Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Glasgow Rangers followed up their exit from the Champions League with a disappointing 2-1 defeat to St. Johnstone in the Premiership on Sunday.
The Light Blues had a remarkable 12 corners and 17 shots in the first half without breaking the deadlock as the hosts stood strong at the back.
Is Gio the right man to lead Rangers forward?
No
St. Johnstone took the lead in the 42nd minute as Ben Davies gave the ball away on the edge of his own box before his subsequent block fell for James Brown to rifle a phenomenal strike into the top corner from distance.
They made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute as Nicky Clarke beat Borna Barisic at the front post to poke the ball past Allan McGregor, before James Tavernier pulled one back with just over 15 minutes left to play.
Whilst Davies’ sloppy play played a huge role in the home side taking the lead in the first half, which gave them something to hold onto for the rest of the match, the real villain of the match for van Bronckhorst was attacking midfielder Malik Tillman.
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Rangers had plenty of opportunities to take the lead at 0-0 and then equalise at 1-0 down but failed to make the most of the situations they found themselves in, with the Bayern Munich loanee being one of the biggest culprits.
His individual display summed up the team’s performance as he showed signs of promise in the build-up before letting himself down with the final action.
In 61 minutes on the pitch, Tillman did not complete a single long pass and failed with his only attempted cross, whilst only getting the better of a defender in one of his three dribble attempts – as per SofaScore.
He left a lot to be desired on the ball as he gave possession away 15 times from 39 touches and only completed 73% of his attempted passes. The midfielder turned well to create space for himself at times but was then unable to produce a quality pass to give the likes of Antonio Colak and Ryan Kent a chance to score.
Tillman also struggled with the physicality of the game as he lost ten of his 14 individual duels (71%). This shows that he was a lightweight in the middle of the park as St. Johnstone’s players were able to outmuscle him for the majority of his battles.
Therefore, he was the real villain for van Bronckhorst. Indeed, St. Johnstone may not have had the opportunity to score their goals if he had provided quality in the final third to help Rangers take the lead.
