A STUNNING Scott Arfield goal was required to defeat Livingston at Ibrox last night as Rangers retained their four-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Without a number of key individuals and forced to battle the Ibrox elements, it wasn’t until the 75th minute that the home side made their territorial dominance count.
Although the performance failed to inspire and a below-par tempo didn’t help matters, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side found a way to win.
Trendline
David Martindale admitted in his post-match press conference that the understrength home line-up gave him the confidence to be more offensive-minded in his approach. The last time his team visited Ibrox they didn’t have a single attempt to show for, last night their xG stood at 0.58.
Van Bronckhorst’s side scored after a real cluster of opportunities and sustained spell of pressure on the Livingston goal – thereafter it was all about keeping the zero.
Pass network
When asked about the decision to start both Glen Kamara and James Sands last night, van Bronckhorst reasoned that availability and tactical instruction came into his selection process. He wanted to get his full-backs higher but his team sorely missed the forward runs of Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield from the start.
The passing network shows that Scott Wright, Cedric Itten and James Sands were the three outfield players most sparingly involved in possession. The lopsided attacking pursuits down the left-wing would eventually return a goal but clearly, there was room in the right side of the midfield Rangers were unable to take full advantage of.
Wright’s pass map tells the story of his game, the winger is still to rid the ‘lack of end product’ monkey from his back and in key moments yesterday, he failed to deliver – making no successful forward passes or crosses in the final third.
Livingston managed to squeeze up the pitch as shown by their pass network, while their opponents were mindful to always stretch the pitch laterally Rangers failed to offer threats horizontally behind the visiting backline; a lack of forward runs from midfield and Itten’s preference to play into feet made the evening more comfortable than it should have for the West Lothian outfit.
Shot maps
The location of Rangers’ shots on reflection look promising but as detailed above, the highest value chance of the evening (Fashion Sakala’s 0.39xG valued chance just before the break aside) was an Itten header which came in at 0.18xG.
The finsihng at times was erratic and Max Stryjek would only face five shots on target from 18 attempted.
Arfield’s stunning flicked finish showed the value of midfield runners in the penalty area. Glen Kamara is simply never going to make that run and finish. That’s not a slight on the Finn, simply an observation that the home team lacked real goal threats throughout the midfield.
Crosses were responsible for over half of the eventual xG recorded and given James Tavernier and Barisic made seven key passes between them, van Bronckhorst’s efforts to get them playing high proved key.
Sakala was unfortunate to not score from four efforts although still suggested post-match he should have pulled the trigger more frequently.
Martindale’s side recorded two high quality chances on the cusp of the six-yard box.
Pressure maps
Sakala and Lowry led the way off the ball, making 21 and 20 pressures respectively.
Livingston’s pressure map shows they tried to limit their opponents beyond the half-way line, with Stephen Omeonga in particular remaining tight to Kamara to blockade build-up avenues, making a match-high 25 pressures.
Conclusion
On the basis of chances created this match should have felt slightly more comfortable, if Sakala’s first-half effort finds the net the fixture would have taken an entirely different course.
But, limitation in midfield and a lack of right-wing threat was clear for all to see. The win showed that this squad needs to be strengthened and key personnel cannot return soon enough.
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