WHEN we can get Tavernier forward and being able to cross, we become very dangerous.
It has been a tried and tested route to goal for Rangers over the years and, when the chips were down in an all-important Champions League qualifier, the goods were delivered from a familiar source.
“It’s what we’ve shown before. The quality we have on the pitch, the quality and speed of play,” noted Giovanni van Bronckhorst after the match.
Profiting this time around was summer signing Antonio Colak, netting his fourth goal in as many games and his second in Champions League qualifying this summer.
The chance came down the right-hand side where Rangers were experiencing joy in the first half. With Tom Lawrence occupying the right half-space, Tavernier had the license to threaten the last line as Steven Davis often moved laterally to support from the centre of the pitch.
As the former Derby County skipper picks up the ball, Tavernier drops behind him to support.
Lawrence quickly moves back around the Rangers captain, drawing PSV’s left full-back Phillip Max out of the defensive line. Indeed, the Dutch outfit have sufficient coverage with a 4v3 defensive overload against Rangers.
Notice, too, that when Lawrence touches the ball infield, Antonio Colak resists the urge to dart across the central defenders inside the penalty area to offer a passing option. By retaining his centrality, Rangers are able to stretch PSV’s defensive line horizontally.
Max continues to pressurise Lawrence to force a backwards pass, but Steven Davis gains separation from Ibrahim Sangare to offer a square passing option.
Erick Gutierrez, covering for Max in the left-back area, then switches off in the belief that Rangers are going to recycle the ball across the pitch.
In doing so, Tavernier spots the opportunity, alerting Davis to the situation with an audible instruction. The Rangers captain begins his movement in-behind Gutierrez before the ball has even reached Davis.
The Northern Irishman sends a perfect slide rule pass through the gap in the PSV defensive line.
PSV’s defensive line then collapses back to protect the space in front of their goalkeeper in anticipation of a ball across goal from Tavernier.
However, Colak intelligently holds his position, manufacturing the space to open up a pull-back from the Gers captain in line with the penalty spot.
The Croatian uses the pace on the pass from Tavernier to sweep his finish into the far bottom corner.
READ MORE: Rangers' zonal marking explained: How PSV claimed aerial ascendancy at Ibrox
“It was the perfect ball from Tav,” noted Colak post-match. “I was there in the box and yeah, it was a one-touch finish.”
Indeed, the goal bears a striking resemblance to a move involving both Tavernier and Davis in a 4-0 win over Ross County in Dingwall back in December 2020. The latter proved the architect with a clever through pass as Tavernier exploited a lapse in concentration from the opposing left-back.
The Rangers captain then delivered for Kemar Roofe who, like Colak, required just one touch to find the back of the net.
The Croatian’s strike was recorded by StatsBomb to have a Post-Shot xG (PSxG) of 0.94. The standard xG model - which calculates the likelihood of a goal based predominantly on the location of the shot – rated the chance as having a 27 percent chance of being converted, underlining the accuracy of Colak’s finish after receiving the pass.
“We just want to continue like that, get the movements and the chances and I think we’ll make a good game in Eindhoven,” the 28-year-old commented after the game.
With Alfredo Morelos back fit and available, van Bronckhorst faces a dilemma ahead of next week’s trip to the Netherlands.
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