won. They created an xG of 2.04 to Rangers 1.51, and an open-play xG of 1.32, not including Jason Cummings’ missed penalty kick.
It’s important to note, this wasn’t a match in which an early lead led to one team sitting in and the other inflicting pressure for the remainder.
Instead as shown, it was relatively free-flowing and if anything the penalty miss seemed to wake Rangers up with few chances conceded after that point.
Shots and saves
Notably, there are a number of grey hexagons on Rangers’ shot map, which signify that a shot was blocked. Only three of the visiting side’s 20 efforts were on target.
Joe Aribo’s goal had an xG value of 0.45 and a PsxG of 0.77, Morelos’ intelligent movement in the build-up to the goal dragged Liam Fontaine (No.4) out of position to create an optimal corridor for Aribo to strive into and finish.
As Gerrard commented, it was a very similar goal to the one his side scored against Ross County.
Kemar Roofe accumulated the highest xG total of any Rangers player, but just one of his five efforts found the target.
The location of shots from the home side is of slight concern, as Rangers recorded their highest xG conceded tally of the season.
READ MORE: Rangers rehearsed patterns earn win over Dundee, but defensive déjà vu is concerning
The below-altered shot map show nine of the 14 shots Dundee attempted came from set-piece scenarios, throw-ins, corners and free-kicks.
The most questionable piece of defending on display from Gerrard’s team led to the concession of a penalty. As shown in the StatsBomb event data, it took just two passes for the home side to be through on goal.
Pass networks
Commonly this season, teams have targeted their attacks down one of the Rangers flanks where they attempt to create numerical overloads.
St Johnstone for example aimed their attacks at the Rangers left, as did Ross County.
However, Dundee prioritised attacking play down the Rangers right, as demonstrated above. McMullan was dangerous throughout, able to create a two-man strike force or drift into the left half-space.
Rangers on occasion suffered the consequence of not having a runner in behind the Dundee defence, Ianis Hagi and Morelos were both attracted to the ball, tasking Roofe with staying high and Bassey giving an attacking option on the left.
Bassey's inclusion was likely based on this prerequisite, he has been a better ball-carrying option than Borna Barisic this season.
Throughout the match, had the highest xGChain, along with the highest xG from passing combinations with Glen Kamara at 0.89.
Pressure maps
Dundee’s PPDA stood at 13.13, as demonstrated they pressed the opposition when the ball was received out wide inside their own half.
Although there remained some moments where a lack of pressure was costly for the Ibrox side, notably prior to the penalty kick, Rangers did look more active without the ball than in previous away matches this term and had a PPDA of 6.33.
They made 134 pressures in the game, for comparison in the defeat to Dundee United they attempted just 82 and against St Johnstone 87.
Player focus
John Lundstram was praised for a ‘powerhouse’ performance by his manager. Playing as the No.6, he was aggressive without the ball and equally contributed going forwards.
Only Calvin Bassey had a higher xGChain than the 27-year-old, a metric that attributes the xG value of the final shot to all players involved in the entire possession.
Lundstram also made five tackles and interceptions, 11 pressures and attempted 81 passes as highlighted in his below pass map.
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