Alex Lowry's deep-lying role explained - Joshua Barrie

The clamour for Lowry to see minutes has been unanimous and heightened by a lack of consistent attacking performances ahead of him. Yet a quick scan of Twitter at full-time in midweek demonstrated the fickle nature of football after a largely quiet showing, in a team performance that remains some way off of Michael Beale’s expectation.

“I think we see where Alex is at, he had some really nice moments in the game and moments where he looks very young,” Beale said speaking to Sky Sports after the game.

“It’s hard to expect too much too soon but certainly playing tonight will help him moving forwards and give him more experience. He knows I’ve got a lot of trust and faith in him but I think it’s fair to say he’s got a little bit to do as a young player like most young players. We know that he’s a big player for us for the future.”

Lowry is a player capable of moments and individualistic skill that people pay to watch. Like most creative players those moments won’t take place continually throughout a game, but bring it to life in patches. Malik Tillman has been judged against similarly unrealistic expectations at points during this season.

Lowry started the game playing from the left. As demonstrated in the below pass network Rangers’ shape was slightly lop-sided.

The hosts predominantly built play down Lowry’s side, with the 19-year-old dropping into pockets and allowing Borna Barisic to push high.

On the right, Tillman and James Tavernier looked to get on the last line and create a two-vs-one. Motherwell loaded numbers around the ball when Rangers held possession on their left-hand side, leaving themselves vulnerable to such switches of play.

Why was Lowry receiving off the centre-backs, should he not have been playing between the lines?

One of the youngster’s best qualities is his range of distribution and ability to play forward passes with minimal backlift. By dropping Lowry into the left-back slot, Rangers could theoretically use Barisic’s delivery high up the pitch and the midfielder’s vision from deeper areas.

READ MORE: Why Michael Beale thinks Rangers' unexpected vulnerability needs work

Lowry could pick the ball up with a better view of proceedings and play passes inside from an angle stepping onto his stronger side.

This is something Barisic often struggled to do when playing deeper under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, regularly looking up the line as a result.

However, Lowry wasn’t able to play many of these balls as demonstrated by his pass map from the game.

The best example of why this tactic could work arrived midway through the half. After playing a one-two with John Lundstram, Lowry is facing inwards and has a clear pass over the top into Tillman, whose high starting position sees him on the last line creating a two-vs-one with Tavernier.

It’s a pass only a right-footer can really make from this angle, to take out the six opposition players outlined.

Lowry delays for whatever reason and offers an apology to his teammate, perhaps his view was restricted which is something we rarely consider watching from a better vantage point. 

Building on the left and switching to the right was a common theme in the 3-0 win at Ibrox. By getting numbers around the ball, Rangers could attract the opposition in and then play out to less crowded spaces of the pitch quickly.

It almost paid off during the first half when Jack found Tillman, who couldn’t quite play in the run of Tavernier.

This same pattern of play worked well for the game's third goal. In two passes, Rangers moved the ball from Ryan Kent’s starting position deep on the left to the feet of Tillman, isolated against a defender on the right.

Notice it’s Kent, another right-footer, dropping into that left-back slot to open up the pitch and play inside through the opposition. 

Lowry is still developing and as Beale highlighted earlier in the week, now playing under a manager who has a plethora of experience helping young players to make that first-team step up.

Picking up the ball deep in the pitch will allow Lowry the time and space to utilise his vision, but you’d imagine his qualities will be used closer to goal if Rangers are able to purchase a proper deep-lying playmaker in January.

In Beale’s words, the youngster still has “work to do”, even if his eventual success at Ibrox feels like a prerequisite.