Ever since Rangers struggled to break Dumbarton down at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium, managing a 2-1 victory in the end, many have questioned the whole ‘scoring’ concept – have teams got ‘wise’ to Rangers? Have the scorelines reflected a new tactic being employed by opponents to contain Mark Warburton’s side’s threat? Are the big numbers a thing of the past for the Ibrox men?
Well let us take a look at the numbers of the five matches prior to that win in West Dumbartonshire, and compare them to the five since.
Prior to Dumbarton, 19 goals were scored – 14 versus Hibs, Queens, Raith and Livingston in the league & five v Airdrieonians in the League Cup. Just one goal was conceded.
Since the Dumbarton match:
11 goals scored – 9 v Queens, Falkirk and Morton, one v the thuggish Livi in the Petrofac Cup and one v St Johnstone (the sole defeat all season). Five conceded, but three in the one match.
The average has gone down from 3.8 per match to 2.2. However, it is critical to note that of all the first six matches of Rangers’ competitive season, only two of them managed more than three goals. The rich ‘glut’ goal period was actually isolated to three matches in a row where Rangers scored 15 in 3 – Airdrionians, Queens and Raith – the very same period which boasts that 3.8 average scoreline from Wednesday 26th August to September 5th.
During those three games, Rangers exceeded expectations, but general scorelines this season have not reached those heights. Indeed, all season, Rangers have scored three or less goals ten times. In 16 matches, that is the clear majority.
It really is lovely when Rangers collect a bucketload of goals, but rather than the question being ‘are those days a thing of the past’, the analysis reveals they already were the exception rather than the norm.
They are likely to happen again, but it will be as fleeting as it always was.
Rangers have played some great stuff but teams have now worked out how to thwart us. An eleven man defence is very hard to break down but it is clear if anything happens to Waghorn we will be in trouble. It is also clear that we want to walk the ball into the back of the net instead of varying our options with strikers and mid field players shooting from outside of the box when a chance occurs instead of trying to make the impossible pass.
Big goal gluts are definitely a thing of the past, it's impossible to score goals against teams who are negative and string ten men across the box.
It could have been 3 or 4 last night. They were very unlucky in first half when ball was cleared off line.
I thought young barrie mckay was our most creative player against livingston last night and does the same job for rangers as raheem sterling did for liverpool and now man city,they're very similar in style imo,I closely watched mckay at ibrox last night and he has a very good first touch with terrific pace,he's going to be an absolute star for us in the future
Im more concerned at hallidays loss of form
It's just a matter of getting an early goal against these teams to force them out. If we get it we will score more.
Comments are closed.