It is fair to say that the season has not gone to plan for Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, after their latest defeat to Hibernian last weekend.
The Gers are 13 points adrift of their city rivals at the top of the table, with just six matches left to play, and are set to miss out on the title for the fourth year running.
Barry Ferguson was brought in to replace Philippe Clement on an interim basis until the end of the season and has already lost two of his five Premiership matches in charge of the club to date.
The campaign is not completely over for the Light Blues, though, as they remain a contender in the Europa League, with a clash with Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox coming up on Thursday.
Ferguson has a chance to etch his name in Rangers history, as a manager rather than a player this time, by delivering success on the European stage, and he could look to draw inspiration from Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s run to the final in 2022.
The Dutchman led Rangers to the final, only to lose to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties, and one of the key stars in that campaign was winger Ryan Kent.
Why Ryan Kent was a key player for Rangers
The English forward, who currently plays for Seattle Sounders in the MLS, was a pivotal player for van Bronckhorst and Rangers over the years, particularly in that Europa League run.
In the 2021/22 campaign, Kent started 12 of his 13 appearances in Europe and contributed with one goal, five ‘big chances’ created, and three assists from a left wing position.
This shows that the former Liverpool winger provided an excellent creative threat for Rangers in the Europa League, which is what he did throughout his Gers career in all competitions.
Kent typically played down the left wing and had the ability to either go down the outside on his weaker left foot or to chop inside to make things happen on his strong foot, causing constant problems for opposition full-backs.
22/23
44
3
10
21/22
46
3
19
20/21
52
13
14
19/20
33
8
4
18/19
43
6
9
As you can see in the table above, Kent was an incredibly creative player in his final three seasons at Ibrox, whilst his goalscoring output decreased, with 43 assists in those three campaigns combined.
This shows that Rangers could rely upon the English attacker to create openings for his teammates on a consistent basis at the top end of the pitch, which played a key role in their run to the Europa League final run under van Bronckhorst.
The Light Blues lost 2-0 to Hibernian last time out and creating chances from the attacking midfield positions was an issue for Ferguson’s side.
Why Rangers need to change their starting line-up
Vaclav Cerny, Mohamed Diomande, and Hamza Igamane lined up in the three attacking midfield roles behind Cyriel Dessers in the loss to Hibs, with Cerny on the right, Diomande in the middle, and Igamane on the left.
Unfortunately, though, they only created three chances and one ‘big chance’ between them, along with zero shots on target, and that is why Ferguson must consider making changes to his XI ahead of the clash with Athletic Bilbao on Thursday.
Igamane started on the left but the change that the manager should make is to move him centrally and to drop Cyriel Dessers from the team, opening up that position on the flank.
Appearances (starts)
10 (7)
8 (4)
xG
5.41
1.16
Goals
3
4
Big chances missed
9
0
Conversion rate
17%
31%
Assists
2
1
As you can see in the table above, the Morocco international has significantly outperformed the Nigerian forward in the Europa League this season and appears to be the best option to start in the centre-forward role, due to his clinical finishing ability.
Dropping Dessers to play Igamane through the middle would then provide Ferguson with the chance to unearth his own version of Ryan Kent by playing Nedim Bajrami on the left flank against Athletic Bilbao.
Why Nedim Bajrami could be the new Ryan Kent
The Albania international, who made the move to Ibrox on a permanent deal from Sassuolo last summer, has only played 31 minutes across the last two Premiership matches, but he has the potential to be Kent 2.0 if given an opportunity to start.
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Bajrami has played 33 times for Rangers in the Europa League and the Premiership combined for the Light Blues this term and has only racked up three goals and one assist in that time.
You would not immediately compare him to Kent based on those statistics, as he has only delivered one assist in 33 games, but his underlying statistics suggest that he has been incredibly unfortunate this season.
The 26-year-old playmaker has created ten ‘big chances’ in those matches and has only been rewarded with one assist, which shows that his teammates have let him down with their wasteful finishing rather than it being a case of him lacking creativity in his play.
Bajrami, whose footwork was described as “magnificent” by Willie Miller, was compared to Kent by Kris Boyd earlier this season, as the ex-Gers forward wrote that they offer similar qualities on the left flank, creating space for others by cutting in from the left flank.
Appearances (starts)
9 (8)
Goals
1
Key passes
14
Big chances created
6
Pass accuracy
82%
Dribbles completed per game
1.9
Dribble success rate
65%
As you can see in the table above, the Albanian whiz has been incredibly creative in the Europa League, but has not been rewarded with assists because of poor quality finishing from others.
In fact, Bajrami has created more ‘big chances’ for the team than Kent did in four more appearances during van Bronckhorst’s Europa League run, which illustrates how impressive his creativity has been.
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Therefore, Ferguson can find his own version of the English forward by unleashing the ex-Serie A playmaker on the left flank, whilst moving Igamane into the middle, because of his creative quality, cutting in on his right foot from the left.
