Rangers defence hasn’t looked nearly as good as last season, a mixture of injuries, Covid-19 and suspensions leading to a lack of consistency in selection.
But, there is another reason, which, as explained by Joshua Barrie of the Rangers Review, paints a clearer picture of why we haven’t been able to repeat our record breaking feats of 2020/21.
Barrie explains how, after seven games, we are being nowhere near as aggressive in trying to win the ball higher up the park and into the opposition’s half, which has resulted in teams being able to hurt us with long balls against our relatively high defensive line – think Michael O’Halloran against St Johnstone, the penalty we conceded against Dundee and the goal we lost against Motherwell, all as a result of us allowing sides the freedom to pick passes and get into dangerous areas way too easily.
🏃♂️The Rangers high line without aggressive protection from the front is being exposed by teams.
Counterpressure numbers after seven games last season (left) and this season (right).
READ ↪️https://t.co/SM01jC4YGu pic.twitter.com/9myEAgDSHs
— Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) September 27, 2021
It’s a problem that needs to be rectified quickly with two main solutions; drop deeper in defence or, press higher up. Either way, something needs to be done because we have been getting away with a lot recently and looking nowhere near as solid as we should do.
Part of the problem is that we don’t have our best presser available in Ryan Kent, he’s also never looked fit having missed half of pre-season. Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe are hard workers but they just aren’t as effective, if Steven Gerrard and Michael Beale want to change things, it may be that Fashion Sakala and Scott Wright start more domestic fixtures against teams that are likely to sit in.
Our management team has usually been quick to solve structural problems, if we can see it, surely they can too?