Rangers' anatomy of a goal: Alfredo Morelos moves with ‘tide of his team’ before exploiting underload

The visitors never threatened the home goal, a brief second-half spell aside, and were the subject of continued pressure. They were compact and limited the space available. Eventually however, a ruthless tempo displayed by the hosts was their undoing.

A goal just after half-time would secure three points. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side capitalised quickly on the rare sighting of space, playing through the midfield successfully.

The Rangers Review’s anatomy of a goal analyses all the components of one of the finest strikes this new era has witnessed.

The build-up

Following Ianis Hagi’s nearly moment and a corner right on from half-time, St Johnstone look to seize their first opportunity to squeeze up the pitch.

From a turnover of possession, they try to find Michael O’Halloran running off of the shoulder of Connor Goldson. The defender calmly turns twice on the ball before resetting his team with a backwards pass to Allan McGregor. Resisting a pass to Joe Aribo with the defence somewhat out of shape.

Callum Davidson had grown irritated at the comfort with which either home centre-back distributed possession in the opening 45. Stevie May was introduced in place of Eetu Vertainen at half-time as a result.

READ MORE: Relentless Rangers continue Premiership surge as St Johnstone are swept aside - Video match report

Once possession is moved backwards, May presses forward on the trigger of Calvin Bassey receiving the ball.

O’Halloran’s subsequent pressure on Goldson is lacking in intention. But with the rest of his team moving up the pitch, the ease with which Goldson plays through will be costly.

O’Halloran’s arms outstretched as James Tavernier receives the ball perhaps shows he was trying to usher the ball into the full-back, instead of disrupting Goldson.

It's an area many teams choose to press because, as said by Pep Guardiola, “the byline is the best defender”.

The late arrival of Reece Devine foils this plan. Pressure on James Tavernier and Glen Kamara is not sufficient to disrupt quick passes played through the pitch. With that, five visiting players are taken out of the picture.

"I'd probably take the blame for the second goal," visiting manager Davidson told SaintsTV. 

"I changed the system to go two up top and [that] left gaps down the side."

The overload 

By the time the ball is worked wide to Hagi, Rangers have exploited this lack of organisation with the speed of their play.

The Romanian struggled in the opening 45 but was far improved post-break. Van Bronckhorst encouraged him to stay wide. His role below allowed for a neat rotation in which Hagi received, Aribo ran beyond and Morelos provided the link.

As Kamara finds Hagi, Jamie McCart has stepped out of the defence to try and close down the attacker. However, he can play infield first-time with his left foot. St Johnstone have five players overloaded in one zone of the pitch. Hagi knows he has to move the ball away from this area quickly to exploit areas in which they are underloaded. Which turns out to be the very position Ryan Kent will score from.

“He needs to be there and available when teams are pressing us,” van Bronckhorst told The Rangers Review post-match of Alfredo Morelos’’ cross-pitch running.

“He was there with the second goal to receive the ball.”

Morelos is showing in the exact position his manager wants. Having moved across the pitch with the tide of his team, to flick the ball into the path of Aribo.

The execution 

Looking back at a previous frame, we can see Aribo’s notion when Hagi receives the ball is to run off of Morelos. Glancing forwards before moving into the space Morelos vacates.

The Colombian rolls his way around Liam Gordon before possession is returned. 

Look now at the aforementioned 'underloaded area'. Scott Arfield and Kent are running either side of Shaun Rooney. Morelos knows this is where he has to deliver the ball.

By the time a cross is slid across, Rooney has had to cover the run of Scott Arfield as James Brown stops Morelos from pulling the trigger.

Kent however hasn’t been sucked into the centre and holds his position. After being picked out his finish was calm.

READ MORE: How Rangers’ ‘big pitch’ space raiders caused carnage at Tynecastle

“The second half was much better, we created the spaces we wanted and started it well,” the home side’s manager said after the game.

Space was rare but when offered up, Rangers snatched it superbly. Their 'abundance' of attacking options makes it so challenging to defend when visiting Ibrox.

"Sometimes you have to invest in moving the ball around and making sure their energy levels will drop," concluded van Bronckhorst.

"To break a defensive formation, sometimes you have to have patience."