IT’S FAIR to say Rangers narrow victory over Dundee United on Saturday won’t make the seasonal highlights DVD, but the three points could prove crucial in the race for the title.
The Light Blues got over the line thanks to a well-taken James Tavernier penalty in the 71st minute in what was the only real highlight in a game littered with errors and few chances.
That being said, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were deserved winners as the stats show below.
The champions posted a cumulative xG of 2.54 while the Covid-hit Arabs struggled in front of goal as their 0.32 xG rating highlights.
Despite this, the game was a turgid affair with Rangers struggling to impose themselves on a resolute and well-drilled United backline.
The pass network from the game shows just how many passes were being played between Connor Goldson and Calvin Bassey.
We can examine even more closely the passes made between both centre backs and you truly get a sense of just how laboured Rangers were at times as they struggled to break the lines.
Goldson was guilty of numerous misplaced passes throughout the game as can be seen below.
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The Tannadice men were pressing high and making life difficult for Rangers by not allowing the pass into the feet of Glen Kamara to link up the defence and attack.
In his post-match press conference, van Bronckhorst addressed this specific issue when he said:
“We had Lundstram as the No.6 and Kamara a little bit higher up. We changed it during the game.
“If we don’t have Kamara available in the build-up it means someone else is. I think we lacked a bit of bravery, especially from the back to commit into midfield.
“We were just passing, passing. If we could not find Kamara we just passed it back. If we don’t find Kamara, we need other players to commit themselves.
“Today we didn’t do it as well as before. That’s why we struggled a little bit, especially in the first half.”
As we can see in the passing network graphic above, Kamara wasn’t as influential and as involved as much as van Bronckhorst would’ve liked and the decision to substitute John Lundstram at half time looks an astute one, given he was unable to impose himself on the game.
The graphic below highlights his passing in the first 45. The former Sheffield United man made plenty of passes but they were mainly sideways thus lacking any real penetration.
Another big talking point from Saturday’s game was the performance of Ianis Hagi on the right hand side of the forward line.
Similarly to previous games, the Romanian struggled to impose himself on the game from the wide position.
Like many others, Hagi didn’t have his best of games. He was guilty of poor control, trying clever flicks and tricks that failed to come off and misplacing several passes as we can see in the graphic below.
His lack of pace is evident for all to see and by moving the former Genk man more centrally in the second half, it allowed Scott Wright to stretch the game as he was able to bomb up and down the right hand flank.
The graphic above highlights Wright’s directness and willingness to get to the byline. He offers a great deal more than Hagi in that respect and given Hagi’s comments after the game, he, himself feels more comfortable in a more central role.
When quizzed on his favoured position, the 23-year-old said:
“In the past, I’ve said I enjoy playing in the middle of the pitch. I get more touches of the ball, whenever the team has difficulties building up I can get in good spots where I can get the ball and help the team up the pitch. I really enjoyed the second half, being on the ball more and creating for the team, with more runners in front of me.
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“I think that is when I’m at my best. I’m really happy we got over the line and got three points to finish a tough week.”
All in all, it was another crucial three points in what has been a hectic schedule for van Bronckhorst and his coaching staff since they arrived in Govan just over a month ago.
They now have a full week to prepare for the visit of St Mirren on Boxing Day which will give plenty of time to work on shape and different situations should the Buddies present similar problems that United posed.
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