Rangers player ratings v Ross County as Michael Beale makes it three wins from three
Michael Beale and his Rangers side travelled to the Global Energy Stadium on December 23 to face Scottish Premiership outfit Ross County in a Christmas clash in the Highlands.
Rangers and Beale made it three wins from three games since the Englishman took over the reins at Ibrox after a John Lundstram screamer in the first half gave the Light Blues a 1-0 win.
The Gers again controlled large amounts of possession throughout the game in what seems to be Beale’s philosophy for this team moving forward and edged themselves to within six points of league leaders Celtic.
Ibrox News rated the players out of 10 below…
Jon McLaughlin – 7
McLaughlin was reintroduced to Beale’s starting XI after an Alan McGregor bug kept him out of the action, the 35-year-old had little to do throughout the fixture but looked calm and composed making a terrific save in the first half to keep things level.
James Tavernier – 6
Tavernier looked much more like his usual self after an iffy outing against Aberdeen, he cleared up play on numerous occasions and put in a tireless effort, having the 31-year-old playing like this made the Light Blues defence look a lot more comfortable.
Connor Goldson – 6
Goldson made pinging passes across the field to Devine and Kent look easy and was relatively untroubled throughout against a lacklustre Ross County attack. He was definitely the better of the two centre-halves and looked calm as you’d like.
Ben Davies – 3
Davies got the nod to start after a James Sands horror show against Aberdeen and lost just about every battle he had against Ross County. He was saved embarrassment by a terrific McLaughlin save in the first half which would have left Rangers trailing, it was a poor outing from the former Liverpool man.
Adam Devine – 9
Love this kid, another excellent outing from the youngster, fully cementing Beale’s decision to start him again, it’s going to be interesting to see if Borna Barisic will bully him out of the team, from the very first minute Devine made himself an outlet for every Rangers attack, he can be an important player for Rangers moving forward, he’s our man of the match.
Glen Kamara – 6
Made a few forward-thinking runs in the second half and looked far more comfortable with Lundstram and Arfield beside him but went missing fairly often. The Fin just looks like he’s scared to shoot sometimes and it’s become an all too familiar and frustrating trait of his.
John Lundstram – 8
Scored the Rangers’ opener and winner in the first half with a cheeky screamer and looked solid throughout the game, he made things tick in the engine room and also gave Davies and Goldson support at all times, he’ll likely be looked upon by Beale to start games after this one.
Scott Arfield – 5
It seems like Arfield was all worn out from his heroics against Aberdeen, the midfielder did a lot of the dirty work for Rangers but also provided little spark in an attacking sense, with luck, he’ll get more chances to start under Beale.
Malik Tillman – 6
Tillman looked like a threat throughout the game whenever he got the ball, and the constant kicks and grabs from Ross County’s midfield and defence seemed to drag him down slightly. Nevertheless, the American put in another solid showing.
Ryan Kent – 6
Kent tried and tried again throughout the Christmas clash but a lot of the time he was running into a sea of Ross County bodies. Malky Mackay’s men seemed to have the plan to keep Kent at bay throughout the game but this did little to dampen his spirits, the winger looks revitalised under Beale, hopefully, goal contributions will follow suit soon.
Fashion Sakala – 4
The Zambian got the nod to spearhead the Rangers’ attack ahead of Alfredo Morelos and didn’t do much to suggest that he deserves to start there ever again, he got the assist for the Lundstram goal which glossed up his performance slightly, but other than that he spent the majority of the evening offside.
Alfredo Morelos (on for Sakala, 57′) – 5
Ryan Jack (on for Scott Arfield 66′) – 5
Rabbi Matondo (on for Malik Tillman 66′) – 4
In other Rangers news, the club are now fancying their chances of major a January transfer after Fabrizio Romano’s update with a move on the cards.