Rangers battled back to secure a vital three points against Aberdeen last night in what felt like a huge win in the context of the season.

Rabbi Matondo opened the scoring before Bojan Miovski levelled things up on the stroke of half-time. Philippe Clement’s side continued their dominance after the break, however, and saw Todd Cantwell step up to provide a winner on 71 minutes.

With exclusive StatsBomb data and analysis of the big talking points, here’s how the Ibrox side continued their excellent start to 2024 with a win over Neil Warnock’s Aberdeen.

Trendline and key numbers

Rangers were always the team in control of this fixture as the trendline shows. Notably the volume of their attempts on goal shot up between half-time and their winning goal as pressure eventually took its toll on the visitors. A 2.16 to 0.6xG total indicates this was a well-earned victory based on chances created.

Pass maps and positions 

The home side were sometimes very direct, often looking to turn the Aberdeen defence and get plenty of runners around the top end of the pitch. Both goals came after Rangers played forward into space quickly and won second balls. Their pass network, charting the average position of each player, reflects this. Tom Lawrence dropped deep in the build-up before moving forward, enabling Cantwell to play higher. It was this combination which led to the winning goal.

On the left, Matondo and Ridvan Yilmaz often rotated their positioning between the inside and outside channels. On the right, James Tavernier frequently inverted with Ross McCausland providing width on the wing.

The darker red circles around Connor Goldson and John Souttar indicate a heavy involvement from either centre-back to start attacks.

Everything Aberdeen attempted in an attacking sense centred around Miovski, as the visitors' pass network depicts. 

Shots and saves 

Rangers were far busier with attempts down their left-hand side - in fact, only Lawrence attempted more shots than Matondo (six to four). Both goals came from efforts initially taken at the edge of the box being saved and converted on the rebound.

Rangers' two goals had the highest xG ratings of any chance they created (0.28 and 0.43xG).

The fact that Miovski’s goal derived from a 0.16xG opportunity confirms the notion that both Jack Butland and Connor Goldson could’ve done better to prevent an equaliser.

Todd Cantwell’s best showing yet

This was arguably Cantwell’s best outing under Clement, scoring a fourth goal in his last five league starts and stepping up when his team required him most. “I always get on his case at being in the 10 positions and staying in the middle of the pitch - if he does that he gets the goals and can be a real impact player,” was the comment of Tavernier post-match after his teammate had done exactly that to win the game.

Cantwell spoke in midweek of the No.10 role under Clement differing from the one occupied under Michael Beale. In the build-up especially, the midfielder is moving towards the ball less and instead looking to attack space behind. It’s taken him time to adjust to a new way of playing given the positional freedom afforded under Beale but according to Clement, “I see [Cantwell] growing, he is doing much more what is necessary for the team and he starts to understand better the story.”

Rangers' No.13 looked more like his best self, knitting together attacks and taking risks by looking forward quickly to break lines.

The goal also demonstrated how the 25-year-old is starting to develop into the second striker Clement wants his No.10 to become in the final third. Noticing when a ball came into the final third that Fabio Silva and Lawrence were moving towards the ball, Cantwell ran behind and quickly saw the benefit of his forward-thinking approach.

A stronger dynamic on the left

While Matondo was guilty of missing one big chance, the 23-year-old took the opener superbly - gambling on a rebound and becoming a second striker, just as Abdallah Sima has made a habit of doing from the left.

The winger also looked far more comfortable playing alongside Ridvan Yilmaz who, by moving inside, could free up the wing, take away an Aberdeen man who’d otherwise double up on Matondo and play in a different lane of the pitch.

Ridvan is playing the best football of his Rangers career in a system that suits him. With freedom to move inside or outside, there’s simply more variation to Rangers’ dynamic on the left than we’ve seen in recent years. 

In the below example, Ridvan can support Matondo by taking his man away after overlapping instead of moving infield. Although Nicky Devlin managed to prevent an eventual cutback, it’s no surprise that the majority of shots taken by the hosts derived from that side of the pitch. 

Additional reading