How Ryan Kent's Rangers freedom 'spooked' Kilmarnock's defensive plan

Having coached Kent as a youngster, Beale knows the 26-year-old’s game more than most and last night offered a further indication that the plan he vocalised after taking the job, to play Kent in a “completely free role”, is helping the attacker to rediscover his best form.

"People think it’s all about tactics but it’s actually about the relationships you have, and the feeling you have towards the other person in that relationship,” Beale said talking about Kent after taking the job.

“The manager has been key in my career since I was a young lad. I have full trust in him and that's reciprocated. He's a quality manager and coach,” Kent said speaking after last night’s win.

Clearly, there is mutual respect and understanding between the two parties. That partly explains why the Liverpool academy graduate has gone from hugging the touchline under Giovanni van Bronckhorst to roaming all over the pitch under Beale.

📊 Successful passes played to Ryan Kent during Van Bronckhorst's last three games (left) and Beale's first three games (right).

One of the clear early changes has been Kent's move from hugging the touchline to moving all over the pitch. pic.twitter.com/CCkrM3Y15W

— Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) December 27, 2022

Kent was still largely involved from the left in Ayrshire, as demonstrated by the passes he received last night. Red indicates a successful pass and yellow an unsuccessful pass.

However, that was largely due to the hosts playing with 10 men for much of the second period. Look at the diversity of areas he got on the ball before the break.

“Their movement spooked us. The biggest thing was their movement at the top of the pitch was really good tonight, I thought Kent in particular had a really good game, and it spooked us. We didn’t defend as I would have expected us to throughout,” Derek McInnes said after the match.

There’s a temptation to only judge Kent’s performances on goals and assists but that method can overlook another key aspect of his game, which McInnes appears to be alluding to. The impact of Kent's movement and ability to attract opposition players.

It’s something Beale referenced recently, and a topic the Rangers Review has also covered previously.

“In the final third a lot of the time he draws someone to him and they might get the final pass or shot away,” the manager said.

READ MORE: How Michael Beale plans to revitalise Ryan Kent - Honesty, 'complete freedom' and trust

Under Beale, we’ve regularly seen Kent drift inside from the left and pick up central positions.

Looking at the pass network from last night’s first half, which charts the average position a player makes their passes from, you can see Alfredo Morelos generally started from the left, where he scored the opener, with Kent getting on the ball in narrow areas.

When Kent played wide on the left under Van Bronckhorst, teams always knew where he was going to receive possession and planned accordingly.

Now, as demonstrated last night, although he won’t always get on the ball in consistently dangerous areas, it’s difficult for opponents to constantly double up or man-mark the attacker. His carry map from yesterday's fixture shows involvement all over the Kilmarnock half.

When Kent drifted infield it gave the hosts’ right-back, Ryan Alebiosu, a problem. If he didn’t track Kent's movement infield, the attacker was able to get on the ball unopposed but if he did, there was space for Borna Barisic to overlap.

On this occasion, Kent waits too long and the ball is nicked off of him. Although his performance was positive overall, his decision-making still needs work at points.

Here, Alebiosu thinks about tracking Kent into midfield but is visibly caught between marking up tight and leaving a gap in the defence.

As the first-half wore on, Kent increasingly picked up positions just in front of the opposition defence and was regularly able to create an overload.

Here, just out of the picture, you can see Kilmarnock have a two-vs-one out wide while Rangers have a free man in the middle. Perhaps this is an example of the defending McInnes was alluding to, given Kent’s unpredictable movement.

This is a theme Beale referenced during a previous press conference. The freedom of Rangers’ attacking players should make their movement unpredictable and difficult to blockade.

It was when Kent accessed central areas that a threat was really posed. Here, as Alebiosu is dragged infield, the attacker ought to have done much better with his final ball which was overhit.

However, this pattern would play out as Rangers scored the game’s decisive goal. Although down to 10 men at this point, notice Alebiosu, starting at right-back, is pulled into a central position because of Kent’s movement infield.

Given Kent can shoot with either foot, the home side overcompensates to close him down and, in doing so, leave space down the left-hand side from which a deflected Barisic cross is converted by Morelos.

This is the perfect example of Beale’s above quote. Kent isn’t awarded with an assist but it’s his positioning and ability to attract opponents that plays a key part in the goal.

Kent also got on the scoresheet at Rugby Park. The move was a perfect example of why Beale wants to keep his forwards high when defending so that Rangers can transition quickly and ‘defend with a view of how they want to attack’.

“A slight tweak in position means I'm managing to get in those positions where I can get shots away,” Kent said speaking after the game.

You can clearly see when comparing his shot map under Van Bronckhorst (top) and Beale (bottom) this season the impact of his new position.

Despite his recent Old Firm goal if we’ve learned anything from Kent’s time at Ibrox, it’s that he’s more of a goalthreat when shooting from central locations.

Tellingly, Beale said after the match that he thought Kent was “terrific in the semi-final at the weekend and I thought tonight, it’s nice to see him score a goal”.

He will always be judged on goals and assists but his manager knows there’s more to Kent's game than top-line numbers. Even if those goal contributions look set to rise.