.Ryan Jack claims the increase in defensive opponents has been evident over Rangers’ last three matches.
Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw by Kilmarnock on Wednesday night. For long stages, they were the team in the ascendancy. Once again, however, they struggled to break the opposition down at Ibrox.
That’s now three matches in a row where Rangers have failed to come up the answers. Alfredo Morelos’ deflected goal last night was Rangers’ first goal in nearly five hours of competitive action.
Jack believes that there’s a simple explanation as to why things have gotten more difficult for Rangers recently. Speaking to the official club website, the Gers midfielder stated teams are now giving Rangers more respect.
“To be fair, the last three games, Spartak, Aberdeen and then Kilmarnock tonight, all three teams have been the same low-block and sitting back, letting us have possession and saying to us to go and break them down.
“We need to come up with the answers and we can’t just keep the ball and nothing happening. We are the ones on the pitch and we are the ones who need to come up with the answers.
“I am sure the next couple of days in training we will be working hard to make sure we are ready to answer it.”
A new challenge
There’s no denying that teams have given this Steven Gerrard team a bit more respect in recent times. Rangers were firing on all cylinders at the start of the season. Teams therefore know that they have to be wise defensively in order to stand any chance.
The problem for Rangers, however, is that they haven’t found that spark to break opposition blocks down. Jack knows it’s down to Rangers to find the answers, and this is one of the first big questions being asked of this Ibrox side.
The Gers side’s performances in European football have tended to be several notches above their domestic form. It’s becoming a huge frustration for Gerrard, who wants to see more goalscorers stepping up.
Rangers had previously won all of their domestic home matches under the manager. But last night was a tough lesson for the squad, who are now finding out that teams are starting to believe they have Rangers’ number.
It’s down to Gerrard and his players to start finding a plan B to break down these tough blocks. If they can’t, then they shouldn’t be at a club of this size.
