The key to the victory over Union Saint-Gilloise in Tuesday’s Champions League qualifier was the battle in midfield and Rangers domination set the tone for the outcome.
John Lundstram was the heartbeat of the Rangers team, providing plenty of bite but just as important was his ability to thread the play and keep the ball moving. He really was central to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s plan, as the manager acknowledged.
Last week in Belgium, the sitting two of Glen Kamara and Ryan Jack were off the pace and didn’t impact the game to the extent that the Gers were far too easy to play through, leading to the bad result and challenge to be overcome at Ibrox.
That two goal deficit was overturned and in dominating the midfield, two of Gio’s Summer signings were pivotal in the form of Tom Lawrence and Malik Tillman. Granted it took longer than expected to find the breakthrough but after Tav’s penalty and the half-time break, Rangers never looked back.
Tillman’s role was intriguing as he played narrow from the right as instructed but he came into his own late on through the middle behind Alfredo Morelos. He went one further to seal the victory with an incredible jump to nod home the third goal of the night and soon after the job was done.
GvB expressed his satisfaction with his midfield and the game plan which was set:
“We knew the midfield part would be important. The players they had in there, their captain. The play always started with him. We wanted midfield domination. That’s why we played with Tom (Lawrence) and Malik (Tillman) with Arfield.”
“We wanted to try and create more chances than we did last week. John was really important, he kept the pressure on in midfield and provided balance. We know the fire he has in these moments.”
The variation from one week to the next shows the adaptability of Rangers under Gio, but also that it can be a weakness as much as a definite strength. Getting the balance and consistency right is the aim and with Rangers set to battle on four fronts in the season ahead, there will be plenty of chances to utilise Plans A, B and C.