Doug Ward

Sun 28 November 2021 14:42, UK

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was victorious in his first league match in charge of Rangers on Sunday as they won 3-1 away at Livingston.

Scott Arfield and Joe Aribo both scored beautiful goals within the first 16 minutes before Bruce Anderson pulled Livi back before half-time.

After the start of the second half was interrupted by Gers fans throwing snowballs onto the pitch, van Bronckhorst’s side stamped their authority on proceedings and rounded off their victory when substitute Fashion Sakala netted in the 78th minute.

Here, Ibrox News has rated the Rangers players out of 10 for their performance at Almondvale.

Allan McGregor – 8

McGregor could not do much about Anderson’s goal for Livi but produced a great save beforehand. He also made another great save later in the first half to cap off what has been a fine week for the veteran goalkeeper.

James Tavernier – 7

It wasn’t as bad a performance as we’re used to by Tavernier, who wasn’t exposed as horribly in defence as usual. Tav’s set-pieces weren’t amazing either but he still managed to grab himself two assists in the win.

Connor Goldson – 3

Where do we start? Goldson is an absolute liability and patience is wearing very thin with the centre-back if it hasn’t worn out already. Goldson’s positioning for the Livi goal was horrific and he almost cost us another goal before the end of the first half. He needs replacing in January.

Calvin Bassey – 6

Bassey could have done a wee bit better for Livi’s goal but at the end of the day, he’s a left-back playing at centre-back but out of the two centre-halves, he looked the most composed.

Borna Barisic – 7

Barisic showed signs of his former self at Livingston. He was quite good defensively and offered something when going forward. Barisic has had a nightmare of a season so far but he’s getting better, which is great to see.

Glen Kamara – 8

Kamara was played in a deep, sitting role in the midfield by van Bronckhorst on Sunday and my word, did he look good. The Finland midfielder controlled the play, dictated tempo and ensured that very little got past him for Livi to have a decent go at goal. Superb.

Scott Arfield – 8

Arfield has been in great form lately and it’s interesting to see that van Bronckhorst started him at Livingston. Steven Davis made was to be replaced by Arfield and the Canada midfielder managed to show that he’s worthy of playing more regularly in van Bronckhorst’s midfield than he did under Steven Gerrard.

Joe Aribo – 9 (MOTM)

Aribo has been our best player this season and his performance against Livingston showcased that perfectly. Aribo deserved to win our man of the match award just for his goal alone but aside from that, he caused constant issues for the home side’s defence and everything good we did seemed to have him involved. Man of the match.

Ianis Hagi – 7

It was a strong performance by Hagi, who was unlucky to have not got an assist in the win at Livi. The Romania international looked lively and his passing and chance creation were both superb. More of the same, please.

Ryan Kent – 6

Kent could have done better at Livingston. It wasn’t his best of performances but it wasn’t his worst either and we’re willing to forgive someone who’s been on the sidelines recently. Kent’s still not 100 per cent at his best but we’re encouraged by what we’ve seen.

Alfredo Morelos – 5

Morelos was a bit of a letdown on Sunday. The Rangers striker managed to assist Aribo’s superb goal but other than that, his link-up play was poor and he only got one of his four shots at goal to hit the target [WhoScored].

Substitutes:

Fashion Sakala (on for Kent, 73′) – 7

Nathan Patterson (on for Hagi, 73′) – 6

Jermaine Defoe (on for Morelos, 90+1′) – N/A

In other Rangers news, a Sky Sports pundit has hit out at something “ridiculous” he heard said about this Gers star.