HAVING arrived at the club midway through last season, there was precious little training ground opportunity for Giovanni van Bronckhorst to shape this Rangers side in his image.
The Dutchman essentially moulded his approach to the fit the players he inherited in the second half of last season, channelling his inner pragmatism as Rangers reached the Europa League final against all odds and lifted the Scottish Cup in May.
The Gers enjoyed success on the continent in their flexible use of a three-man defence, with the profile of players recruited this summer suggesting that it’s an approach likely to continue as the side aim to secure Champions League group stage qualification next month.
However, the team lost their way domestically in the Scottish Premiership, with van Bronckhorst overseeing a negative 12-point swing as Rangers lacked both a consistent punch in the final third and creativity from midfield.
By the end of last season, the Dutchman was consistent in his use of a double pivot in midfield, with James Tavernier occupying a high and wide position on the right flank while the opposite full-back supplemented Kent with attacking overlaps. The No.9 was used an out-ball, with an emphasis on spreading play wide before attacking the box centrally.
But how will van Bronckhorst’s approach alter after a full pre-season with his players?
A return to wide wingers
Van Bronckhorst’s dalliance with wide wingers last season was short-lived given the paucity of consistent options on the right to complement Kent.
Ianis Hagi lacked the pace and physicality for the role before his injury, while Scott Wright offered the desired acceleration when carrying the ball, but his penalty box entries were too predictable and he lacked the ability to play the killer pass.
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The addition of Rabbi Matondo should make van Bronckhorst good on his pledge to introduce “dynamic” wing play to Rangers, with the former Schalke man boasting lightning pace and the creative intelligence to make the difference in the final third. Crucially, he is also a threat infront of goal.
By stretching the pitch horizontally with wide wingers, Rangers’ creative No.10 options – Tom Lawrence, Malik Tillman, Alex Lowry and Hagi – will have more space to receive in central spaces, raising the creative ceiling of the team against those stringent defences in the Scottish Premiership.
To maximise the space for the wingers to operate on the flanks, we may also see van Bronckhorst encouraging his full-backs to play further inside the pitch.
Tavernier’s inside role
It was somewhat lost amid the adulation for Antonio Colak’s first Rangers goal against Tottenham last weekend that it was assisted by Tavernier, flicking the ball on after Matondo’s delivery was flashed into the penalty box.
Pre-season has seen a continuation of the Rangers captain being encouraged to attack the box centrally when the winger ahead of him receives the ball in a wide position, leveraging Tavernier’s goalscoring threat in crossing situations.
In doing so, the 30-year-old can also collect the ball in more dangerous central locations, allowing him to deliver from narrow positions and use his technical capacity to create dangerous passing combinations on the edge of the penalty area.
However, Tavernier’s sightings in central positions have been more fleeting in deeper areas, with his role in the 2-0 win over St. Mirren on Boxing Day last season providing van Bronckhorst with food for thought as he aims to evolve his side.
By moving Tavernier inside, the Rangers captain can utilise his enviable passing range to help vary the direction of attack. From a positional sense, the 30-year-old can help provide - and negate - against numerical superiority in midfield by inverting his position from full-back, preventing episodes such as the scrappy performance against Dundee United at Ibrox prior to Christmas where the Tangerines went 2v1 against Rangers’ sole sitting midfielder.
With van Bronckhorst showing impressive adaptability to the challenges in Europe last season, a repurposed role for Tavernier would provide a reliable domestic solution.
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The growing influence of the goalkeeper in deep build-up
The sight of Jon McLaughlin and Allan McGregor making angles to receive the ball during deep build-up in pre-season offers an indication as to how van Bronckhorst wants to evolve his side’s possession model.
The goalkeeper has been afforded greater responsibility on the ball this summer, with the Rangers boss keen to stretch the pitch and open up “pockets” in attacking areas for his danger men to exploit.
Indeed, it’s easy to forget amid van Bronckhorst’s shift to a more direct approach in possession towards the end of last season that the Dutchman initially emphasised short ball circulation in the defensive third in his first few months in charge. Rangers enjoyed early success provoking the opposition into pressing aggressively, before springing the ball into the space that it created in-behind the defence.
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However, pragmatism took priority as the Dutchman balanced a hectic domestic and European schedule after the winter break. Scott Wright’s comments earlier this week suggests that van Bronckhorst has been able to re-install those day one ideas.
"With the manager, it was difficult with him coming in mid-season to try to get his hands on the team how he really wants it because we had a game every two or three days," said the 24-year-old.
"This pre-season, we’ve had a right run at it together and I think you can see from the pre-season games we look like a strong team unit and we’re trying to portray the ideas he’s trying to put across in training and coming across in games."
Of course, most domestic opposition will be reluctant to press as aggressively as some of Rangers’ pre-season opponents, but it does add another string to the team’s bow in both Old Firm and European fixtures.
van Bronckhorst will certainly be seeking more control with the ball in bigger matches as he aims to evolve Rangers' style of play next season.
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