“You’re also looking at what players you have available and we don’t have many midfield players.”
Reasoning his decision to start with James Sands and Glen Kamara in a game where such protection was perhaps not a necessity, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was quick to reaffirm that pragmatism had played its part.
The only other time the Dutchman selected two traditional No.6s at home was in a similarly stuffy 1-0 win over Dundee United, a Joe Aribo potential suspension kept the Nigerian benched and John Lundstram was hooked after 45 minutes. Without the returning midfielder watching on from the stands after an AFCON campaign and Scott Arfield only fit enough to make the bench, options were scarce for the visit of Livingston.
Sands came in for his Ibrox debut at the base of midfield as Kamara played slightly higher up the pitch. Alex Lowry, as displayed in the below passing network, was given freedom at the top of midfield and van Bronckhorst reaffirmed the importance of the youngster's more offensive qualities in the starting XI.
Sands is a tactically intelligent player, as the Rangers Review explained at the time of his arrival he hasn’t built his young career on progressive passes and will require time to adapt to the demands placed on him at Ibrox.
A look at his pass map shows a distinct lack of ball progression, 98% pass accuracy outlines the safe nature of distribution, although it should be cited that Connor Goldson does appear van Bronkchorst’s favoured mode of distribution from the back. Often Sands' passed sideways and allowed the vice-captain to step into midfield.
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This last image probably best sums up Rangers’ issues getting the ball forwards at points last night. Sands did circulate possession as the league leaders sought to create openings, but given Calvin Bassey’s passing limitations, Livingston knew that only one of Sands, Goldson and Bassey was likely to penetrate their midfield.
It was all too comfortable for the visitors to combat.
Kamara’s instinct in possession is to come towards the ball, but early in the game he did try and run behind the opposing midfield. Here, he resists the urge to take a pass to feet and instead latches onto Borna Barisic's pass in behind.
Kamara however is never likely to take on the shot Arfield would win the game with, even if he possesses the attributes to run beyond and mirror a No.8's impact, his lack of goal threat arguably undermines his frequenting higher up the pitch.
Van Bronckhorst also added that he wanted to get his full-backs higher and the Kamara-Sands axis was there to act as somewhat of a security blanket for their forward ventures, just as Kamara and Steven Davis did so successfully under the previous regime.
Tavernier and Barisic made seven key passes between them and although both rotated infield at points, more regularly they were seen to try and go around the opposition.
However, as the game wore on the lack of runs beyond Cedric Itten were painfully absent. This horizontal movement affects the game, directly and indirectly. To take Aribo’s goal at Tynecastle as an example, horizontal movement stretches the defence, opens up central spaces and either drags an opposing defender or midfielder out of position.
The first-half pass map shows Alex Lowry did occupy these zones and his mazy run from this area on the cusp of half-time should’ve been converted.
However, it wasn’t until Arfield arrived in place of Sands and Kamara retreated to the No.6 spot, Fashion Sakala played narrower and Barisic's forward movements occurred more regularly that the correct balance was struck.
It was that very combination that led to the goal.
🤩Scott Arfield produced a moment of magic as Rangers beat Livingston 1-0 to remain four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership👇 pic.twitter.com/XbSIF3xizA
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 27, 2022
Notice as Barisic releases possession to Sakala, he moves into the space behind Nicky Devlin. Having been tracked by Odin Bailey to this point.
As opposed to going around Sakala he moves inside, and this is why he can make room for the cross. If he goes around Sakala, Devlin has time to adapt. Because the Livingston right-back cannot afford to allow Sakala room to break inside, and Bailey fails to take an extra step to his right Barisic can move through the defence unmarked.
As Sakala plays the ball down the line instead of through the two-man shield, both players are taken out of the game.
Barisic is unmarked and as such, he can pick out Arfield instead of hammering the ball into the box.
The value of the underlap, a notoriously difficult movement to track, was clearly shown and Barisic's final third involvement key.
With Ianis Hagi also missing, van Bronckhorst chose the Kamara-Sands pairing out of necessity. In the future Rangers require far more penetration from their starting midfielders.
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