Defensively, a Gray area
Turf Moor striker hammers home the need for rearguard action in the transfer market by Ibrox manager Mark Warburton
THE one positive for Rangers on an otherwise largely disappointing afternoon yesterday was that they won’t face too many sides of the calibre of Burnley, or strikers as potent as Andre Gray in the season ahead.
In their final warm-up game before they open their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign at home to Hamilton on Saturday, Mark Warburton’s side were distinctly second best in front of a less-thanhalf-full Ibrox, with Gray taking advantage to plunder a hat-trick.
It is admittedly a fraught business to read too much into preseason friendlies, although the ease with which Burnley were able to cut through his defence, in the first half especially, must have given the manager plenty of food for thought. Even with Joey Barton playing so deep he was in danger of getting the bends, Burnley were able repeatedly to find space in their hosts’ penalty box to set up scoring chances. Another central defender remains on Warburton’s wishlist and watching the ease with which Gray and Sam Vokes were able to exploit his daydreaming backline he may wish to expedite that pursuit.
“We need one or two more, as we’ve said for a number of weeks, but you’ve got to get the right players in,” he said. “We know what we want and if we can get it we’ll make the move. I hope we can do it before next Saturday. They are working on it.”
Burnley, newly-promoted back to the Premier League, represented a step up in class of opposition for Rangers after recent Betfred Cup matches against Stranraer, East Stirlingshire and Annan Athletic. Warburton has made it clear he isn’t a fan of the League Cup’s new group format, preferring the summer fixture list to gradually ascend in difficulty with the most difficult match at the end. On that front he at least got his wish.
Even after a season in the English second tier, there was plenty to admire about Burnley; their compactness in defence, the fluidity of passing and the pace of the front two in the first half.
“We said all along about the quality of opposition when you are playing an English Premier League team,” added Warburton. “You saw that. They were so well structured, well-organised, with a fantastic work ethic. They are the type of test you have to have.”
Rangers were curiously pedestrian for long spells. Barton’s array of long-range passing makes him ideal to fill that quarterback role, but dropping so deep every time to collect the ball from his central defenders allows the opposition to regroup and prepare themselves for the attack to follow. Barrie McKay’s pace looked Rangers’ most likely source of a goal for long swathes of the game, although Burnley’s dedication to double marking him meant he was afforded little space or time.
When at one point he did break free to meet Barton’s terrific searching pass, his first touch let him down. That aside, Rangers barely threatened, with Kenny Miller, Niko Kranjcar and Martyn Waghorn struggling to get involved. Rangers’ consolation goal arrived after they had made six changes and the pace had dropped right out of the game. Even then it was an own goal, Ben Mee deflecting Michael O’Halloran’s cross beyond his own goalkeeper.
Barton had two other chances of note – a long-range shot that was pushed away and a direct free-kick that was easily gathered by England squad goalkeeper Tom Heaton. However, Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, was confident his former player will do well for Rangers in the season ahead.
“I had a coffee with him on Friday and he said his fitness is coming back,” Dyche said. “He’s a good player. He can handle the big games. So he’ll be an important factor as long as his fitness is good – and it will come back.”
Gray, though, was the game’s outstanding performer and took each of his goals confidently, even if none showed the Rangers defence in a particularly flattering light.
He stroked home his first from the penalty spot after four minutes after Clint Hill had rather clumsily halted the forward’s run into the box. The second arrived after 18 minutes, the striker fastening on to a floated pass from Scott Arfield, once of Falkirk, to thud a shot past Wes Foderingham, while his third came early in the second half after a long pass from Mee wasn’t dealt with convincingly by the hosts’ defence. It was the story of their day.
We’ve said for weeks we need one or two more players, but they have to be the right ones