Ibrox View: Rangers veteran Davis put in sluggish display against Leverkusen
It’s fair to say that nobody in a Rangers shirt particularly covered themselves in glory when Steven Gerrard’s men slumped out of the Europa League to Bayer Leverkusen recently.
The Gers were always facing an uphill battle, and in many ways it could be advantageous for them to be solely focused on the Scottish Premiership in the coming weeks.
But one man who looked to struggle more than most was Steven Davis.
Tasked with occupying a midfield three alongside Ryan Jack and Joe Aribo, the veteran Northern Ireland international was sat deepest of that trio, and if we’re being honest, he looked off the pace at times.
Davis won just two of his seven contested duels, and made six ball recoveries – a whole 25% lower than his career average, as per Wyscout.
There were also 22.05 fewer passes than his usual output, and not a single successful dribble.
Overall, that led to a performance in which Davis was getting outshone all across the midfield, as pictured by his duel map above.
But perhaps most underwhelming was his positional play in the centre of the park.
Because Gerrard’s men generally operate quite a high-intensity press, it is important that his midfield three work as a cohesive unit.
If, for instance, two push and one doesn’t it frees up space for an opposite number to move into the vacated area and spring the entire system with one simple pass.
Take the example above.
As soon as the ball is played out to the Leverkusen player, Joe Aribo makes an attempt to get out at him to shut him down.
As the ball is then played inside, Davis fails to properly anticipate the pass.
That means that his man, who he should be pretty much touch-tight to, has about five yards of space in which he can work.
Against a mid-table Scottish team that would be poor, but against Leverkusen, it’s always going to get punished.
And so it proves here.
In his desperation to make up the lost ground, Davis dives in and is turned far too easily.
Now he has has opened up a significant amount of space, and his opponent is facing towards Allan McGregor’s goal.
After that, all it takes is a relatively simple ball over the left-hand side and Leverkusen are moving forward with confidence and freedom.
Ultimately, that all stems from Davis’ poor closing down.
Everybody has bad days at the office, but Gerrard will be desperately hoping that the 35-year-old doesn’t make a habit out of this kind of sluggish display.
In other Rangers news, Ibrox Exclusive: Alex Bruce hails Gers after ‘perfect’ start to season.