UEFA Europa League 2018/19: Rapid Wien vs Rangers

Steven Gerrard will be feeling a mixed bag of emotions after his Rangers side fell 1-0 to a fairly innocuous Rapid Wien. Rangers needed a win here to progress, with the home side only requiring one point. This put the onus on Gerrard’s men to bring the match to them. Frustratingly for the Glasgow side, apart from one brief spell in the first half they largely failed to do that.

It wasn’t all bad news for Gerrard though, although fans might see it that way. His side were well organised in defence, a far-cry from their last league outing against Dundee. He now has to focus on challenging Celtic for the top spot in the league. Here’s a tactical analysis of the positives and negatives of Rangers tie against Austria Wien and how they should aim to move forward.

Line-ups

Rangers initially lined up in a 4-3-3 but the two wide attackers, Glenn Middleton and Scott Arfield, quickly dropped slightly deeper. After a shaky defensive outing against Dundee in the league at the weekend, Gerrard dropped Joe Worrall from centre-back and paired Connor Goldson with Gareth McAuley. They briefly switched to a 4-4-2 when Kyle Lafferty was substituted on in the 79th minute to support Alfredo Morelos in attack.

Struggling to attack

In the league, Rangers have been scoring for fun. Goals have been a little harder to come by in European ties though. After serving his suspension, Morelos returned alongside another key-player in Scott Arfield. Morelos, the sides top-scorer, was a key man when the sides last met. Rangers, after a late flurry, walked away 3-1 victors at Ibrox. There was very little in common with that performance here.