Rangers have specific goal problem Danny Rohl must fix – here’s why
Rangers have been finding the net with relative ease in recent games.
Indeed, Danny Rohl‘s side have scored 14 goals in their last five Scottish Premiership games, with eight of those coming in their previous three outings.
Rangers remain firmly in the title race as such, but have been left frustrated despite their proficiency in front of goal over the last few weeks.
The Ibrox outfit have drawn three of their last four league games, with back-to-back 2-2 stalemates against Celtic and Livingston respectively.
As such, if Gers are going to be crowned champions this season, then tightening up in defence is going to be crucial in the coming games.
Why Rangers must improve their potency from free-kicks
With 51 goals scored in the league so far this season, a figure only bettered by Celtic (53) and Hearts (52) respectively, Rangers haven’t quite been as deadly in attack as their title rivals.
However, that number has the potential to be significantly higher had Rangers made use of one particular avenue to goal: free-kicks.
As detailed by Sofascore, Rangers have attempted 11 shots from free-kicks in the Premiership this season, but have failed to score from any of them.
James Tavernier has been a dead ball specialist for Gers ever since his arrival in Glasgow, with 18 goals scored from direct free-kicks in during his time with the club.
However, even he’s not been able to find the net from one this term, leaving first Russell Martin and then Rohl’s side desperately short of quality in this department.
How Rangers’ free-kicks from this season compare to recent years
So, has scoring goals from free-kicks been a problem confined just to this season, or have Rangers been struggling in this area for some time now?
Well, they certainly did last season, as again detailed by Sofascore, Gers grabbed just one goal scored from 16 free-kick efforts in the league, whilst only two were scored out of 22 shots in 2023-24 respectively.
2022-23 was a much better year in this department for Gers though, with six free-kicks finding the net from 19 attempts.
The last time that Rangers failed to score from a single free-kick effort in a Premiership season was in 2021-22, with first Steven Gerrard and then Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side scoring none of their 19 efforts.
Therefore, we can clearly see that this route to goal has not been a fruitful one for a couple of years now, and it’s something that Rangers coaching staff should look to address, ideally before the end of this season, but probably more likely in the summer.
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