How Rangers' wingers exploited Ross County's high-wire act in domestic dismantling

Malky Mackay’s high-risk, high-reward strategy was dismantled by a Gers side well-versed in the nuances of man-marking themselves, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side creating opportunity aplenty throughout the 90 minutes.

Particularly noteworthy, however, was the personnel involved in the four goals.

Three of the strikes involved a direct assist from one of the wingers. Ryan Kent teed up John Lundstram and Antonio Colak either side of the interval while Wright was the architect of Rangers’ second goal of the afternoon.

County’s man-orientated set-up played into the hosts' hands on the flanks, with the reduced coverage allowing Kent and Wright to leverage their speed and direct running in one-on-one duels.

The visitors’ defensive structure was apparent inside the first minute. As Borna Barisic feeds a pass into Kent on the touchline below, County’s right midfielder, Kazeem Olaigbe, shuttles across.

But instead of doubling up on Kent as most teams in the league tend to do, the winger blocks the return pass to Barisic.

Kent is able to drive into the penalty area, creating half a yard to curl an effort just wide of the far corner.

Indeed, Rangers discovered very quickly that they could generate success isolating Kent high and wide against County’s full-back, with Barisic’s reserved positioning pinning Olaigbe high and maximising the space for the 25-year-old to cut inside.

On the occasions when Barisic looked to offer an overlap, it often allowed County to thwart Kent’s passageway inside of his marker. With greater coverage of the zone, the winger had fewer alleyways to exploit.

“For him, he always has a full-back coming at him a lot, but Borna supports him at the right moment,” van Bronckhorst said after the game. “Of course, his first intention is to go inside.”

And, at the right moment, the Croatian’s assistance helped Kent to create Rangers’ opener.

Whereas Kent checked inside early in his dribbling motion to curl an effort just wide early in the game, the former Liverpool man quickly realised that Callum Johnson was reluctant to engage defensively.

This allowed the winger to carry the ball closer to goal before making his final action. In the below example, Johnson retreats deep inside his own penalty box as Kent comes in off the left touchline.

In doing so he attracts a County central midfielder over to provide assistance.

Freeing up Malik Tillman in the penalty area for a cut-back, where the Bayern Munich loanee passes up a decent opportunity by striking straight at the goalkeeper.

Kent attempted 12 dribbles on the afternoon with a success rate of 75%. It is one of his best ratios in relation to dribble volume in his Rangers career with his next best, for reference, coming in the 1-0 win over Dundee United at Ibrox last season where he attempted 17 dribbles and was successful in 65% of them.

His carry map from Saturday’s victory underlines the threat he constantly posed, dribbling from high and wide locations and constantly seeking to cut infield with the ball.

If we compare the above map with his carries in the 2-1 win over Livingston on the opening weekend, Kent was able to access the central passageway more regularly as opposed to being shuttled down the outside constantly.

The positional freedom that he was afforded as the game progressed also allowed Rangers to disrupt County’s man-marking obligations. Arriving in a central position where the opponents have not accounted for his presence, he draws a defender away from Tom Lawrence.

The two combine neatly.

County’s central defenders then get attracted towards Kent on the edge of the area, allowing him to slide a clever pass through the heart of the defence for Antonio Colak to finish.

On the opposite flank, meanwhile, Wright thrived against a defensive set-up that allowed him to leverage his lightning acceleration.

With James Tavernier motoring forward on the right here, the former Aberdeen man takes up a position inside the pitch to unsettle the County backline.

As the move develops, Wright comes towards the ball to offer a square passing option.

Squaring up his marker, Tavernier intelligently darts infield to take a County defender away. The space is then created around the fringes of the opposition’s defensive set-up.

Wright bursts away from his marker before lifting his header to tee up Colak with an excellent cut-back.

By coming inside off the touchline, it opened up the passing angle for Wright to create with passes infield.

The 25-year-old was more positionally fluid than Kent, but the duo provided an effective contrast of direct dribbling ability to help add the finishing touches to three out of Rangers’ four goals on the day.

County’s high-wire act ought to have yielded a second yellow card for James Sands, but effective wing play from Rangers certainly exposed their structure going in the opposite direction.