Giovanni van Bronckhorst's three Rangers alterations that stagnated Red Star and supercharged hosts

“We had a really good game plan which we executed to the tee,” Balogun commented.

“We made adjustments aT half-time and during the game, we always get instruction from the side. It was perfect teamwork and a great managerial job.”

As shown by the game’s trendline, Rangers needed to take advantage of every small margin possible. 3-0 on the basis of chances was a fortuitous outcome, but the stats tell only part of the story.

Red Star strayed marginally offside in key moments, missed from the spot and whenever momentum threatened to fall in their favour, the visitors saw their progress stunted by van Bronckhorst’s tactical alterations.

The hosts started in a 4-4-1-1, with Glen Kamara playing ahead of Ryan Jack and John Lundstram. Alfredo Morelos is out of the picture below.

Two deep midfielders facilitated Tavernier’s offensive freedom and allowed Calvin Bassey to join the attack on the left. Factors that combined to win an early penalty.

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Notice Aleksandar Katai’s outstretched arm as Tavernier moves onto the ball unmarked, due to the right-sided overload. He has rotated inside as Lundstram covers the space. See also Bassey signalling for the switch.

Jack moves play to the left and Bassey starts his run outside.

Because Red Star have been forced to quickly shift over the putch, Cristiano Piccini is on his own at right-back. Bassey’s run takes the right-back’s attention and frees Kent, who can enter the box unmarked and is subsequently fouled.

The below sequence map demonstrates how, after a Lundstram ball recovery, play was moved to the right where Rangers overloaded before switching play, allowing Kent to attack the space.

These vertical attacks, from build-up foundations on the right side of the pitch, were also particularly effective in the previous round against Borussia Dortmund.

Katai’s offside goal soon after prompted van Bronckhorst to make his first move. As shown by the visitor’s pass maps, either full-back provided width while Katai drifted across from the right-wing to overburden the defence centrally.

Although marginally offside here, the vertical run and ball over the top demonstrated how Dejan Stankovic’s side aimed to destabilise the Rangers backline, by overloading the centre with vertical movements of their own.

In response, Lundstram moved to form a back three soon after Morelos had scored the game’s second from a corner. From here, Rangers could match the numbers Red Star attacked with centrally and, like against Dortmund, commit three men to try and set pressing traps on either wing.

Below, Bassey’s aggressive positioning forces Piccini backwards, Kamara marks the passing option inside the pitch and Kent and Morelos press to force a turnover.

Review of the side’s pressure map outlines these wide pressing traps as Rangers forced Red Star backwards.

Here’s another example. Kent and Morelos have stayed high, another benefit of moving to a three at the back, as Rangers turn over possession by using the touchline as an extra defender.

With only the pass inside available here for Red Star, Kamara regains the ball and only Kent’s mistimed pass stops another vertical attack.

The starting XI passing network shows Lundstram’s auxiliary role between defence and midfield throughout the entire game, the right-sided overloads and the wide positioning of Kent.

Half-time brought a third shape, with van Bronckhorst this time moving to a 4-3-1-2. Presumably in a bid to mark man-for-man and not grant Red Star space in which to play.

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Kamara acted as a high disruptor, trying to limit Sanogo’s impact, while Lundstram often stayed right on Kanga.

“We had to sometimes change our defensive shape. Lundstram had a really big part in that, sometimes to be in midfield, making sure we could pressure them really early and sometimes dropping into the back five,” van Bronckhorst said.

“Sometimes in the first-half the timing wasn’t right but in the second it was much better, which gave us control.”

Not only did this move grant greater control, it engaged Red Star higher up the pitch than the minutes before half-time. Tavernier and Morelos trapped Ivanic to regain the ball soon afer the restart from which a corner was won and third goal added.

Notice the attacker’s lack of options inside the pitch because the hosts have marked up man-for-man.

Van Bronckhorst himself conceded an element of good luck in the eventual clean sheet. However, his individual and collective preparation regained and reasserted control three times in a high-level European fixture.

The manager supercharged his own side while stagnating the opposition. It was another demonstration of his in-game tactical prowess.