Rangers succeeded in winning an important game against OGC Nice in the UEFA Europa League matchday five when both teams met at the Allianz Riviera stadium in France where things did not go well for the hosts.
Following an inconsistent start in the competition with a win against Malmö followed by a heavy loss against Olympique Lyon, Rangers bounced back with a 4-0 win against FCSB and an away draw against Olympiacos before beating Nice.
After this encounter, Rangers will have to face Tottenham Hotspur before meeting Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Finally, Rangers will end their group stage journey with a match against Union Saint-Gilloise.
With 10 points, three wins, one draw, and one loss so far, Rangers are currently holding the eighth position — a spot that would qualify automatically for the knockout phase.
Their mission, however, does not look easy.
They will have to resist two powerful teams, Manchester United and Tottenham, which are striving to perform better following their recent blurry results.
On the other hand, Nice have been struggling to achieve positive results in the UEFA Europa League.
They started their European journey with a draw against Real Sociedad, followed by a heavy 4-1 away loss against Lazio.
Then, Nice lost to Ferencváros in a game that they could have won to keep their chances of qualifying for the knockout phase alive.
The team’s struggles continued.
They were unable to beat Twente in matchday four before facing Rangers and losing made things worse for the French team.
As things stand, Nice are quite distant from advancing, as they currently hold the 35th position with two points.
Nevertheless, the standings can change quickly in their favour if they can win points in the upcoming fixtures.
They are only three points away from the 24th spot, which qualifies its holder for the playoffs.
That being said, Nice will have to beat Union Saint-Gilloise, which is holding the 24th position, and get the highest number of points against both IF Elfsborg and FK Bodø/Glimt to keep their qualifying chances alive.
In this Europa tactical analysis of the game between Nice and Rangers, we will focus on Nice’s defensive and attacking issues, address their errors in this match, and provide possible solutions to avoid them in the upcoming games.
At the same time, the analysis will illuminate the Rangers’ performance and tactics, highlighting what they can build on to perform even better soon.
Lineups & Formations
With some remarkable absences of names like Ali Abdi, Jonathan Clauss, Antoine Mendy, Morgan Sanson, Terem Moffi, Evann Guessand, and Victor Orakpo, and the unreadiness of two other important players like Dante and Jérémie Boga, who were not fit enough to participate in the match, the head coach Franck Haise had to fasten Issiaga Camara’s second match of his career on the European stage and use both Yaël Nandjou and Iliesse Salhi who made their professional debuts in this game.
Moreover, the two suspensions of Moïse Bombito and Sofiane Diop made things even more complicated for Franck Haise, who had to adapt to this huge number of absences and use a brand new line-up according to the 3-4-1-2 formation.
Furthermore, the injury crisis worsened with an additional injury that occurred within the first 15 minutes.
Youssouf Ndayishimiye was injured at the start of the game and had to be subbed by Yaël Nandjou.
The team started the match with Marcin Bułka as a goalkeeper, Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Pablo Rosario, and Mohamed Abdelmonem as centre-backs, Hicham Boudaoui and Issiaga Camara as central midfielders, Melvin Bard and Tom Louchet as wing-backs, and Badredine Bouanani playing as an advanced playmaker just behind the two strikers, Youssoufa Moukoko and Gaëtan Laborde.
On the other hand, Rangers were able to opt for consistency in terms of line-ups as their head coach, Philippe Clement, kept almost the same lineup as the team that started the Scottish Premiership match against Dundee United.
With just a single change concerning the striker Hamza Igamane who started against Nice instead of Cyriel Dessers, the team started the match according to the usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Jack Butland as a goalkeeper, Dujon Sterling, John Souttar, Robin Pröpper and Jefté in defence, Connor Barron and Nicolas Raskin as central midfielders, Nedim Bajrami and Václav Černý as wingers, and Mohamed Diomande as an advanced playmaker just behind the striker, Igamane.
OGC Nice Vs Rangers Lineups
Nice’s Performance: Errors And Possible Improvements
Nice started the match with a positive mentality.
They were even close to scoring their first goal in the fourth minute following a solo effort from Bouanani, who exploited a poor clearance of Rangers’ defence and surprised Butland with a powerful curved shot that went inches away from the net.
Bouanani’s Curved Shot
Soon after, Nice had an even more dangerous goalscoring opportunity and could have made things easier for themselves by exploiting their positive moment of the match.
In fact, Moukoko had the chance to finish the action inside the net after a powerful shot that Butland saved.
The slow way Moukoko dealt with the second ball made the difference.
It allowed the goalkeeper to stand up and the two defenders to close his shooting trajectory, deviating Moukoko’s shot.
Experience in front of goal, especially in such key situations, can be crucial for Nice.
The quality of the finishing made a difference in this action.
The fact that Moukoko preferred to control the ball with his chest before shooting instead of shooting it directly (with a header or a volley) to win some precious seconds and guarantee a goal shows that Nice needs some work in terms of finishing.
Moukoko’s Finishing
Nice failed to exploit the few dangerous chances they created against Rangers, mainly due to a lack of quality finishing, despite scoring a free-kick in the game’s final minutes.
Overall, the team needs some serious work regarding finishing and chance creation.
They were not able to disturb Rangers only with shots from a distance or lucky second balls, but not really well-planned attacks.
Defensively, Nice struggled to resist the Rangers’ aggressive pressing and dynamism inside the final third.
They conceded 14 shots, eight of them on target, and committed numerous mistakes in their own half, which resulted in their loss.
Although some players do not have the necessary experience to play such games, and many absent players could have done quite better, especially in defence, the errors committed against Rangers should not be repeated in the three remaining games if Nice plans on qualifying.
Man-to-man marking was a serious problem for Nice in this match, as it was the main reason for conceding numerous chances, especially the second goal.
This second Rangers goal occurred mainly because Rosario failed to mark Diomandé properly when the cross was on its way to him, leaving Diomandé behind and allowing him to sneak behind him to get the ball and score.
Rangers’ Second Goal
This was an example of many recurrent mistakes that Nice committed inside their own half.
Thanks to their pacy and aggressive players, Rangers were able to exploit these mistakes.
The mistake that led to the third Rangers goal also highlights the impact of individual mistakes on Nice’s overall performance and result, as most of Nice’s starters made some crucial errors.
Abdelmonem’s completely wrong pass and lack of awareness of his surroundings led to conceding a goal since Abdelmonem did not notice Igamane at all when he was passing the ball back to Bułka.
Rangers’ Third Goal
Rangers’ Aggressive And Efficient Pressing
Although Rangers’ shooting, positional attacks, possession, and duels statistics were not outstanding compared to those of Nice, Rangers were able to exploit their strengths and key moments well.
More importantly, they knew how to use Nice’s weaknesses in their favour.
Rangers’ third goal highlights the team’s efficient high pressing and ability to oblige their opponent to commit mistakes in their own half by being aggressive in their pressing and trying to restrict the passing trajectories as often as possible.
This strategy worked for Rangers against a defence that lacked experience and organisation, making it easier for Rangers’ attacking players to push them into committing mistakes.
Igamane, in particular, disturbed Nice’s defence a lot thanks to his quick movements without the ball and ability to intercept passes and press high so often.
Moreover, his ability to dribble past the goalkeeper as soon as he intercepted the pass, get away from his sliding tackle and then have the necessary patience and concentration to finish the action inside the net made him one of Rangers’ most valuable players in this game.
Rangers’ Third Goal
Rangers’ first goal does not lack importance to this goal as it paved the way for the team to gain more confidence and attack with more conviction during the rest of the match.
The team’s possession of Nice’s final third allowed Černý to surprise the defence and the goalkeeper with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Rangers’ First Goal
Moreover, the outstanding left-footed finish from Diamandé and his excellent effort in winning his duel against Rosario highlight the importance of such key attacking players in the final third.
In the action of this second goal, it is important to note that Rangers’ players often ask for the ball at the back of the defensive line and often find ways to sneak in the back of their direct markers, making it easier for the ball holder to find excellent passing options as the picture shows.
Rangers’ Second Goal
Overall, Rangers’ performance in this match was very positive as Rangers could have even scored more goals, as they were excellent both in the defensive phase and in the attacking one with consistent pressing on Nice’s midfield and defence that helped Rangers win the ball so often in midfield and in Nice’s half.
Conclusion
Rangers should build on this win, use even more aggressive high pressing to disturb their opponents and be more efficient in the attacking phase while preserving the balance that they played with in this match.
On the other hand, Nice will need to find the best possible way to adapt to their huge number of absences and work on improving their defensive phase by minimising their individual errors and working extensively on the collective movements.
Otherwise, qualifying for the playoffs or winning points against their upcoming opponents will be complicated.
Comments