It isn’t easy to break into this Rangers squad’s current starting XI. This is especially true in a midfield that consists of Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Joe Aribo and Glen Kamara. This week, Alan Hutton insisted that midfielder Greg Docherty should push for a move away from Ibrox in the January transfer window. Whether it’s a loan move or permanent transfer away, Hutton doesn’t think Docherty has a future at Rangers (Football Insider).
It is true that Docherty hasn’t necessarily been given an abundance of opportunities under Steven Gerrard. But how has the midfielder performed when he has played?
TIF Tactics – A look at Docherty’s season to date
We will be looking at Docherty’s impact on Rangers per 90 minutes of football focusing on statistics pertaining to his defensive, possessive, and attacking actions.
Defensively, the midfielder is quite impressive. He averages 4.21 interceptions per 90 minutes of football and 7.71 recoveries. Of these recoveries, 75.8% occur in the opponent’s half. He engages in 8.18 defensive duels per 90 minutes, however, he is only successful 48.6% of the time.
In possession of the football, Docherty prefers to pass over dribble. He averages 46.52 passes per 90 minutes, with an 86.9% accuracy. He only dribbles, on average, 3.27 times per 90 minutes, with a 71.4% success rate. While his passing numbers could be much higher, his accuracy is impressive. He has an 82% accuracy with his forward passes and in a 100% accuracy with backward passes. He rarely loses the ball.
When attacking, Docherty only averages 1.87 shots per game and only hits the target 50% of the time. He has yet to score a goal despite having an xG (expected goals) of 0.13 per 90 minutes this season. It is fair to say that his contributions to the team are not significant when it comes to goal-scoring. Despite this he averages 0.47 assists per 90 minutes, exceeding his xA (expected assist) of 0.44.
These statistics show that Docherty can have a positive impact on Rangers when brought in to the starting XI. He can still contribute a lot more going forward but overall seems pretty solid for a midfielder. Rangers would be wise to keep a hold of the player in the January transfer window.
(all data and stats from Wyscout.com, accurate at the time of writing)