Revealed: the real reason Rangers dropped points at Tynecastle

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Revealed: the real reason Rangers dropped points at Tynecastle


Rangers learned a lot about themselves yesterday – the cliché proven true once again, as we lick our wounds at what went wrong in a match we really should have won comfortably.

While we’ll pore over the post-mortem of events at Tynecastle over the next while, there was a huge standout revelation yesterday.

It was something Ibrox Noise discussed a few weeks ago, about how tactically Rangers don’t really have a formation as such, and instead it relies on movement and filling holes to work.

And the biggest success of that system, of the way Gerrard plays – Ryan Jack.

As we mentioned in the same entry, he is by far the best at playing this system, whereby he fills gaps left by others and covers the holes brilliantly, as well as filling up front and supporting attack.

And his void yesterday was one of the biggest reasons Rangers were unable to get any sort of purchase during the 90.

You see, none of Joe Aribo, Steven Davis or Glen Kamara played bad matches – in fact our ratings suggest all of them were fairly good. But this alone wasn’t enough for the overall system – the system of possession that the manager prefers. We can nitpick later at all the other problems which materialised yesterday, but the absence of Ryan Jack may have been the biggest of all.

With no Jack, it was left to no one in particular to fill those gaps – Aribo, Davis and Kamara all took a reasonable amount of responsibility on themselves at trying to plug the holes off the ball, but in doing so, Rangers’ midfield was unable to dominate possession and dictate the flow of the game.

Furthermore, James Tavernier was again exposed by no Jack, as he was v Young Boys – with the first goal it was just dreadfully inept defending from the captain, but the second was after Jack was gone and Tavernier found himself completely exposed in a much higher position than he would normally be. He wildly slid in and got it all wrong.

And yesterday again the edge of the box was utterly exposed with no Jack there to cover it, this time Tavernier blundered with a horrendously timed header, something Jack would have certainly nailed.

In short, Ryan Jack is critical to how Rangers play, and crucially, defend – there is zero coincidence two of the three goals conceded in the past three matches have been without him on the pitch.

He is not the only reason Rangers failed to win yesterday, it goes deeper than that – but there’s no doubt his presence on the pitch would have made Rangers much, much stronger.

We miss him.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Got to agree. Didn't think Jack would be a regular this season but he proved me wrong. Been our best player and is now vital to the team.

  2. I agree with you, we miss Ryan Jack big time. He is the player who has improved most under the guidance of Gerrard, and arguably must be one of the first names on the team sheet when he is fit.
    Despite having a strong choice of midfielders, there is no-one who fills in and plugs the gaps nearly as well as Jack does.
    Fingers crossed he is fit for Thursday…

  3. we have to be able to adapt when we lose a big player,somebody else has to stand up in their place.maybe Greg Docherty would've done the job.

  4. You missed the point about the goals conceded three goals were down to Taveniers mistakes he was abysmal again yesterday and as for us approaching Liverpool to sign Ojo on a permanent deal the guy is a man short in every game no guts no effort its time for Gerrard to stand up and be counted and drop the two of them

  5. I have to agree Ryan is a critical member of the team and fits the system. He has grown in stature and ability , but more especially in maturity. Looking back on his early arrival and disgraceful hatred he suffered fro Sheep Fanciers and so called Scottish Fans , shocking. He has risen above this and is creating his own and Rangers Destiny . I would make him Captain . I would add however , and I'm serious, Greg Docherty should considered in this role when Ryan is injured or unavailable . Let's suck it up from yesterday We were total pish ! So we should learn and move forwards.

  6. Spot on lads,just not the same team without him, if the rest of the team had his desire for the cause we would still be top of the league

  7. It's no coincidence in our bad results there is always a tav changer involved. He has never been a defender but even his crosses / free kicks are awful. Time for a rest , along with ojo and arfield

  8. Playin with 10 men is the problem
    Ojo would not get a game for liverpools 5 th team game after game a man short

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