written by – Rangers Report cover photo courtesy of RFC
Expected Goals: Rangers 3.4 Stranraer 0.1
xG Ratio: 97%
Total Shots Ratio: 93%
Shots on target ratio: 100%
Scoring Chance Ratio: 100%
Shooting %: 0.300
Shot Accuracy: 0.400
Between the penalty & the second goal, all four of Rangers unblocked shots were on target. After the second goal, they had 14 unblocked shots & ten of them were off target. Probably doesn’t mean much…
- 46% of shots came from outside the box (39% for season)
- 17% were medium danger shots, shots in the penalty box but to either side of the goal (25% for season)
- 21% were high danger shots, kicked (23%)
- 13% were very high danger shots, kicked (7%)
- 4% were high dangers headed shots (2%)
- 0% were very high danger headed shots (4%)
Entries into the Final Third
As you can see in the first half, Stranraer went a good 20 minutes without an entry into the final third. Going into the half, Rangers had 85% of the entries. From the second half to the third goal, Rangers had 73%. After going up 3-0 until the time of the subs Rangers had 60%. After the subs entered the game until the end of the game: 77%. You could make the loose conclusion, that once going up 3-0 the team’s clinical dominance dipped but the infusion of the three subs reset that dominance.
81% of controlled entries into the final third led to a positive result but this game featured Rangers’ lowest controlled rate of entries of the season. Only 64% of total entries were controlled. However, in three of the four games the controlled rate of entries ranges from 64% to 69%. The only outlier was when we had an 80% controlled rate of entries against Annan.
Against Motherwell, Rangers had a positive result on 27% of Non-Controlled Entries (which is pretty much consistent to games from last season).
Against weaker opponents, it was easier to turn these Non-Controlled Entries into positive results – but you can see that rate is trending down.
They did generate four shots on NCE against Stranraer but also generated twelve & earned a penalty on Controlled Zone Entries. For the season, Rangers have created a shot on 21% of controlled entries & 12% of NCE. CZE have led to a positive results 77% of the time & only 36% on NCE.
Rossiter & Dodoo had the same data, that’s why you can’t see Rossiter on this graph.
Defensively, the most noticeable data is that 0% of Stranraer’s central entries were controlled; 29% of their entries into the final third were central but each time they were forced into a Non-Controlled Entry (the Joey Barton/Jordan Rossiter effect?)
Stranraer had seven non-controlled entries against Wallace & Wilson…none of them led to a positive result. Stranraer’s best route was against Tavernier & Kiernan – but it was on only eight combined entries on the left side (two controlled & six non-controlled). Those resulted in a positive result 50% of the time, including one shot.
Harry Forrester had 0.79 Expected Assists & helped create two quality scoring chances. Tavernier & Barton had the next highest xA (0.50 & 0.25).
The Opta scorer didn’t give an assist to Waghorn on Kranjcar’s goal, but he clearly got a toe on the ball that deflects to Kranjcar.
Waghorn & Forrester combined for 18 shots & key passes (the pass that leads to a shot).
Forrester now averages 6.19 shots + key passes per 90, Waghorn averages 8.7.
| Player | Expected Goals | Expected Assists | Expected Goal Contribution |
| Martyn Waghorn | 1.05 | 0.20 | 1.25 |
| Harry Forrester | 0.31 | 0.79 | 1.10 |
| James Tavernier | 0.11 | 0.50 | 0.61 |
| Kenny Miller | 0.53 | 0.00 | 0.53 |
| Niko Kranjcar | 0.11 | 0.18 | 0.29 |
| Andy Halliday | 0.05 | 0.21 | 0.26 |
| Joey Barton | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Rob Kiernan | 0.00 | 0.21 | 0.21 |
| Barrie McKay | 0.14 | 0.05 | 0.19 |
| Lee Wallace | 0.09 | 0.05 | 0.14 |
| Jordan Rossiter | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.05 |
Forrester now averages 0.79 xG+xA per 90 minutes, while Miller is averaging 0.85 goals per 90. So despite Forrester having zero goals & zero assists – he is heavily involved in the chances Rangers are creating. Miller now has 1.97 Expected Goals after four games, the goals will be there eventually.
| Player | Key Passes | Secondary Passes |
| Harry Forrester | 4 | 1 |
| Joey Barton | 4 | 1 |
| Niko Kranjcar | 2 | 2 |
| Martyn Waghorn | 3 | 2 |
| James Tavernier | 2 | 0 |
| Jordan Rossiter | 0 | 3 |
| Barrie McKay | 1 | 1 |
| Rob Kiernan | 1 | 0 |
| Andy Halliday | 1 | 1 |
| Lee Wallace | 1 | 0 |
| Joe Dodoo | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Wilson | 0 | 1 |
Jordan Rossiter had the secondary shot creation pass on three straight shots.
I credited Kiernan with a key pass as he got a head on McKay’s corner into the box that ended up at the feet of Waghorn for a shot.
Five shots & one goal were generated following corner kicks. For the season, Rangers have 13 shots from 47 corners (28%).
- 37% of Rangers key passes came from Zone 9
- 16% from Zone 13
- 16% from Zone 15
- 11% from Zone 17
- 5% from Zone 6
- 5% from Zone 12
- 5% from Zone 19
- 5% from Zone 22
Stranraer had one key pass & it came from Zone 9
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