Last season the general consensus was that Aberdeen were getting better against Rangers. Before the split, the two teams shared one league win apiece and one draw, while the Dons knocked their rivals out of both domestic cups. However, their post-split league meeting at Ibrox offered a glimpse of what was to come.

In April, Rangers beat Aberdeen 2-0 with two penalties from James Tavernier. Steven Gerrard’s side completed controlled the contest, enjoying over 70% possession and 15 shots to Aberdeen’s four, of which six went on target to Aberdeen’s one. Rangers lined up that day in a 4-3-2-1 system, which is something they have continued with this season. And it was in this system they once again thrashed Aberdeen on Saturday afternoon.

The final score at the weekend was 5-0, but the gap could have been wider. Rangers had 74% possession of the ball, 32 shots, and 11 shots on target. Once more, Tavernier scored two penalties. Aberdeen had no answer, and their only real ‘opportunity’ came through a Dean Campbell strike from range after a Rangers giveaway.

OPPOSITE MOVEMENTS CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR DONS

One of the most noticeable aspects of this Rangers system is that their full-backs push very high down the flanks. This in turn allows the attacking midfielders, in this case Greg Stewart and Sheyi Ojo, to operate inside and be more fluid in their movement. Aberdeen’s defensive line struggled to deal with this all game.

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Rangers had Stewart, Ojo, Alfredo Morelos and Scott Arfield all moving between the lines, refusing to take up a fixed position. While one would drop deep towards the ball, several others would stay high or look to run beyond. Derek McInnes likes his side to man-mark all over the pitch, so his defenders were left in a serious quandary here.

Full-backs Shay Logan and Greg Leigh could lock onto their opposite men, but this would mean sometimes ending up on the other side of the pitch given the positional fluidity of Ojo and Stewart. Centre-backs Zak Vyner and Mikey Devlin had a similar problem – they could follow Morelos when he dropped deep, but that would leave a gap for someone like Arfield to run into and get in behind.

Rangers took full advantage of the confusion with opposite movements executed throughout the match. This is when two players move in complete opposite directions to one another so as to discombobulate a man-marking defence. Aberdeen could rigidly go with their men and risk losing any semblance of a coherent shape, or they could stay and someone – be it Morelos, Arfield, Stewart or Ojo – would become the free man.

The Herald:

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The tendency, at least early on, was to follow men. However, as shown above, all it then takes is for one defender to not properly track their opponent and the whole thing is blown. In the eighth minute, Rangers exploited Aberdeen’s man-marking with Morelos and Stewart both dropping deep. Devlin and Vyner reacted by following them, leaving space behind for Ojo to run into. Logan didn’t go with his man, meaning Ojo could collect Steven Davis’ ball over the top and shoot.

With movement happening both in front of and behind them, Aberdeen’s back four were left betwixt and between. If the above example was a warning sign that their man-marking approach wasn’t going to work here, it wasn’t heeded. Here is another example from late in the second half – Arfield attacks the back line and Vyner deepens in response to prevent the ball in behind, but this leaves Stewart free to receive in front of him.

The Herald:

RANGERS OVERLOAD MIDFIELD

On paper Aberdeen lined up in a nominal 4-4-1-1 system. The word ‘nominal’ is key, because it looked nothing like a 4-4-1-1 on the pitch. As James Tavernier and Borna Barisic pushed on, Niall McGinn and Ryan Hedges dropped back to mark them. Consequently, Aberdeen’s wingers were almost in line with their defenders, forming a back six.

Defensively, this meant Aberdeen couldn’t put pressure on Rangers in their build-up. Sam Cosgrove would take on the responsibility of covering one of Connor Goldson or Nikola Katic, while Connor McLennan would mark whoever was nearest out of Ryan Jack and Steven Davis. But there was a clear numerical overload for Rangers here – a 3 or 4 versus 2 – that ensured they had comfortable possession.

Jack and Davis took it in turns to drop deep and varied their positions well. One would often pull out into the full-back slots, where they could receive the ball with the freedom of Ibrox thanks to the fact Aberdeen’s wingers were nowhere to be seen due to their man-marking of Tavernier and Barisic.

The Herald:

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The problem then became who closed down Jack or Davis. Lewis Ferguson and Dean Campbell would go out to put pressure on, but in so doing would leave a gap in the centre of midfield. Rangers consistently had a forward dropping into the gap that opened up, and often they would do so un-marked as Aberdeen’s defenders didn’t really want to venture up to halfway and beyond.

Spaces started to appear and Rangers players started to drop into them, receiving under no pressure and turning to drive forward. In the example below, Jack draws out Ferguson and Stewart drops into the space to receive the ball and dribble towards goal.

The Herald:

Nobody was better at finding the gaps than Morelos, however. The Colombian was extremely influential in his team’s performance, earning praise from his manager at the final whistle. “Alfredo is the one dropping into those areas, the pockets, overloading the middle of the pitch,” Gerrard said. “He is the one trying to drag the Aberdeen defenders around.”

DONS SUFFOCATED IN TRANSITION

As well as high full-backs, another recurring tactical theme in Rangers’ play that caused Aberdeen problems was their counter-pressing. After they lost possession, Rangers would press the ball aggressively, with two or three players surrounding the opponent, to try and regain it instantly. If they couldn’t steal the ball back, they could foul to stop the counter-attack at source. Despite having 74% possession, Rangers committed 10 fouls to Aberdeen’s 12. Not much less. Some of these fouls were undoubtedly tactical.

The Herald:

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But Aberdeen also caused their own downfall in transition. With both wingers tracking back to mark Tavernier and Barisic, Cosgrove was often left isolated up front. Aberdeen would go long in transition either through choice or because of the pressure Rangers put them under in these situations, but Cosgrove was the only one to hit and he had no support for link-up play or second balls.

Forced deep and unable to counter effectively, Aberdeen couldn’t get a hold of the ball and launch one single proper attack. When a Rangers attack ended they just recycled possession and started all over again.

GERRARD’S CHANGES ALTER THE DYNAMIC

Perhaps more worrying for Aberdeen than the result itself is the nature of the defeat. It was 90 monotonous minutes in which they failed to deal with the issues Rangers were creating. Issues that existed when they played in April.

Injury-related explanations aren’t acceptable. Of the starting line-up, many are regulars – Joe Lewis; Logan; Devlin; Leigh; Ferguson; McGinn; McLennan; Hedges; Cosgrove. Furthermore, the presence of Stewart in Rangers’ attack, scoring and creating goals, lays waste to claims it’s all about resources – the 29-year-old didn’t make an impact at Pittodrie during two separate loan spells in which Aberdeen’s tactical approach failed to maximise his talents.

Rangers previously struggled against Aberdeen’s man-marking defence due to a lack of individual quality and collective co-ordination. They were often left frustrated and beaten. But Gerrard’s tactical changes have altered the dynamic. Thanks to their new system, they have found the way not only to beat Aberdeen, but to completely dominate them.