BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English appeared on a recent edition of the BBC’s Sportsound Scottish Football podcast and he spent some time talking about Rangers’ 0-0 draw with Livingston last Sunday during the show.
Gers were held to a 0-0 draw last Sunday at the Tony Macaroni Arena. As per WhoScored, Rangers kept 78.5% of the possession in this contest. Furthermore, Steven Gerrard’s side took 23 shots in the game, while the home side managed just two attempts at goal.
However, just three of Gers’ 23 shots were on target and none of them managed to beat Livingston ‘keeper Max Stryjek.
English criticised Rangers’ attackers for their failure to break down Livingston last Sunday during his recent appearance on the BBC’s Sportsound Scottish Football podcast, saying: “Look at the money they’ve spent on [Ianis] Hagi, [Ryan] Kent, [Cedric] Itten, [Kemar] Roofe and [Alfredo] Morelos – whatever he’s supposed to be worth today – that’s a lot of millions, supposedly, in attacking prowess and none of them, between them, could score a goal against Livingston – not good.”
Did Rangers overspend on these players?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
According to Transfermarkt, Rangers spent a combined total of £17.91m on the five players that English mentioned during this podcast appearance, all of whom featured for Rangers in Sunday’s game against Livingston and failed to help Gers break down the opposition’s defence.
Considering that the market value of Livingston’s entire team is just £5.83m, according to Transfermarkt, it may be understandable why the journalist shared criticism for these players’ failure to help Gers to score a goal last Sunday.
However, according to WhoScored, Livingston’s central defensive pairing of Jack Fitzwater (8.37) and Jon Guthrie (8.09) were the two highest-rated players in last Sunday’s contest, which may give an indication of how crucial their contributions were for preventing Rangers from creating more clear-cut chances and hitting the target with more of their shots at goal in this game, and credit should also be given to them for their defensive efforts.