Rangers' record season-low creative total as 'defensive distance' leaves gaping holes - StatsBomb match report

Steven Gerrard was again left without key players - Connor Goldson had played in every one of his European matches at the club but missed yesterday’s defeat.

Given Jack Simpson’s absence from the Europa League squad and Fil Helander’s injury, Calvin Bassey played in the centre of defence with Leon Balogun.

A promising start didn’t translate to chances for Rangers who conceded from a corner before the home side put in a notably improved second-half showing.

“These are games of moments,” was James Tavernier’s judgement of Sparta’s succession from a set-piece and his side’s near miss from a similar situation.

Over the course, however, the Czechs created more as Tavernier's side struggled in the final third.

Looking back at the numbers and tactical graphics from the fixture, The Rangers Review brings you a unique recap of the game.

Trendline

The visiting team started relatively brightly and there were few ‘moments’ in the opening 45, goal aside. A change of shape in the second half allowed Slavia to overload their opponent's backline and create clear, high-value chances.

Joe Aribo was positive and strong on the right of the front three with Juninho Bacuna tucked in behind him. Without really threatening to score, Gerrard's men looked purposeful and the tempo of the opening period was more reminiscent of what this team are capable of in Europe.

A switch in the home side’s shape following the break seemed to offer a greater threat against the makeshift defensive pairing, while Ianis Hagi wasn’t able to impact the game as he would have hoped. That’s not due to a lack of effort, the Romanian made the third-highest number of pressures (17) of any Rangers player despite playing little over a half of football.

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As the percentile at the top left shows, Rangers almost never win that game on the basis of chances.

Average positions and what changed after the break?

Let’s focus first on how and why Sparta managed to create ample xG in the second 45, specifically in the opening 10 minutes.

Having already disclaimed that this was a makeshift visiting defence, Sparta were more direct with the positioning of their attackers in the second period to expose that element of the opposition's set-up. Compare the average position maps as proof, Minchev and Hlozak played far more centrally after the restart.

This meant that often the defence was marking man for man which, as The Rangers Review hypothesised prior to the game, led to overloads and third-man runs Rangers struggled to combat.

Lukáš Haraslín's chance exposed this defensive vulnerability clearly on 55 minutes, look at the room afforded to the attacker who played from the left.

The second clear chance created by the hosts came after they exploited the height of the visiting backline.

In the second round of fixtures of the Europa League, Rangers had the joint third-highest ‘defensive distance’ of all teams, a metric that measures the average distance from a team’s goal from which it makes defensive actions.

Simply, this gave Sparta the opportunity to play over as their opponents squeezed up. Watching the build-up to Pesek’s chance that struck the bar shows this.

Rangers were chasing a goal and naturally wanted to play in their opponents half, but better finishing from the hosts and the game could have conceivably gone 3-0 by the hour.

They adapted in-game to become more direct and aggressive, a trait that on the night Rangers were unable to display.

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The visiting side's average position maps are difficult to draw conclusions from due to the red card and early substitution, but the removal of Joe Aribo from the front line seems to coincide with a general lack of cohesive shape after the interval.

Shot maps and ‘nearly’ moments

As the above trendline stipulates, the visitors created little that threatened a goal. There were a few ‘nearly’ moments in the final third, but in terms of genuine opportunities, this was comfortably their poorest output this season.

The highest value chance was Fashion Sakala’s shot from the edge of the box, which had an xG value of 0.08. Leon Balogun’s three headers are the blue circles in the box, which had a combined xG of 0.19.

The open play shot map demonstrates how difficult Gerrard’s team found creating.

Ianis Hagi had the only other effort on target with a shot from distance that clocked an xG of 0.01, in hindsight, there was a reverse ball to Alfredo Morelos (No.20) he could have played. 

Those final moments were lacking. Middle to front, there was plenty of good play but without incision in these matches, positive results are difficult to achieve.

Sparta’s shot map demonstrates why they deserved to win, creating an xG of 1.75, the location of their shots signifies the difference between the two teams in the final third.

1.09 of their xG was created via through balls, again outlining how well they took advantage of the space afforded behind and through the defence.

Pressure maps 

Rangers made 147 pressures on the night and as is customary, pressed from in to out, targeting either flank as the base for their off-ball work.

Sparta's counterpress map, the pressures they made within five seconds of losing the ball, reveals they clearly targetted their opponent's right side to create turnover situations.

This was also the area of the pitch in which they fashioned their two clear chances after the break.

What went wrong for Rangers?

While the front three didn’t necessarily inspire yesterday, the passing network numbers signify they were working off threadbare resources.

Not only did central defender Leon Balogun have the highest xG, but also the highest xGChain.

Of the five highest passing combinations, four had an xG of 0.00.

Conclusively, both teams made changes in-game which led to the match falling increasingly in the favour of Sparta, who were further aided following the dismissal of Glen Kamara.

This could well have been a more appeasing 90 minutes display if not for the early change, and surely Goldson would have made the defence look far more resolute after the break.

Plenty of mitigating factors are rightly considerable when reviewing yesterday's defeat, but the common denominator is that points are required if progression is to be attained. Bronby's visit to Glasgow now appears a must-win fixture.