Rangers' long ball vulnerability and the aggression drop that's causing it - analysis

13 goals were conceded in the league and a remarkable 26 clean sheets were achieved in the process. Last season, the Rangers defence was one of the meanest to ever play for the club.

Such feats are an anomaly, and repeating similar numbers was never a realistic proposition. But equally, the dramatic haul from stability to evident fragility is concerning.

The record-breaking defensive season was built upon a record-breaking start, Steven Gerrard’s team didn’t concede a goal until their eighth match of the season against Hibs.

In the previous seven matches to that point, they had conceded an xG of just 1.57, and 25 shots in total.

Comparatively, seven games into this campaign the xG conceded number stands at 5.6 and 54 shots have been taken by the opposition, neither stat includes penalties.

Of course, comparing against records isn't always viable but during this time Rangers set the standard defending from the front.

Such numbers were not sustainable, the overall shot map from season 20/21 demonstrates that the team overperformed defensively on xG conceded.

And the xG trendline from 20/21 demonstrates that opponents gradually created more in matches against Rangers throughout the campaign.

Last season, Rangers conceded on average 6.47 shots per game and if they were to maintain the standards on show so far, that number would rise to only 7.71 this season.

The issue appears therefore to be the type of attacks that are causing problems.

As the Rangers Review has discussed at length, Steven Gerrard spoke of the need for tactical variation in pre-season.

He said: “I have to have the variety because some teams and some managers will try and stop this system. They’ve seen it for some years now.”

Upon hearing this, it’s easy to assume Gerrard is only referencing how his side attack and while his attacking blueprint hasn't pulled up trees this season his side are still scoring goals.

It seems the area that managers are able to ‘stop’ is the aggressive defensive approach Rangers use as a form of attack and defence.

A drop in aggression from the side combined with the height of their backline is giving teams a clear and viable option with which to attack.

READ MORE: Three Rangers 'tweaks' Steven Gerrard can use to ensure tactical blueprint remains unpredictable

How do Rangers want to defend?

Teams deploy a high line for attacking and defensive purposes.

Firstly, if finetuned a high line can prevent the space in which teams transition offensively, therefore it’s easier to keep them pinned back and retain offensive pressure.

Playing in an aggressive 4-3-3 mid-block allows Rangers to defend as they want to attack.

As Michael Beale explained in our long-read on his tactical philosophy: “If you’re more organised you’ll run less, you’ll play with less stress and be ready to attack.”

By defending high, the opposition must earn getting up the pitch, as opposed to a team dropping deep on turnovers and surrendering control of much of the pitch. 

However, if a press is disorganised or one player does not do their job it can leave the defence exposed. 

Given that Rangers' final goals conceded total was a real overperformance of their xG against numbers, let's again compare stats from the opening seven games when the aggressive form of defence was at its very best to the opening seven games of this Premiership campaign.

Counterpressures 

20/21 31:14

21/22 24:43

Counterpressure regains 

20/21 5:34

21/22 3:86

Counterpressures in the opposition half 

20/21 23:00

21/22 18:57

Defensive distance 

20/21: 49.04

21/22: 43:57

What can we learn from these numbers?

Rangers counterpressure and counterpressure regains were a huge part of their defensive success, because they were stopping attacks at source.

Take the ball played for Paul McMullan's penalty, would Rangers have tried to be aggressive and stop the initial ball over the top rather than fall back last season?

At their best in 20/21, Gerrard's team would disrupt the opposition when possession turned over, which limits their ability to provide quality distribution.

The drop in defensive distance is also of interest. 

Measured by StatsBomb as "the average distance from a team's goal from which it makes defensive actions," it explains that the team are dropping the height with which they engage in defensive actions.

In-game examples

How are these numbers playing out? 

Against St Johnstone in the lead-up to Michael O'Halloran's goal, Rangers press is triggered by a backwards pass, see Morelos and Kent burst forward.

Jamie McCart’s ball is slightly short into Muller, who steps onto the ball and quickly finds a forward pass.

Kent has applied pressure here but hasn't stopped the ball. We know the whole team has squeezed up as Kamara in the below frame is in the Saints half, instead of the first frame when he's in his own.

That slight movement forwards gives Muller an area to hit, for O'Halloran to isolate his pace one-on-one against Helander.

Another example of poor pressure from the front causing problems for the defence can be found earlier in the same game.

Rangers lose the ball causing a turnover, Saints have a numerical advantage on the left side of the pitch.

READ MORE: Why were Steven Gerrard's side defensively vulnerable against Ross County?

Throughout this phase of play, there seems to be neither a real combined attempt to regain possession or a recognition that the team should drop back and limit the space behind the defence.

Morelos sees Liam Craig and starts to move towards him, but seems to believe his team won’t press with the intention to regain the ball. Only Aribo makes the sustained movement to do so.

As passes are exchanged, Aribo pressurises Devine to play the ball down the line. Morelos here needs to drop onto Craig but doesn't do so.

Devine instead finds Ali Crawford, Tavernier isn't tight to his man and Crawford can bounce the ball into the feet of Craig who is unmarked. 

Craig plays the ball that subsequently sees O'Halloran race onto before being fouled. See at the bottom of the below frame, Saints boss Callum Davidson signalling for his side to go long.

Look how exposed the side is following this phase of play, seven players are in the opposition half as Craig plays in behind.

Leon Balogun and Jon McLaughlin should deal with the following threat better, but they have been put in an unnecessary position.

Structurally, this move summates Rangers' pressure from the front and subsequent vulnerability at the back this season.

Similar themes are on show in the lead-up to McMullan's penalty.

Rangers have pushed right up the pitch on the attack, but as Max Anderson moves forward with the ball following a turnover there is no aggression from the midfield to try and disrupt him.

Surely the team is too high to just allow such a ball to be played. Goldson should deal with it better, but because Anderson has the time to pick out McMullan he can create an angle for the attacker.

For Rangers to defend as they want to attack, they must regain some of the aggression without the ball that epitomised last season.

In the in-game examples shown, the statistics displayed are evident. Small margins are the difference between the ball to Paul McMullan being played on the money, or Hayden Muller hitting the area of the pitch in which Michael O'Halloran can expose the pace of Helander.

Rangers will be far better stocked to counteract such moves if they are that little bit more intentional higher up the pitch.