Steven Gerrard's next Rangers evolution, 'wide-triangles' and the synergy driving Ibrox success - Ally Bain

The word evolution is never far away from any description of Steven Gerrard’s Rangers tenure, as he has presided over a team that was rock bottom when he took charge and have now, by some distance, evolved into the best team in the country. Not every week during the past three years has been a walk in the park, far from it, but what was once a passion project to deliver success is now firmly a mission to maintain it.

To better understand what the future may hold let’s take a dive into how we arrived at the present. The graphic below is an illustration of the canvas in which Rangers game day strategy is built from, with the field divided into five vertical channels it gives the staff a base in which to visualize where each player is positioned during specific phases of play.

This is a very commonly used structure in modern football, with many clubs painting these lines onto their training field as a means of giving players a stronger visual point of reference during training sessions.

The area that’s called the half-space is in theory a corridor of the field that, if used effectively, can expose the weakest point in an opposition’s defensive structure. We often see players asked to occupy these spaces when their team is building forward from the backline, taking up a position behind the opposition’s midfield in an effort to receive the ball once pressure has been bypassed.

Both Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister have referenced the team’s “wide triangles” in recent press conferences, which is the term given to represent the players (full-back, side central midfielder and wide striker) positioned on the sides of the 4-3-3 set-up. Here is a hypothetical lineup to give you an idea of which players would operate in the wide triangles.

To help illustrate the roles and functions of each player they have given each a starting point based on average positions we typically find them during attack play.

On the left side, we see Kamara often begins life in the deeper portion of the left half-space to provide entry passes into Barisic or Kent from an off-centre position. From here Kent will drift into a high left half-space position, with the intent to pick up play and dribble diagonally toward the goal. We’ve seen many attacks where Kent combines with Morelos prior to shooting himself, or if his dribble pulls an opposition defender out of the backline it opens a space for a through pass into Barisic on the wing. The Croat is almost exclusively positioned on the flank, which gives him more freedom to attack the channel through combination play with Kent but also to create isolated 1 vs 1 battles against his opponent.

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On the right side, we see that the triangle takes up a similar shape, but its function differs slightly. At the base of the triangle is Tavernier’s width gives him greater space to make entry passes into the wide forward, in this case, Roofe, or feed the central midfielders, in this case, Aribo, with passes behind the opposition backline as they make penetrative runs forward. Aribo takes up a higher position in the right half-space, putting him on a higher line than his midfield partners, but his actions are similar to Kent as he dribbles through the opponent in search of combination play or a shot at goal. Roofe’s position as a wide attacker begins in the half-space, which allows him to combine and create attacks with his back to goal, but also keeps him out of the eye line of central defenders as he makes late runs into the box to attack crosses from the wings.

While on the surface the wide triangles operate in a similar way, the beauty is that the lack of symmetry actually makes Rangers harder to defend against. As the opponent shifts from side to side, they must squeeze and contort, step and contract, thus leaving spaces for Rangers attackers to exploit. In a functional sense, the wide triangles allow the Govan side to progress the ball forward and enter the final third with control but also having players positioned such that they have multiple routes to scoring a goal.

Width is a fundamental part of football, therefore if Rangers' only natural width from the full backs isn’t available there is an argument that they aren’t able to use the field to open an opponent up. The solution then boils down to finding creative ways to set up goal-scoring opportunities with the players you have closer to the goal. In a recent press conference Steven Gerrard was discussing Rangers overall attacking performance and in doing so referred to “getting down the sides of the box and into crossing positions.”

While it makes sense that a side who use a narrow forward line would want to position themselves inside the box and pepper the opponent with crosses toward those strikers, from Rangers attackers we often see the opposite, with them working as an individual unit to provide cut backs, square passes and chipped crosses from inside the box to each other.

The graphic above illustrates Rangers goal assist locations from the, at the time of writing, prior 67 Rangers matches (stretching back to the start of the 2020/21 season). Two things stood out to me when analyzing this. First of all, it's evident the difference in Rangers attacking play on the left side (much higher and closer to the end line) than that of the right side (more deeper entries but far less assists overall). Secondly, while Barisic and Tavernier are an undoubted threat from wide areas, sometimes they are better at setting up the pass to the eventual assister, with a far higher frequency of goals coming from actions inside the 18-yard box. While it would be magnificent as fans to see a Rangers side cutting open an opponent with consummate ease each week, thrusting into open spaces and finishing off 20 pass moves in the process, the reality is our team faces packed defenses more often than not, so the attack has to grind down their opposition through continual entries into the box, with lots of supporting attackers available to create and re-create shots on goal.

So where do Rangers go from here? Is their slow start to the 21/22 campaign due to teams figuring them out and thus causing Gerrard to give his set-up a re-think? We have witnessed an increase in the number of teams lining up in a back five, or even back six, system recently, using a deployment of players who immediately latch onto those within Rangers' wide triangles and man-marking them within an inch of their lives.

While Gerrard will continue to seek new ways to solve the tactical problems presented to him each week, what his tenure has shown us is that sweeping change isn’t really on the cards. He isn’t a manager who rips things up and starts again, nor do his results suggest he should, however, what the past has taught us is his side has made the most stylistic progression when he has found players who can balance fulfilling the requirements that he’s asking of them with bringing their own flavour to the role. It’s very simple to suggest better players help you win more games, of course, they do, but Rangers now have an eleven who have proven their strength domestically and in Europe. Where the next evolution in Gerrard’s side lays is finding more players that can contribute when added to the first XI, yet have the confidence to bring their own personality to the role and deliver something different.

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Gerrard’s base framework has given those who have found comfort in the system the freedom to combine and rotate positions with those around them. This was evidenced recently with Gerrard stating, after the Ross County match in Dingwall, he is challenging the creative players to become “Rule Breakers” in their search to solve problems. Joe Aribo and Ianis Hagi are probably the best examples of this, both of whom joined the club as a true “behind the striker No.10’s” and were asked to take up positions they didn’t always look comfortable in. Both are now developing into players that can contribute across multiple positions, as well as having the full trust of the management staff to deliver when it matters most.

But what of those players joining the squad this summer who aren’t familiar with the system? How do these players integrate themselves while standing up to the scrutiny of a notoriously critical support? John Lundstram is an example of a player from this summer’s incoming class who has struggled with the specificity of his new role. Gary McAllister made mention of this after the recent Premier Sports Cup match with Livingston: “It’s just getting to know the system and positional sense and just getting him to know where we’re wanting him positioned when we’re building.

“Sometimes, his eagerness to try and impact the game or influence the game, he’s running around too much and I suppose with more experience and coaching from the guys in and around the football club, he’ll definitely get better."

While time and patience are commodities that are scarcely found at clubs like Rangers, much of the current starting group of players have had upwards of 18 months to acclimate to their role in the team with little competition off the bench. The players who have been brought in have the CV to suggest they can challenge those in the starting berths currently, but it will be a collective effort to ensure they are a success. The staff must work diligently to help the new players find comfort in their new surroundings, but equally the players must help themselves by working hard to realize their potential at the club.

The beauty of this Rangers staff is that they don’t employ a one size fits all approach. Furthermore, we now have a squad that, on paper at least, has the quality, athleticism, and desire to take the team up a level. The future of this Rangers side is inevitably a bright one, given the positive direction that the club has been moving in this past 12 months. One thing Rangers 55th title helped illustrate was the true driving force to success lay in the synergy between the highly demanding coaching staff alongside a driven group of players. Each of them will be fully aware that recent performances have dropped below what they expect from each other, but it’s also apparent they have the mental clarity and football acumen to use this period to propel the team forward.

You can read more from Alistair over at www.retrofootballanalysis.com, where he conducts detailed analysis of classic games from the past.