Steven Davis’ rare poor display almost cost Rangers draw v Slavia Prague
Rangers picked up a good result against Slavia Prague despite not playing well and Steven Davis epitomised a rare sub-standard performance.
Like the Gers as a whole this season Davis has barely put a foot wrong, but he was far from his best in the Czech capital on Thursday.
There seemed to be a bit of malaise amongst the squad, though that was perhaps to be expected after last weekend’s celebrations.
Filip Helander scored an unlikely equaliser which gave us a vital away goal but the attack was simply not good enough.
It is easy to point fingers at Joe Aribo or Ryan Kent but Davis failed to keep the team ticking over in his usual fashion.
A return of 48 touches highlights that as even Allan McGregor managed more with 49, per SofaScore.
When the midfielder did get on the ball he did not make the most of possession either, achieving just 73% pass accuracy.
To put that into perspective, he has averaged a pass success rate of 89% this term, according to WhoScored.
Davis also failed to complete a single key pass or cross, so it is easy to see why we struggled in the final third.
Steven Gerrard will be hoping he can return to his best ahead of the return leg next week.
We do not have a game this weekend and the rest for the 36-year-old should work in our advantage.
It is important the £18,000 a week star has energy to combat Slavia Prague off the ball.
It was another aspect of his game lacking on Thursday, as Davis somehow failed to make a single tackle or interception.
He rarely underperforms from a defensive point of view, but per SofaScore he was dribbled past on two occasions.
We hope Davis was just suffering from title-winning fatigue, as if he repeats this showing at Ibrox we may not progress to the quarter-finals.
It is worth noting that he has been one of our most consistent players this season so is allowed an indifferent performance every now and again.
After all, his teammates did not exactly live up to their usual high standards either.
In other Rangers news, ‘He’s in discussions’ – Gerrard gives big update on in-form £13k/wk Rangers star.