Malmö 0-2 Rangers: We'll miss you

I think my match preview yesterday sat right in the middle in terms of optimism and pessimism. However, even in my most optimistic version of that preview, I don't know if I would have predicted a game like last night.

We notched up our best performance this season with an extremely comfortable 2-0 victory at the Eleda stadium last night. The scoreline actually belies the true nature of the game, Malmo could not touch us, it should have been much more.

As the game got under way, we actually worked it out well from the back, it ended up with a Malmo throw in, it went to the left back, we pressed him back, he made an arse of the back pass(maybe they should have started Martin Olsson?), Dessers got onto it, took it round the keeper, hits the post from the narrow angle. And who was arriving? Nedim Bajrami, couldn't have asked for an easier first Rangers goal.

That really set the tone for the evening, we kept our compact 442 shape out of possession, but we weren't afraid to get higher up the pitch, forcing Malmo to play over or around us. Normally our press can feel very passive, and I think this was maybe the first time this season we've been very aggressive in our positioning, especially away from home.

It certainly paid dividends, we consistently won possession in midfield after forcing Malmo to play it into crowded areas. When we had to contest duels I thought we looked strong, especially Diomande, who would be in for a shout of man of the match for me. I asked for him to start and was very pleased with how he performed.

I was also really pleased with how we didn't let the crowd get on top of us. After the early goal you'd expect the home side to come back at us, roared on by the crowd. But we used that aggression against them, we allowed them to foul us repeatedly whenever we looked under pressure, sometimes we pushed them back and let Malmo play it into nowhere. All this helped turn the atmosphere into one of frustration, and I thought you could see that in the Malmo players.

When we got the ball, I thought our shape looked more akin to a 4141 rather than the 4231 we've been used to. At times Kasanwirjo inverted into midfield and it seemed more of a 3241 shape. I thought our build-up really benefitted from having that structure, consistently we drew the Malmo press on and managed to find Diomande, Lawrence or Bajrami in the pockets.

Malmo's only real moment of note in the first half was an offside goal from a free kick, which was almost comedically far offside. I enjoyed Ally's reaction on co-comms, "He's GOT to be offside".

I thought there was occasions when we could have been more ambitious going forward, Cerny made some great runs and we seemed reluctant to play it in behind. Although I don't think our safety first approach caused us many issues.

I don't think I have enough words to detail every chance we created and missed, Bajrami cut inside and had a shot, Cerny missed a 1 on 1, Dessers missed a 1 on 1 and Kasanwirjo missed a glorious chance near the very end of the game.

Tav sent a long ball forward, Dessers fought for it but it was headed down into an area around the edge. Young McCausland appeared, got in ahead of the Malmo midfielder, controlled the ball on his chest before slotting a very nice finish in off the near post. Credit to him for a great strike on his weaker foot

And with that the game was done, 3 points and we were heading up the road. I've already mentioned Diomande for his performance, but there's some other individuals worth mentioning. Kasanwirjo had an absolutely superb full debut, full of energy, defensively solid and kept it simple while also positive in possession, when you consider that he isn't even a left back, I'm very excited to see more from him.

I think we are running out of superlatives for Connor Barron at this point, it's a cliché that young players improve every game, but that's what's unfolding right in front of our eyes. Much was made (including by me) of his early performances, but after a tough Old Firm debut away at Celtic park, the hype died a little. For me, I'm actually more impressed at the way he's risen to the challenge since then, we've seen many a young player stall despite a promising start. He showed a real zip to his passing going forward at Tannadice. I can't comment too much on his performance against Dundee but from what I saw he looked class. Considering he maybe looked a bit rash away to Kyiv early in the season, last night he was cool and composed, calm on the ball as always but his risks off the ball were more calculated. If he keeps adding strings to his bow and working on his flaws I see him being a stalwart in the Rangers engine room for years to come.

Nadim Bajrami looked every inch the Albanian Messi with some of his touches and passes. It's been a long time since we've had a player as intelligent as him in the final third. Considering he's not particularly fast or an athletic monster, his use of space and his great technical ability on the ball gives us great variety going forward. I was someone that was frustrated by seeing him on the left at Tannadice, but sometimes you see players that can genuinely play anywhere, and he seems like one of them. He was involved in all of our good moves in the final third and I'm really excited to see him settle properly into this Rangers team.

It's nice to have something to be positive about when it comes to Rangers. Last night felt like a game when we can all be pleased with what we saw, and hope that we can really build on that.

Clement was keen to state that while that was our best game of the season so far, it shouldn't stay that way. Obviously good to hear, but we will wait and see in the coming weeks.

Our main concern was unfortunately Tav continuing to look like he's running with concrete boots on. Perhaps Kasanwirjo's performance might convince the manager to rest Tav on occasion.

That's all I've got for today, I hope the Malmo fans managed to catch the Juvenile train home. I'll be back on Sunday with a preview of the Hibs game.