Every team has a weakness.
We fear every corner that isn’t cleared with the first contact or is too far away from the six-yard line for Allan McGregor to claim and yet our record from set pieces isn’t actually as bad as we make out – certainly nowhere near as bad as under Mark Warburton, at least we clearly practice them now which is a start.
Eintracht Frankfurt are no different.
They are a very good team and aren’t in the Europa League final by luck, Barcelona and West Ham United were two of the tournament favourites and the Germans were relatively comfortable when they beat them to progress, but where they.
Joshua Barrie of the Rangers Review pinpointed how set-pieces and counter attacks could have an influence in this tie with Rangers seemingly adept at dealing with their biggest weapon, conversely, they have struggled to handle what is one of ours.
Another #UELfinal stat 📊
Frankfurt have created the second-highest number of counterattacking shots per 90 in the knock-out stage.
Rangers have conceded the second-lowest number of counterattacking shots per 90 in the knock-out stage.
Interesting contract.
— Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) May 17, 2022
Interesting #UELfinal stat 📊
Only three teams in the #UEL knock-out stages boast a higher Set-Piece xG per 90 than Rangers.
Only two teams in the #UEL knock-out stages have recorded a higher Set-Piece Conceded xG per 90 than Frankfurt.
— Joshua Barrie (@JoshuaBarrieRR) May 17, 2022
On top of this they have conceded a third of their goals from set-pieces, counter attacks and penalties.
This makes the potential return of Kemar Roofe even more important – even off the bench – he isn’t the biggest striker in the world but he is an aerial threat and when you add in our centre-halves, John Lundstram and Joe Aribo, we have more than a few options from dead ball situations, Fashion Sakala, like Roofe, is also very capable in the air.
We haven’t been as clinical from them this season as we were last but we have seen in the Europa League in particular that it is an area we are strong in, not just scoring goals but causing enough problems to see opposition teams give penalties away.
The pace of Ryan Kent and Scott Wright will be utilised on the counter attack, as will James Tavernier’s ability to time overlapping runs into the back post, there are gaps in Frankfurt’s game for us to exploit.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will have done his homework, we’ve seen throughout the tournament that he is quite happy to tinker with systems and style of play to get the job done but set-pieces could well be the difference in this game – it could take just one perfect delivery to make someone a hero, let’s hope they are dressed, head to toe, in Light Blue.