Rangers’ tactics against Villarreal may have already been hinted at by Steven Gerrard, but is he correct in his approach?
The Gers manager claimed his side won’t sit back and look to take a point from El Madrigal. instead, Rangers want to win the game and grab their first group stage win in Europe since returning to the Premiership.
It’s an extremely positive attitude to take heading into the game, and, simply put, Gerrard is spot on. They have to take advantage of Villarreal’s recent vulnerability.
The Yellow Submarine secured their first win of the season yesterday at Leganes. It wasn’t an impressive performance, just a 1-0 success in fact, but it gets them off and running domestically. This means they’ll come into this one with at least a shred of confidence. If goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo’s comments are to be taken seriously, however, Villarreal fancy themselves for qualification.
There’s not much doubt about how Rangers should line-up at El Madrigal. James Tavernier and Borna Barisic will marshal the wing-back positions, with Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic in front of Allan McGregor.
Ryan Jack and Ovie Ejaria are struggling with injuries ahead of the clash, but Ejaria should make it. He’s one of Rangers’ biggest influences, but it could be wise to leave him out of this one as he continues to develop.
In recent times, Ejaria has sometimes given the ball away to carelessly in midfield. With the likes of Santi Cazorla in the Villarreal squad, those kinds of mistakes can’t be prominent on Thursday night.
The 4-1-4-1
Gerrard could resort to the 4-1-4-1 formation he fielded against Dundee on Saturday, and probably should be the way to go. Andy Halliday can anchor that holding role in place of Jack, whilst Lassana Coulibaly and Scott Arfield can both drop back if necessary.
Away from home, Rangers need to shift from defence to attack and vice-versa extremely quickly. If they don’t Villarreal will catch them cold.
Having good ball control in the midfield is essential. Therefore, having that trio in there would be the right way to line-up.
Up top, it would’ve been a toss of a coin between Kyle Lafferty and Alfredo Morelos. Both simply couldn’t play at the same time unless of a desperate situation. Morelos deserved this chance to shine given he was there for every single qualifier. But his silly red card against Ufa rules him out through suspension
Being direct will give the El Madrigal side problems, and Lafferty could be the better man to have if this is the train of thought.
A 4-1-4-1 formation with an adaptable midfield is the right way to line-up in Spain on Thursday night. Will Gerrard do so? It’s anyone’s guess.
