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Dundee United 0-1 Rangers: More of the same

  • Writer: Adam Bortkiewicz
    Adam Bortkiewicz
  • Sep 16, 2024
  • 4 min read

So, we won. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed much of the match yesterday. 3 points is 3 points and all that, but, still.


We started the game positively, we had control of the ball and consistently pushed United back with some direct and quick passing through the lines. Barron had a great game overall and he was really setting the tempo with his quick passes forward that had the opposition turning back towards their own goal.


Cortes lost a physical duel with Stephenson very early on and I wondered if it would take him some time to get up to speed with the pace of the game. But he showed no signs of being discouraged and continued to pick up the ball in good areas and look to drive inside.


The goal came after Dio won a header outwide and knocked it in-field. Cortes moved it on to Dessers who smartly laid it off to Lawrence, he drove forward from just inside the United half. He got a bit of luck when the ball ricocheted between him and the defender and landed back at his feet, but he showed good composure to dink the onrushing keeper.


And after all the worry around the lineup (my own included) we were a goal to the good. And that was the end of the game, thanks for reading.


.... you're still here? Well I suppose I can try talk about the rest of the game.


I wondered if given our recent scudding of the hapless Staggies we would maybe try and build on this goal. But no, we stalled. Suddenly the opposition had some half chances and seemed keen to get forward. We squandered some opportunities here and there, but it was clear we weren't exactly gunning for a second goal.


Half time came and went and we got our first look at Nadim Bajrami, on for Cortes at the break. He was sold a bit short for his debut in my eyes. We asked him to play out on the left, which he can do and did over the international break, but that doesn't make him a winger. He's clearly a player that needs movement around him, and with the glacial Lawrence, pondering Dowell and a sluggish Dessers upfront, he wasn't going to get that.


Even with that he had a couple of nice touches and I thought he positioned himself really well to receive the ball. On occasion Jefte got beyond him and things opened up and you could see the vision of him playing on the left. But I think, given our personnel, he should be deployed as the 10 with two actual wingers either side going forward.


Jefte was another positive from the game, he drove down the left constantly, was calm on the ball and seemed to always get his cross into the box.


Back to the game itself, it took up the pattern we've come to expect under Clement. Dundee United changed their approach with a switch to a back 4, and we seemed to have no answer. I understand that they have used a back 3 for most games this season, but surely the first thing written under that on the tactics board should be "how will we adapt to them changing to a 4?"


But no, clearly that bit of pre-match prep eluded Clement and the team. We really struggled to do much that second half, at one point I looked at the clock assuming it was going to be late in the game given the way we were struggling, but no, it was the 65th minute.


Phil finally responded by bringing on Sterling and Raskin for the struggling Dowell and the okay Diomande. It shored us up a little but we still lacked purpose going forward. That changed when Igamane was introduced for Dessers. His touch and turn to bring down a long ball before running at the defence and laying off Lawrence was something we haven't seen from a Rangers forward since Morelos.


Given the lack of positives this season, I think we can allow ourselves to get excited about the young Moroccan. I liked Phil's comment about us needing to sign him now or we wouldn't be able to afford him in a year's time. It reminded me of Arsene Wenger talking about Rob Holding years ago.


Hopefully Hamza can achieve slightly more success at Rangers than Holding managed at Arsenal.


Despite Igamane's bright moments, we still essentially limped over the line. 3 points is 3 points, but we have to ask questions of the Managers decision to start Dowell over a fully fit Bajrami who would surely have been a better option even if we had to shuffle the pack a little.


It's a real theme of our performances under Clement that we can never seem to build on a positive start. Obviously Phil isn't asking them to shrink into themselves when we score, but clearly some part of the set up and approach encourages that behaviour. Mikel Arteta had a similar problem at Arsenal in his third season and it took him 6 or 7 games to remedy the issue. It might just require a slight shift in mentality when we take the lead.


Not to end on another negative note, but the insistence on playing out from the back with Butland clearly not being capable in the short areas is a failure of the manager. We saw Celtic work around Joe Hart's lack of capability with his feet but excluding him from the build up at the earliest opportunity, whereas we seem to be asking Butland to do more and more every game. I don't think it's sustainable, he had a few close calls yesterday and the manager needs to find a workaround, because I don't like the thought of a full Ibrox reacting to our keeper laying off an opposition striker inside our own box.


We take on Dundee on Saturday in our return to Ibrox. Hopefully that can give us a real lift, because at the moment we look like we could do with one.

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