Analysis Corner: McInnes left tactically wanting again vs Rangers
By Dougie Wright (@dougie_wright)
On Sunday afternoon, Rangers recorded a 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Despite going down to ten men on the hour mark, the Ibrox side took the three points to propel them up to second place in the table.
Much of the credit for Rangers’ win must go to caretaker Graeme Murty in how he employed the right personnel and tactics to overcome Aberdeen for the second time in the space of a week. Here’s how he did it:
David Bates: Functional Defender
David Bates was one of Pedro Caixinha’s first projects as Rangers manager. The 21 year old from Kirkcaldy debuted under the Portuguese manager in April and would play all but one of Rangers’ league matches after that point. However, after Rangers signed Bruno Alves and Fabio Cardoso in the summer, Bates hadn’t played a minute before Sunday.
Pep Guardiola would probably hate David Bates. The centre back has virtually no interest in building up play from the back, and will rarely, if ever, dribble with the ball.
However, what he lacks in sophistication, he makes up with efficacy.
In eight attempts, Adam Rooney only got past him once.
Ok, he booted the ball away ten times, but Rangers under Murty are not a side looking to develop a specific football philosophy- they’re there to pick up as many points as possible through means fair or foul. David Bates was the embodiment of that on Sunday.
Why does Rangers’ diamond work?
Much was written at the start of the season (mostly by me) about Rangers’ version of the 4-4-2. A throwback to the 90s, it involved two flying wingers paired with two strikers. What could possibly go wrong?
A lot. Two wide wingers meant that the central midfield duo were often isolated, whilst Rangers’ fullbacks (through whom the Ibrox club channelled most of their attacking threat under Warburton) often ended up getting in the wingers’ way.
Rangers switch to a diamond with onrushing fullbacks was the perfect remedy to this.
Where the centre was previously held by Ryan Jack and Graham Dorrans, now opponents have to get through McCrorie, Jack, Holt, Peña and even Kenny Miller. As such, Rangers were not caught on the counter attack once in the two games against Aberdeen.
Furthermore, it forced Aberdeen to bring their players more central. This was a problem because this Aberdeen side did not have that many central players.
Shinnie is a converted fullback, Scott Wright is a winger, Shay Logan’s a right back and Adam Rooney’s a striker. Therefore, of the Aberdeen “midfield”, only Kenny McLean was an out and out central midfielder.
It is a truism in football that if you control the centre, you control the game. Rangers stacking the deck in this area allowed them to do just that.
Ryan Jack vs. Graeme Shinnie
On his return to Aberdeen, Ryan Jack was always going to be one of the game’s biggest focal points. Graeme Shinnie, the man who replaced Jack as Aberdeen captain, was to go head to head with the Rangers midfielder in the centre of the park.
The Rangers man won this battle pretty comfortably. Jack didn’t misplace a single pass in the first half, having more touches and passes than any other player on the park. Jack was a metronome for the away side, controlling the pace of the game expertly. Indeed, only Aberdeen’s Andy Considine had more touches than his former captain, despite staying on the pitch for 40 minutes longer!
Shinnie, on the other hand, went in for ten tackles and only won two of them. After picking up an early booking, a rash challenge on Jason Holt left the Aberdeen captain lucky to be on the park. After this, Shinnie was noticeably subdued.
When Jack was sent off early in the second half, Rangers stopped looking to progress the play and focused on keeping Aberdeen out. Of Rangers’ 82 final third entries, just 19 came during the second half as Rangers’ changed to a defensive game. Indeed, a top class free kick to half the arrears was the best that the hosts could muster against the Rangers ten.
Where does it leave the managers?
When Murty first took interim charge of Rangers in February, he put a shaky start behind him to gain credible results against St Johnstone and Celtic. So it has proven again this time round. Six points against Aberdeen has certainly given the board and the careaker time to breathe.
As for McInnes, this is yet another crunch game where he has been found wanting tactically. Especially given they faced the same opponents four days earlier, the lack of clear cut opportunities his side created from open play was damning.
In any case, the race for second is suddenly wide open again.
For more analysis like this, follow Dougie on Twitter (@dougie_wright)