Despite the idiotic claims of The Sun’s Bill Leckie, Rangers have never played with two upfront during Steven Gerrard’s tenure as manager.
What we have done though is use players with different skillsets in his preferred 4-3-3 formation depending on who the opposition is and against Ross County we saw another variation in what might become a regular game plan.
With Juninho Bacuna and Joe Aribo lining up either side of John Lundstram in midfield it was clear to see what the gaffer was wanting us to do – attack.
Both players are capable of breaking lines by dribbling but Bacuna adds an aggressive passing style that few – if any – other players in the squad possess, his first instinct is to go forwards, anyway he can, every time he gets the ball.
It was a combination that worked well going forwards and managed to protect the defence too, restricting the Highlanders to just three attempts at goal – it wasn’t the midfield’s fault that we conceded twice, but that’s another story.
In Gerrard’s earlier seasons we struggled to break down teams that would sit in and defend but by adding players like Ryan Kent and Ianis Hagi, he has tried to find individuals who can find space in games where it is at a premium but by having the likes of Bacuna and Aribo in deeper positions it means that there is an even bigger attacking threat – in short, it looks likes we have a plan B to make games that should be routine, well, routine.