Rangers were guilty of squandering too many chances last season, for all that Allan McGregor was culpable in draws against Ross County, Motherwell and Hearts, so were the guys at the other end of the park tasked with scoring more goals than the opposition.
This summer’s recruitment has been targeted towards righting these wrongs with Tom Lawrence, Malik Tillman, Antonio Colak and Rabbi Matondo all signed to make the difference.
Matondo’s arrival in particular is an exciting one in that he is set to fill a position that has a been a problem for a long time, an exciting cameo against Blackpool pointing to a new dynamic to the Gers attack.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, former Sky Sports reporter Peter O’Rourke has backed the Wales international to offer the perfect balance to Ryan Kent on the opposite flank:
“Yeah, definitely. I think we all know what Ryan Kent offers to Rangers, he’s a very skilful player, was instrumental in reaching the Europa League final last year as well.
Slightly different player to Matondo. Matondo is probably out-and-out pace and very direct, while Kent is your more skilful winger who can provide goals as well as scoring goals.
So, you have the makings of two good players if they were to play on opposite wings and would really provide the ammunition for the Rangers attack next season.”
Matondo only had the ball a few times against Blackpool, but every time he managed to either get to the byline and win a corner, play a dangerous ball into the box or get a shot off at goal, the very end product we have been screaming out for.
In the Scottish Premiership, pace and unpredictability is key to breaking down stubborn defences and creating space for others, throwing cross after cross into the box just isn’t effective. If we really want to see teams off we need to get in behind them and, with a twin threat on either wing, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has the fire power he has been searching for since ever since he replaced Steven Gerrard.