“THREE points in the bag and we go home.”
Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst summed up his side’s victory over St Johnstone perfectly when quizzed by Sky Sports following their 1-0 win at McDiarmid Park last night.
Glen Kamara’s third-minute strike proved to be the difference between the teams in what turned out to be a poor spectacle with the Ibrox club looking jaded.
Using StatsBomb data, the Rangers Review brings you a unique look back at events in Perth.
Trendline
The Race Chart backs up what our eyes were telling us, this was a game of very few chances. Rangers cumulative xG of 1.31 is their lowest since defeat at Parkhead last month.
The champions never carved open a chance after the 64-minute mark which suggests it may have been wise to make a substitution.
Meanwhile, the hosts failed to pose the champions any real questions at the back and their cumulative xG of 0.16 tells you where their problems lie and why they are struggling at the bottom of the Premiership table.
Shot Maps
Unlike Rangers’ previous two matches against Motherwell and Dundee United when there were 29 and 28 attempts respectively, only 12 efforts were created at McDiarmid Park.
READ MORE: Rangers bring light relief with ‘points and home’ performance but is fatigue becoming an issue?
This strengthens the view that Rangers looked leggy and off the pace, perhaps somewhat affected by the poor state of the pitch.
Of the attempts, the match-winning goal from Kamara was well executed. When Alfredo Morelos laid the ball into his path, the xG was recorded as 0.41 and when the Finn made contact it increased to 0.72 which tells you he struck it well, giving Saints keeper Elliot Parish little chance of stopping it.
As previously stated, St Johnstone created very little with a Jacob Butterfield shot from distance the only save Allan McGregor was forced into making.
Pass Networks
Rangers had a 76% pass completion, their lowest since the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie (75%). Again, it points towards a fatigue within the side coupled with the poor condition of the playing surface.
If we take a look at the illustration below we can gain a true understanding as to just how below-par everyone in a black jersey was. Ideally, you want your forward players to be in the High xG range but to not have a single player posting those stats is alarming for a club that likes to dominate as much as Rangers.
On the flip side, St Johnstone’s Pass Network, tells us they really struggled to impose themselves on Rangers.
In saying that, had the Light Blues been playing another team of better quality then they may have endured a very difficult night.
Conclusion
As mentioned at the top of the Data Match Report, van Bronckhorst summed up the performance and result achieved by Rangers perfectly. If the Ibrox giants go on to win the title, we may look back on nights like this but in equal measure, the Dutchman needs an improvement in output when Aberdeen come calling on Saturday.
The team, as a whole, looked jaded with a number of players in need of a rest, it’s unclear if van Bronckhorst will rotate for the visit of the Dons given he has only made one substitute in the last two games but it’s evidently clear he needs fresh legs.
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