Match Ratings – Legia Warsaw 0-0 Rangers

folder_openMatch Ratings

The Europa League Group Stages are in sight for Rangers for the second season in a row, with only Legia Warsaw standing in our way. With an atmosphere in Poland that was predictably intense, our squad handled themselves well and came away with a respectable result in a one off tie, however the lack of an away goal does put that extra bit of pressure on the team going into the return leg at Ibrox. As a unit we looked solid, but as always there would be stand outs, particularly defensively.

Allan McGregor – 8
Made a couple of important stops over the course of the game and kept himself sharp during the periods that he wasn’t busy. Sometimes when keepers make those parried saves they often put themselves into more bother with the direction they move the ball to, however McGregor always seems to make the right decisions in this respect, and he certainly did so here.

James Tavernier – 7
Thought you could see a lot of his improvements regarding his leadership. If there are any supporters who still believe he is not captaincy material, look at his communication, particularly when defending set pieces. Did lose his man for Legia’s best open play chance, but fortunately that came to nothing.

Connor Goldson – 7
The biggest threat the Warsaw side had was from set plays. They have a very good free kick taker, and big guys looking to get on the end of his crosses. So it was a big night for our central defence. For me, Goldson had some good moments but wasn’t fully dominant.

Nikola Katic – 8 – Man of the Match
A man who was fully dominant was big Niko. This game must have really excited him, going up against an international team mate, and knowing he was going to be heading and attacking the ball a lot. He absolutely embraced this challenge, and was unlucky not to score a goal too. For these type of matches, a defender is more often going to stand out, which is why he gets my man of the match.

Jon Flanagan – 8
That tackle. Simple as that. Yes, there were occasions were passes would go astray, that’s becoming a bit of a norm now, but as a defender Flanagan, I think, had his best game for us. And to put in a challenge like he did and execute as well as that, you have to be a very confident defender to pull that off, it was a match saving moment.

Ryan Jack – 8
Certainly felt that he controlled his area of the pitch, bringing the ball out, looking for options, and looked solid in the challenge. Keeping his game a lot simpler of late has made such a good difference in how he looks on the field, he continues to look excellent since that epiphany.

Steven Davis – 7
In the first half Davis was magnificent, one of the main reasons why we dominated that 45 minutes. I almost think that he knackered himself with all his running and endeavour and in the second half he didn’t quite have the stamina to keep that going, one of the players you could look at and wonder why we did not make substitutes sooner.

Joe Aribo – 7
Won us a lot of fouls in the middle of the park, and did his usual impossible dribbles with 3 players around him. The only reason why he does not once again get an 8 here is his attacking, just wasn’t quite at the same threatening level, but everything else in his game was quality yet again.

Scott Arfield – 7
I liked the way he would naturally swap positions between right wing and centre forward, gave our forward line a nice and unpredictable flow. Although there wasn’t really anything from him in the attacking sense, I thought Arf gave their left back a torrid time.

Alfredo Morelos – 7
You think of Morelos in this game and you think of that second half opportunity. He oh so nearly managed to turn a difficult chance into a goal, but their keeper did exactly what he needed to do sadly. Thought it was ok overall from Big Buff, decent unit up top, just suffered from a lack of service at times.

Sheyi Ojo – 7
I’m amazed he was asked to play the full 90 here, he looked absolutely knackered by about the 75th minute. A lot of running, a lot of making their defence work hard, and one guilt edged header which he probably should have done better with. Cannot fault his effort, but there was just no real end product this time sadly.

Glen Kamara – 6
Came on so late that he didn’t really make an impact on the game.

Jermain Defoe – 6
See above.

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