Analysis – are Rangers fans right to criticise John Lundstram?

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Analysis – are Rangers fans right to criticise John Lundstram?
210803 John Lundstram of Rangers looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League qualifying match between Malmö FF and Rangers on August 3, 2021 in Malmö. Photo: Petter Arvidson / BILDBYRAN / kod PA / PA0261 fotboll football soccer fotball champions league kval qualifying round qualification rangers malmö ff bbeng depp *** 210803 John Lundstram of Rangers looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League qualifying match between Malmö FF and Rangers on August 3, 2021 in Malmö Photo Petter Arvidson BILDBYRAN kod PA PA0261 fotboll football soccer fotball champions league kval qualifying round qualification rangers malmö ff bbeng depp, PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxSWExNORxAUT Copyright: PETTERxARVIDSON BB210803PA096

As we all know, while he came to Ibrox with a heck of a decent CV, midfielder John Lundstram is yet to live up to those expectations and has become a bit of a maligned figure in his early days at the club.

Fans haven’t been overly impressed with his lack of impact in midfield, for despite his colossal frame and large physique, his presence in the middle has come nowhere near the clout his appearance suggests.

If we look at his stats, do they back this up?

Let’s look at his biggest domestic outing – the loss to Utd.

In terms of touches, of our three main mids, alongside Kamara and Davis, he was on the ball only marginally less than Kamara (57 touches to 66) but miles less than Davis on 95.

His passing quality, however, was superior to both and he managed more key passes than either of them as well. He also managed more passes overall than Kamara.

And purely statistically his score that day was better than either of them as well, 6.42 compared with 6.35 and 6.17.

If we look at stats alone, then he’s actually delivered better than how he appears, but Lundstram’s big issue is lack of obvious mobility and presence. That day, unlike both Kamara and Davis who both freely roamed all three midfield flanks, Lundstram largely remained isolated on the left, and didn’t really get into the heart of midfield to the extent. His heatmap reveals his hanging mainly on one side while the other two covered more ground.

And if we add his lack of physicality at this stage, of obviously using his body to his advantage like Morelos does, it means he looks like he’s doing less.

Fans like to see sexy football, to see players roll their sleeves up and work hard – and when a player doesn’t ‘look’ like any of these, it doesn’t go down so well.

Lundstram has plenty time to win fans over, but he might just need to get noisier on the pitch to achieve that.

All in good time.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. I’m sorry, we don’t have time, we need the best players and Lundstram is an absolute donkey, but l blame SG for not improving the squad and getting rid of more dead wood when we had the chance there, another 1 or 2 injuries and we are down to the absolute bare bones

    • Hold on a minute, Rangers are still recovering from being in Scotland and the anti Rangers stance. Gerrard has brought the club back to winning the league on a budget. Lundstram will pay off later in the season. He does not go down easy and can stand up to the hammer throwers.

  2. first comment about lundstram saying he is a donkey what does that make ryan kent a fuckin ass as he has not produced since coming back all these arseholes saying he is the best player in the team that is is a joke just like kent could not beat a fish supper yet gerrard still keeps playing him if fans think that kent is our best player then it just shows you how far we have fallen fans commenting that kent is better than laudrup and gasgoine then they are really needing to stay off the drugs when he is a waste of a jersey some of you lot on here need to get a reality check none of this squad would get holding the jersey,s or making the tea for the nine in a row team i know they stopped 10 in a row but this must be the worst rangers team to win a title get off lundstram,s back the guy,s just arrived we have had to put up with tavernier for the last 6 years and he has only played for the last 4 months where has he been for the last 5 and a half years kent has failed to decieve so has goldson and these three are still playing shite and still being guaranteed a game over better players by gerrard ie patterson helander and our manager for the money he has spent don,t let us sugar coat this i trophy in 4 years not good enough for a rangers manager considering the amount of money and wages that he has sanctioned on this average team not disputing stopping 10 in a row but the way celtic were playing at the start of the season a pub team could have stopped 10 in a row

    • Just so we’re clear, you think the best way to show someone they’re wrong for criticising Lundstram is to instead smear Ryan Kent. Ok…

  3. It’s great to see Rangers fans still wallowing in the glory of 55. By the sound of it we should’ve been relegated last season. As for Lundstram give the guy, and all our guys, a chance. We are just a few games into the new season and in case you’ve forgotten our last game was yet another win against Celtic who by common consent were “absolutely Flying”.

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