Hearts 0 Rangers 2

Rangers put in another excellent defensive display away from home and continued their remarkable run of six wins from six on the road, scoring fourteen and failing to concede in the process.  It was a rather drab performance from Hearts, although they could have levelled at 1-0 had the ball fallen to a more composed striker of the ball than Adrian Mrowiec midway through the second half.

Ally McCoist changed the shape of his side for this visit to Tynecastle, ditching his usual 4-4-2 in favour of a 4-4-1-1, which matched Hearts man-for-man in the centre of the pitch - something Neil Lennon failed to execute in Celtic’s recent defeat at the same ground.

Another notable feature of the Rangers formation saw two left-backs start on the left – Sasa Papac was deployed at left-midfield – and Maurice Edu moved out to the right of midfield.  Hearts have gained a fair amount of success from their advancing full-backs this season and the use of two defensive-minded players as their direct opponents, as well as a three-man central midfield, displayed McCoist’s willingness to prioritise stopping his opponents from playing.

There was little to note about the Hearts formation.  For the third successive match, Paulo Sergio fielded the same starting eleven in a 4-3-3 formation.

Scrappy first half

Hearts dominated the early stages of a first half more noteworthy for its stop-start nature and cynical fouls than any football on display.  Steven Whittaker picked up an early booking and was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after a late foul on David Templeton.

This came after he had helped his side take the lead, however.  The former Hibernian full-back collected the ball from Edu around the halfway line and drove towards the Hearts penalty area.  He evaded the challenge, or lack thereof, from no fewer than four Hearts players before feeding Steven Naismith, who struck the ball through the legs of the advancing Marian Kello.

Naismith started the match just off Kyle Lafferty in attack and was a handful for the Hearts defence all afternoon through his movement and intelligent off-the-ball runs.  Eggert Jonsson was the man tasked with man-marking the Scotland international but, for the goal, allowed him to slip free when attempting to stop the run of Whittaker.  Naismith darted into space and finished for his eighth of the season, taking him to the top of the scoring charts.

Hearts then finished the half the stronger side, as they had started the match, but failed to trouble Alan McGregor in the Rangers goal, with the exception of a long-range Rudi Skacel effort.  Rangers, as they have done for many of their away matches this season, sat on their lead and attempted to hit their opponents on the counter attack.

Second half

Rangers’ focus was to get as many men behind the ball as possible for the vast majority of the second half, allowing Hearts plenty of possession.  Hearts managed to carve out two great opportunities – one at 1-0, another at 2-0 – but for all their possession they, for the most part, struggled to break Rangers down.

The main reason for this, mentioned earlier, was the set up of the Rangers side.  Hearts had little joy down the flanks due to the presence of Edu and Papac as auxiliary wide-midfielders.  The Hearts full-backs rarely threatened in advanced areas and both had poor matches, especially Danny Grainger.

Further to this, Hearts were denied space in the centre of the pitch and were rarely able to work the ball through central areas.  Sergio waited until almost eighty minutes had elapsed before making a substitution, sending on Mehdi Taouil for Jonsson.  Taouil is the type of player that can take the ball into feet and find a pass or take the ball past opponents when space is at a premium and it is a change the Hearts manager maybe should have considered making much earlier in the match.

A final reason for the poor performance was the decision-making of some of the Hearts players.  They often elected to play a long ball, a long diagonal pass or a switch of play when there was often a much simpler, shorter passing option available.  On several occasions a Hearts player would make themselves available for a pass in the centre of the pitch yet were ignored.  The Hearts full-backs were particularly guilty of this and Skacel was one player who became visibly frustrated with his teammates.

This is not to take anything away from the Rangers performance.   Knowing the recent form of Hearts at Tynecastle, McCoist intelligently set up his side to stop their opponents and made the right changes at the right time.

After a spell where Hearts greatly dominated possession, McCoist responded by sending on Nikica Jelavic and Gregg Wylde for Lafferty and Papac.  Not only did this produce a goal within three minutes – Carlos Bocanegra picking out Jelavic with a ball over the top of the Hearts defence – it gave Rangers two extra players to target in the final third that could keep the ball in advanced areas something Lafferty had failed to do in his seventy-odd minutes on the pitch.

Conclusion

Without doubt, McCoist won the tactical battle from start to finish.  Stopping the Hearts full-backs from influencing the game and matching the home side man-for-man in the centre of midfield meant Hearts were largely ineffective and, with players like Naismith in attack always likely to finish one of his side’s chances, it culminated in a very efficient performance from the champions.

Hearts shouldn’t be too discouraged from their performance.  Even though they didn’t create much and were woeful in front of goal when they did, they were simply defeated by a better side with a better strategy.  The one worrying thing from a Hearts point of view was their manager’s lack of a plan B and hesitancy in making changes earlier.

Dundee United 0 Rangers 1

Peter Houston was missing Sean Dillon through injury and replaced him at right-back with Keith Watson.  He made two other changes from the 3-3 draw with St. Johnstone, replacing Barry Douglas and Stuart Armstrong with Scott Robertson and Danny Swanson.  They lined up 4-3-3 with a very fluid central midfield three.  Robertson moved from side-to-side across the pitch with Willo Flood and John Rankin taking turns to burst forward from midfield.

Ally McCoist was without Nikica Jelavic - the striker was injured whilst on international duty with Croatia - and Ross Perry was dropped to the bench which meant that Steven Whittaker and Juan Manuel Ortiz were restored to the starting line up, also in a 4-3-3 formation.  Steven Naismith was deployed in a deeper central midfield role than usual with Maurice Edu patrolling in front of the back four.  Edu actually had one of his better matches in a Rangers shirt, winning the ball well on several occasions and playing simple sideways passes.

The match took a while to settle in a very expansive first half.  Rangers were more attacking than they have been in recent away matches but struggled to make the ball stick in attacking areas, while Dundee United looked threatening from set-pieces and shots from just outside the box.

Dundee United’s formation from middle to front was very fluid.  The middle three have already been mentioned above and, added to this, Swanson would look to cut into the centre of the pitch as often as possible while Jonny Russell regularly moved towards the lone striker Lauri Dalla Valle to offer support.  Dalla Valle himself would look to drop deep and link play.

Russell red card

Rangers were handed a man advantage when Russell stupidly aimed a headbutt towards Kirk Broadfoot.  The ordering off saw Swanson moved over to the right and Rankin pushed out to the right in a 4-4-1 formation.

The consequence was that the Rangers midfield now had much more time on the ball and space to exploit as their Dundee United counterparts chose to now standoff, as opposed to pressurising, them.  As well as this, Steven Naismith was pushed into a more advanced position, meaning the Rangers formation now resembled more of a 4-2-3-1.

Rangers almost capitalised when Edu scooped a delightful ball over the top for Naismith to run on to.  He controlled well but failed to steer his strike on target.

Perhaps surprisingly, Dundee United finished the half the stronger of the sides, choosing to press their opponents more as the half came to a close, and should have taken the lead from another set-piece opportunity.

Second half

Peter Houston sent his side out in a 4-5-0, more precisely 4-3-2-0, at the start of the second half with the original central midfield three restored.  Dalla Valle and Swanson were fielded wide but were given free rein to drift infield and across the attacking areas.

United now matched Rangers man-for-man in the centre of midfield once more and had wide men tracking back but, counterintuitively, conceded three chances in quick succession early in the second half, more than they had in the fifteen minutes they played with only two players in central midfield.

The home side had failed to create anything resembling a chance in this time and responded with another change in formation.  A few minutes before Rangers took the lead, Houston moved Dalla Valle back into a striking role with Swanson just behind in a 4-3-1-1 formation.  Swanson now looked to drop deep and collect the ball before launching attacks.

This left United vulnerable down the flanks, especially with the Rangers full-backs pushing on and it was no surprise that the Rangers goal came from a delivery from a wide area.

Gregg Wylde had stayed on the right side of the pitch following the breakdown of a corner and received the ball from Whittaker after he surged forward from the halfway line.  The young winger cut onto his left foot and sent a wonderful inswinging cross from deep.  Kyle Lafferty got in behind Watson before powering a header past the hapless Dusan Pernis.

It was the first, and only, good delivery Wylde managed in the entire match and must have persuaded his manager to at least consider deploying him on this side.  On the left he has the pace to beat most full-backs he comes up against, however, at speed he seems to lack the composure to pick out a teammate in the box.  Further, inswinging crosses seem to carry more of a threat when fired into the danger area.

Dundee United brought on the impressive Ryan Dow for Dalla Valle and pushed further up the pitch in an attempt to salvage something from the match.  They came close late on when a low, bobbling effort from Rankin shaved the outside of the post but they left themselves exposed and, in truth, were lucky not to concede again, especially when Steven Davis saw his shot come back off both posts.

Conclusion

The match was pretty even until Russell inexplicably got himself ordered off.  United then finished the half stronger but as soon as the second half was underway, it was pretty clear there was only going to be one winner.

Dundee United manager Peter Houston tinkered with his formation a few times after being reduced to ten men – he experimented, firstly, with a 4-4-1 before moving to a 4-3-2-0 at the start of the second half and finally with a 4-3-1-1 – but couldn’t prevent his side from conceding numerous chances.

Rangers were far more direct and attacking than they have been in their previous away matches this season, especially after going ahead.  In the matches versus St. Johnstone and Inverness, the defending champions have resorted to a counter-attacking approach after taking the lead.  Today, perhaps due to the fact their opponents were down to ten men, they continued to attack and were unlucky not to increase their margin of victory.

Rangers 1 Maribor 1 (2-3 on aggregate)

Rangers huffed and puffed against a mediocre Maribor side but failed to take enough of their chances to progress.  Maribor sat behind the ball for most of the ninety minutes and hit Rangers with a sucker-punch early in the second half, which proved decisive in the outcome of the tie.

Ally McCoist was without Lee McCulloch, Davie Weir, Sasa Papac, Jordan McMillan and Kyle Bartley through injury, and was also missing Steven Naismith and Steven Whittaker through suspension.  As well as this, Ross Perry was named on the bench, meaning that Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Kirk Broadfoot were restored to the starting line up as McCoist demonstrated his desire to field experience over youth.  They lined up in their usual 4-4-1-1 formation.

Maribor made one change from the 2-1 victory in Slovenia, Ales Mejac missed out and was replaced by Nejc Potokar at right-back.  They lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Zelko Filipovic sitting just ahead of the back four and Dalibor Volas dropping off Rober Beric in attack.  When in possession, the wide men of Maribor would come inside – like Villarreal’s interiores – and overload the central areas.

With a first-leg lead to protect, it was no surprise that Maribor’s strategy was to sit as many men behind the ball as possible while refusing to pressure their opponents unless they moved past the halfway line.

Rangers, on the other hand, looked to pass the ball out from the back – in a similar fashion to the win in Inverness – with Steven Davis the player dropping to collect the ball from the centre-backs.  And just like that match in the Highlands, Rangers lacked a cutting edge in front of goal

Their approach was to get Gregg Wylde on the ball as much as possible and two of his crosses in the first twenty minutes should have been converted.  Kyle Lafferty failed to commit himself to the first in the seventh minute, and Edu later sent his free header straight into the arms of Jasmin Handanovic.

Added to this, Rangers enjoyed a succession of corners but failed to take advantage of Maribor’s vulnerability in these situations.

Rangers’ injury woes were added to when Perry replaced Lee Wallace around five minutes before half-time.  The enforced change meant that Bocanegra was moved to the left-back and from that point on, Rangers missed the thrust Wallace had provided from that position and, relatedly, the support and overlap for Wylde.

Nikica Jelavic and Lafferty dovetailed throughout the first half, linked up well at times and between them created another two excellent opportunities that Lafferty squandered, one of which was a one-on-one with the goalkeeper on the stroke of half-time.

Second half

Whereas most of Rangers’ play in the first half was focused through Wylde on the left, two chances early in the second half were created down the right, both involving Kirk Broadfoot, which Lafferty and Davis failed to trouble Handanovic with.

Rangers were then made to regret their missed chances when Volas opened the scoring on fifty-five minutes. 

The few times Maribor found themselves in possession in advanced positions, their most dangerous player was Dejan Mezga – one of the interiors – who would start wide, drift inside to collect the ball and beat players.  He was fed half way inside the Rangers half and managed to draw three Rangers players towards him before slipping the ball to Aleds Mertelj.  The twenty-four year old then took advantage of the space afforded to him by the holdup play of Mezga and drove at the Rangers defence before finding Volas, who finished in the bottom corner.

If Maribor were not ultra-defensive before, a 1-0 lead (and 3-1 aggregate lead) meant that they were now, and with as many time-wasting tactics as possible thrown in.

Rangers panicked for a short spell but then soon settled into their passing that had brought about many opportunities until then.

One player who had been largely ineffective was Juan Manuel Ortiz and he was replaced by David Healy with just over twenty-minutes remaining.  Lafferty was moved out to the right but increasingly found himself in central positions alongside Jelavic and Healy as the match entered its final stages.

Rangers did manage to pull a goal back, when Bocanegra bundled in a Wylde corner, but a late rally couldn’t save their European blushes.  This time, of the chances created, Healy was the most culpable as he displayed a severe lack of composure when one-on-one with Handanovic.

Conclusion

McCoist’s tactics are hard to argue with: His side created enough chances to win two or three Europa League ties, they just failed to take them.

Rangers looked to get the ball wide to Wylde and hit their two large strikers with early crosses.  As well as this, Lafferty and Jelavic would take turns to drop deep and wide, link play and draw defenders out of position.

All this worked, it was the finishing that let them down.

In saying that, it wasn’t the most interesting match tactically.  Maribor sat ten men behind the ball in attempt to stifle Rangers.  It didn’t work as Rangers carved out several clear-cut opportunities.  Their Euro exit must be blamed on poor finishing, rather than a fantastic defensive performance from Maribor.

Inverness 0 Rangers 2

For the second consecutive league match, Rangers ground out a victory without performing to a high standard.  Post-match it was the refereeing decisions rather than the tactics or strategies of either side that were the main talking points, as Rangers relied on two contentious penalty decisions to secure victory.  Ross Tokely found himself ordered off for one of those decisions, despite winning the ball, although the home side were lucky they were not reduced to nine, possibly eight, men when two of their players already on yellow cards made reckless challenges.

In the absence of Sasa Papac, Lee McCulloch, Steven Whittaker and Kyle Lafferty and after the transfer of Madjid Bougherra to Qatari side Lekhwiya, Ally McCoist brought Kirk Broadfoot, Kyle Bartley and Jamie Ness into the side in a 4-3-3 formation.  Juan Manuel Ortiz and Steven Naismith began on either side of Nikica Jelavic in attack but looked to come narrow and link play.  Ness sat the deepest of the midfield three and dictated the play in the early stages of the match.

Inverness made one change from the 3-3 draw at East End Park last week, replacing the injured Kenny Gillet with Graeme Shinnie at left-back.  They lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Richie Foran leading the line.  Perhaps surprisingly, Gregory Tade began the match on the left side of midfield, a position he took up towards the end of the recent match versus Dunfermline, which meant that Jonny Hayes played just off Foran in attack.

The formations meant that Rangers enjoyed a man advantage in the centre of midfield, and with Ortiz and Naismith coming narrow, they enjoyed the vast majority of the possession.  The disappointing thing from a Rangers point of view was the unwillingness of their full-backs to take advantage of the space in front of them and provide overlaps, although this may have been wise due to the presence and pace of likes of Hayes and Aaron Doran.

Ness’s range of passing in the early stages of the match was excellent, whether a long diagonal, a slipped ball inside the full-back, or a simple sideways pass, he was at the centre of most of Rangers’ early attacks.

The problem for Rangers throughout the match was their finishing.  In fairness, they did have a goal erroneously chopped off with only three minutes played.  Had the goal stood, the match may have panned out differently.

Inverness’ strategy was to sit back and hit Rangers on the counter attack.  They enjoyed a lively spell in the first five minutes of the match, in which their front four were extremely fluid, but struggled to get the ball into advanced areas for a large part of the half following that.

After twenty minutes, the home side switched Tade with Hayes and began hitting more direct passes towards their now big front two.  After this the makeup of their attack was significantly more rigid but it did lead to them creating an excellent chance that Doran should have done better from.  They also missed the best chance of the half on the stroke of half time when Foran only just missed the ball at the back post.

Rangers lost Bartley to injury, stretching their already ultra-thin squad and meant that Ross Perry was brought on for his Rangers debut.

Second half

After an initial spell where Rangers’ play seemed to become a lot more rushed and direct, the match settled back into almost exactly the same rhythm as the first half: Rangers enjoying much of the possession but lacking any bite in attack.

Inverness had slowly crept more and more into the match but their efforts were dashed when Rangers were awarded a penalty, converted by Jelavic, around the hour mark.  Tokely appeared to win the ball although he clumsily entered the challenge two-footed, without doing so in a malicious manner.  The decision has already split opinion amongst pundits and on Twitter feeds, and even after watching the incident several times, I am still undecided myself.

The subsequent ordering off of Tokely meant that Tade was replaced by defender Tom Aldred and Hayes again moved just off Foran in attack in a 4-3-1-1 formation.

Within seven minutes Rangers had another penalty - another decision that will split opinion - which was this time saved by Ryan Esson, although Maurice Edu was on hand to slide the rebound into the net.

The match petered out to a close with little to remark upon other than another red card, this time for Edu for a second bookable offence.  Inverness could have seen their side reduced further when Piermayr and Tansey were let off for similar challenges whilst also carrying bookings.

The red card saw Rangers take a more defensive approach although they had two fantastic opportunities to increase their lead which were squandered by Steven Davis and Naismith respectively.

Conclusion

Not the most interesting match in terms of tactics or strategies and one that will be remembered for contentious decisions rather than the football.  McCoist was honest in his assessment of the match, pointing to the possession that Rangers managed but at the same time admitting their lack of potency.

Whether or not Rangers deserved their penalties, they certainly deserved the victory due to their dominance of possession and chances created.  One worry for Rangers will be their poor showing in front of goal – which, granted, may be a one off – but the main worry continues to be the lack of depth and quality in the squad as a whole.

Terry Butcher rightly felt aggrieved in his, at times hilarious, post-match interview and was correct to suggest that his side may well have taken something from the game had they not conceded the first penalty.  It is entirely conceivable that Rangers would have continued to frustrate in front of goal from open play, as evidenced by the chances they wasted at 2-0.