There’s a weird habit in football chat where two folk say the same thing, but one gets branded “negative” for it. That’s exactly how this set-piece debate feels right now. We’ve clearly looked more solid defensively, and that’s a positive. But it doesn’t cancel out the other worry: we still need to be sharper in the final third if we’re serious about winning the league.
Set-plays are a weapon, not a plan
No Rangers fan is sitting raging because we score from corners or free-kicks. Set-plays win games, and over a season they can be the difference between a title challenge and falling short. The issue is when it starts to look like the main route, rather than one of a few routes.
If a big proportion of your goals are coming from dead-ball situations, you’re living on fine margins. One missed delivery, one decision that goes against you, one defensive lapse at the other end, and suddenly you’re dropping points. That’s not “moaning”, it’s just looking at the shape of how games play out.
The final third is still where it sticks
When folk say we need to do better in the final third, that’s basically another way of saying we need more goals from open play. Better combinations, better decision-making, more runners arriving at the right time. All the stuff that turns possession into proper chances rather than hopeful crosses and broken phases.
You can see it in matches where the opposition sit in and wait. We might control territory, we might keep the ball, but if we’re not carving teams open often enough then every game stays on a knife-edge. That’s why the reliance on set plays can feel a bit uncomfortable, even when it’s working.
Late goals can mask the bigger picture
Take the Dundee game example. Scoring in injury time is brilliant, and it shows character. But it can also flatter the performance if the goals come because the other side have to open up chasing an equaliser. On a different day, they nick one late from a corner and you’re staring at a draw and asking the same questions again.
Truth is, if Rangers were routinely scoring earlier from open play, that late-game anxiety doesn’t hang over everything. We’d be managing matches, not hanging around for them to break.
So aye, I’ll take the defensive improvement all day long. Now let’s see the same step forward in open play quality, because that’s what turns “solid” into “champions”.
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