How Rangers' makeshift 'second-pivot' exploited Union's determined defence

Rangers were handed a boost earlier that same day when it emerged the winger would return from injury in time for last night’s Champions League third-round qualifier, in which his side needed to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg.

And while Kent didn’t directly impact any goals or match the individual level he demonstrated against Dortmund and Leipzig, it was his very presence that offered Rangers an indirect avenue of attack through the visiting Belgians for all three goals.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst selected an offensive team, with Scott Arfield and Tom Lawrence playing as attacking No.8s ahead of John Lundstram at the base of midfield.

Borna Barisic tucked infield to form a back three in the build-up as he has been instructed to do in the past under van Bronckhorst, while James Tavernier pushed high on the right.

This ensured Rangers had sufficient bodies in the centre with only one defensive midfielder selected and allowed Barisic to be a second-pivot in possession. The pivot, traditionally a team’s deepest-lying midfielder or midfield pairing, is the centre-point in possession. By coming inside, Barisic could assume the role of a second deep-lying midfielder, as demonstrated by the 99 passes he played on the night.

Union played in a 5-3-2 block as expected. Their strike force tried to stop passes into Lundstram amidst a congested centre of the pitch…

The wing-backs marked Ryan Kent and Tavernier aggressively…

While three centre-defenders and midfielders allowed Geraerts’s side to normally have an extra man out wide, preventing overloads or dangerous one-v-ones…

Union’s formation offered lateral coverage with five players spread along the back and the necessary depth in numbers to slide across the pitch, overloading space around the ball. But every system has a weakness and last night, Union left this second-pivot in possession unpressurised to costly effect.

By holding his position in the first half, Barisic enjoyed time on the ball as Rangers created a four-vs-two against the Union strike force.

However, visiting midfielder Lazare Amani, free without a man to mark because of Barisic’s deep positioning, remained deep and helped to create constant a four-vs-three on Rangers’ left side of the pitch.

Union nullified Kent’s threat by getting four players out wide and stopping him from attacking his marker one-v-one, just as Livingston attempted on the opening day of the season.

And until a looping Barisic cross just before half-time earned a penalty, the visitor’s game plan worked.

READ MORE: Rangers' European muscle memory helps defy expectations - Joshua Barrie

Barisic regularly received the ball in decent positions, unopposed because Lundstram had attracted the visiting strike force and Amani, as mentioned, had been instructed to remain deep.

However, the left-back rarely drove forward into space and often checked back inside instead.

At times, the movement ahead of him was poor and prevented a forward pass. Below, Lawrence is behind Amani and not providing an angle to receive the pass from Barisic, as highlighted in red.

After 12 minutes, Rangers have switched play quickly to the left and as a result, an exploitable gap opens up between Union’s right wing-back and right centre-back…

But Barisic delays and opts for a looping cross instead.

In this example Sands again finds Barisic with time and an angle to play forward from, but neither Lawrence nor Antonio Colak pierce the defence with a run or show for the ball, again illustrated in red.

On the rare occasions that Barisic did release the ball quickly and the movement ahead of him corroborated, Rangers could bypass the Union defence. Here, the left-back attracts pressure to ensure his side aren’t outnumbered on the left…

He plays quickly into Lawrence who makes good movement up the line while Kent comes infield...

And Rangers win a free-kick in a promising area…

But this was a rare moment of cohesion, Kent was often tripled-up on by the touchline and play regularly turned over as the tempo slowed.

Union had conceded little in the way of chances as the clock hit 43 minutes and were moments away from a perfect first-half performance. And suddenly, the risk they had taken came back to bite them.

Barisic, again unpressurised, has time to pick out his 10th first-half cross which although hopeful…

Strikes an arm to earn a penalty that Tavernier will dispatch.

It wasn’t pretty, but up against such limited space Rangers needed to take risks. Of course, the crosses to make it two and three would also come from the left.

Barisic moved wider after the break, stretching Union further as Rangers constantly moved the ball from right to left.

Crucially, Lawrence played slightly deeper while Barisic sat wide and Kent moved inside, retaining the attention of right wing-back Bart Nieuwkoop. It was this tactical change that led to the equaliser.

Below, Lawrence is in a position to receive from Sands rather than Barisic. Just like in the first half, Amani has remained deep, allowing the second-pivot player time to pick out their favoured pass...

Lawrence, a right-footer, can curl an inswinger that Tavernier attacks and via the way of a Scott Arfield attempt, is eventually turned in by Colak.

To win the game, Rangers again built play on the left, found space in the second-pivot position and scored via attacking the back post on the right.

Here, After a free-kick has been cleared out to the left, Kent attracts four Union players who have again favoured remaining compact over marking individual players...

By overcommitting in this area, Union don’t have the numbers to pressurise the crosser or overload the back post, where Tillman will score from.

Barisic has time to loop in a cross which, although seemingly overhit, finds another willing recipient in Malik Tillman.

Note, Rangers have created a two-vs-one at the back, with so many players closing down Kent on the opposite flank.

Scoring three goals against Union was always going to be tricky. They were the best defensive team in Belgium last season while Rangers created a meagre 0.16xG in the first leg, their lowest tally in Europe these past five years.

But as has been the case so often, van Bronckhorst and his coaching staff devised a plan that took advantage of opposition weaknesses. Time and space in the second-pivot position was achieved due to Union's plan to stop Kent, while overloads at the back post exploited numbers the visitors committed on the left.