Ibrox View: Infuriating moment from Rangers ace will surely leave Gerrard absolutely livid
RANGERS OPINION
Rangers were always going to face an uphill battle against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday evening.
The German side are flying high in the Bundesliga and would probably be amongst most people’s favourites to lift the Europa League come the end of the season, provided the competition isn’t abandoned entirely.
The last thing Steven Gerrard needed, therefore, was his side to gift their hosts an opening goal at Ibrox.
The Gers were ultimately outplayed in their 3-1 defeat, registering just 35.3% possession and having three shots on target to their visitors’ eight.
But the first goal came from an entirely avoidable error of judgement from centre-back George Edmundson.
The 22-year-old was penalised for a needless handball in his area following a VAR review, and Kai Havertz converted the resulting spot kick with ease.
But Edmundson’s mistake started well before he handled the ball.
As can be seen in the image above, as per Wyscout, the defender is initially caught out by the long ball hoisted over the top from the right full-back position.
This means that he is having to battle get himself back into place from the outset, and also means that he is completely unaware of the player lurking over his left shoulder.
By the time the ball begins to drop, Edmundson is completely at odds with where he should be, meaning that he gets caught directly underneath the ball.
Rather than being able to attack the ball and clear his lines effectively, he is caught on his heels and makes a hash of his chance to avert the danger.
Edmundson’s problems are then exacerbated when he slips after initially missing his header.
This allows the Leverkusen player who has been lurking behind him to capitalise on his mistake, and to steal possession in a massively advanced position.
From there, Edmundson is constantly playing catch up, and in trying to make up the ground that he has last because of the sequence of events that have come beforehand, he attempts to block the cross in a fairly desperate fashion.
This means that his hand is raised into an unnatural position, and when the delivery comes in, there can be little doubt that he has committed an offence.
It’s a poor, naive piece of play, but it’s made all the more frustrating by how avoidable it could have been if he had just dealt with the initial danger.
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