Hearts vs Rangers issues: Dessers’ misses and Clement claim rebuffed

While change has been the theme of the summer and, as Philippe Clement routinely mentioned this week that should translate more obviously to the starting 11 soon, the weekend’s visit to Edinburgh felt a very familiar watch when compared to the last because it was. Only two new summer signings featured in a 90 minutes that Steven Naismith’s side dominated. This was a game in which the Ibrox side were fortunate to travel back down the M8 undefeated. 

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Clement requires quality before his football is truly judged, but this match left a lot to be desired. The game’s data confirms what the eye saw – Rangers created around half the opportunities of their opponents with the xG 1.33 to 0.56 in the home team’s favour. Hearts attempted double the number of their opponents' shots (18 to nine).

"I was not satisfied with the first-half, the first half hour for sure," Clement said post-match.

"It changed a lot in the second-half. We took control of the game and played better football."

While it would be fair to say that control shifted somewhat in the visitor's favour after the break, the game’s trendline charting shots doesn’t back up the claim that the teams dominated for 45 minutes each.

Hearts ended the first-half with a 0.7xG to Rangers’ 0.25, while the second-half came in at 0.66xG to 0.29. Tom Lawrence’s effort from a free-kick after 61 minutes was his side’s last registered shot of the game.

(Image: StatsBomb)

The game’s best chance fell to Cyriel Dessers, who hit the post and crossbar with a second-half header from a 0.26xG effort. This wasn’t a guilt-edged miss but while Dessers is a forward who will consistently score, as less season demonstrated he is not a player who converts above expectation.

If relied upon to decide the margins over a season, the 29-year-old won’t get Rangers far enough. It’s no coincidence that the best run of last season (January to March) saw Jack Butland and Dessers overperform their underlying numbers before dropping off considerably in the final two months of the campaign.

Hearts’ chance creation came from a far higher volume of efforts without any clear ‘must score’ moment. For example, Lawrence Shankland had five efforts but combined they amounted to just 0.3xG. 11 of the home side’s shots were blocked and Butland faced just one shot on target that did not first hit a defender.

(Image: StatsBomb)

(Image: StatsBomb)

Rangers did see plenty of the ball. So why were they unable to do more with it? They had 62 percent of the possession but a pass completion percentage of just 78. All four of Rangers’ most frequent passing combinations involved the defence and goalkeeper. Naismith’s side regularly sat off John Souttar and Ben Davies in possession, cutting off passing options. Last season on a few occasions, especially in the side’s Scottish Cup semi-final meeting, Hearts’ press played into Clement’s hands by opening up spaces in the midfield to play into or over. Here, they’d learned from their mistake.

"First-half our performance was really good. They then need to change what they are doing to try and get a foothold in the game and they did to a point but it was all in front of us, never really caused us too many problems," was Naismith's post-match summary.

More often than not when Rangers had the ball in these areas they were unable to find wide outlets and became too dependent on playing direct.

(Image: Wyscout)

On some occasions, like below, the away team were more patient on the ball to work an overload in the build-up and find an avenue through the pitch. That proved a rarity overall, however.

Clement wants his teams to attack quickly and directly but sometimes that can lead to a surrendering of control. On more than one occasion we saw situations like the below play out – the player in possession looking to rush a move when another asked for calm.

Here, Mohamed Diomande urges Ridvan Yilmaz to hold the ball with eight men behind the ball after a turnover. Instead he tries to find Dessers and possession is surrendered. 

(Image: Wyscout)

(Image: Wyscout)

(Image: Wyscout)

The Rangers Review wrote the below blurb following a 1-0 win at Tynecastle last December, early into Clement’s spell at the club.

"Last night's win does not mean Clement’s side will not have to improve their methods against pressure, they absolutely do. That trade-off for control arguably worked against Rangers during the early stages at Pittodrie, for example."

It was revealing that Clement chose to reference his team’s inability to win the “first, second or third” duel before the break as the reason for their poor performance. When his side did try to play directly, they were unable to gain territory as a result. Just as pertinent a problem was the defence’s inability to retain pressure and guard against counterattacks. Kenneth Vargas caused Ben Davies and John Souttar issues all afternoon.

It is fair to point out the obvious that with more individual quality Clement’s football should improve. With Vaclav Cerny and Oscar Cortes receiving the ball quicker, able to inject pace into possession, a No.10 who thrives in space centrally to run forward, a finisher more consistently clinical than Dessers. It’s also justifiable to stress the alternative. After a full pre-season, it’s not greedy to expect more identity.