Rangers vs Club Brugges

The Champions League anthem will ring round Ibrox again with Tuesday’s play off tie vs Club Brugge, the first of two hurdles between Rangers and the Champions League - league phase.

So far Russell Martins new look side have failed to win over many supporters. Whilst we’ve seen some good moments, the side have also faltered badly at times, two points dropped to both Motherwell and Dundee causing frustration for supporters. One thing that musted be noted in amongst the turmoil, is that so far in Europe, Martins side has always found a way to get through. The question now is simple, are Brugge a step too far?

When we faced Club Brugge in preseason, they mostly played a 4-42 until near the end, when they switched up to a 3-4-3.

Since then they’ve played a range of formations, including 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 4-1-4-1. This shows a good level of flexibility in their approach to games, with formation changes by the game, however once in a setup, they normally see out the game in that same formation.

They only deviated from this in their second league game vs Mechelen, which they lost 2-1. In the three games since they’ve remained in the same shape. If Russell Martin sees his Rangers side struggling, he could look to exploit this by switching formation in game and see if the Belgian side can adapt.

In the last round, Brugge sat deep but moved the ball well round their team in the away leg (left below). They show a definite emphasis on their left wing, which means there will be a lot of pressure on the Rangers right back. Given Aarons is slightly more defensively minded I would expect him to start at right back to combat the Brugge threat.

The same left-wing dominance can be seen to a slightly lesser level but still very noticeable, on the Brugge home game vs Salzburg (right above)

Despite being the away side Club Brugge, in that first leg, had more of the possession at 52.85%, however this didn’t translate into attacking dominance, with only 11 shots and 5 of those being on target. It was enough though, with them winning 1-0 on the night.

Looking at the danger men from Brugge, first up is midfielder, Ludovit Reis. As shown on his player profile he is very strong on the defensive side of the game with high rankings in duels and defensive actions. He is usually deployed in a DM role, similar to how we deployed Raskin at the end of last season.

Next up is Christos Tzolis, who is currently being courted by EPL side, Crystal Palace. I would be surprised if Brugge let him go before the qualifier but if he isn’t available or his head has been turned this can only be positive for us. As seen in the profile below he is strong across most metrics and returned 16 goals and 8 assists last season.

Looking at Rangers, our best displays so far (perhaps unsurprisingly) have been in Europe. As much as some of the domestic stuff has been a tough watch, you would be hard pressed to find a fan who didn’t enjoy the first leg tie vs Viktoria Plzen. In that game we saw some excellent link ups and patterns of play, the only frustration with that is we’ve not seen it since in any stable fashion.

Looking at the first leg Plzen game we saw a real utilisation of both wings. Yes, the familiar passing round the back is present but there are equally strong links to the forward players.

Compare and contrast the home leg (left) with the away leg vs Plzen (right) and you can see we don’t hold nearly as much width in the forward areas. At home our wingers formed a front line, whereas in the away leg we were much more looking for a “focal point.” You can also see (by the thickness of the lines) how away from home our main passing lanes were much further back, looking more to contain the opposition than going out to beat them.

Against Brugge, we need to see a shape much more balanced, like the first leg of the previous round. Following the Alloa game, Russel Martin now has a decision to make. Does he go with the players who delivered that performance, Gassama and Antman? Or, given they’ve not been able to recreate that electric performance consistently since, does he look to swap one of them out with Mikey Moore?

Against Alloa Moore looked very bright. Obviously, it was a lower league opponent, so you can’t read too much into it, however Moore showed he’s not afraid to put in the hard yards, with a power of running and linking up nicely with Nedim Bajrami. He also showed a willingness to adapt, which as mentioned above could be a crucial part of the approach. In the first half he was cutting in a lot but when he came out with for the second half, he was notably holding a wider position, to try and stretch the game.

A lot of the team will pick itself but there could be a newcomer in the group as well. All the evidence suggests Jefte to Palmerias is a done deal and the Head Coach even confirmed there was discussions at an advanced stage for him. With Ridvan not registered and not training with the squad, alongside Robbie Fraser moving on a permanent deal to Dunfermline, we have no first team left back.

Martin also confirmed we were actively interested in Jayden Meghoma and you would hope we can get that over in time to register him as one of two permitted changes, up to 11pm the night before the game. If we can get that done, it wouldn’t be a massive stretch to expect a quick fire debut in Tuesdays game.

Looking at the overall line up, I think we will see some regulars return to action. Butland is almost guaranteed to come back in for Liam Kelly. At right back, as mentioned I would expect to see Aarons deployed for his defensive abilities. Centre back will likely revert to his first choice pairing of Souttar and Djiga and on the left, the afore mentioned Jayden Meghoma.

Going forward I think we will see Raskin deployed as the 6, with Diomande and Cameron in front of him. Bajrami has demonstrated his ability to be useful, however I expect the usual pairing to come back in for this. Moving forward a line, I think we will see Gassama and Antman back in for this one. Moore got some good minutes but those were his first minutes of the season and he will be an excellent option to bring on.

The real dilemma is who starts as the man up top. While it was good to see Hamza back, he is also still working up to full match sharpness and maybe not ready to start this one. Danilo is just not working so far. As much as he has tried it’s just not been happening for him since the competitive stuff kicked off. That leaves Dessers, if he is fit. The man who is either good or awful and nothing in between. Whilst many might be frustrated by him walking back in, the truth is there isn’t any true competition at this time, until Igamane is fully up to speed so I think it will be the Nigerian who gets the nod.

Looking at a prediction for this one, I am going to go for a narrow, 2-1 win for Rangers. Whilst the form hasn’t been great, they’ve always managed to find a way somehow!