Since his first game against Shkupi in the summer of 2018, Gerrard has stuck by the 4-3-3 formation influenced by his previous employers Liverpool under the regime of Jurgen Klopp. It's fair to say the system has been successful with the Gers improving year by year and eventually winning the title in a historic 2020/21 season. However, all good managers can rethink and refresh. Not so far away from Ibrox arguably the greatest to ever do it, Sir Alex Ferguson was born. During his 27-year tenure at Manchester United, the Scot was always looking to improve his side and tactics- a necessity when looking for longevity in a football club. I highly doubt Gerrard will last as long or be as successful as Sir Alex but what he can do is look to the greats to continue Rangers' trophy haul and stop the team from going backwards by evolving his systems with his side.
So he needs to evolve his trusty 4-3-3 but how? The start to the season has been mixed, some good performances have been followed by ones of lethargy and a lack of tempo. This season Rangers have taken more shots per game but have only had 5.4 shots on target per game compared to 5.8 last campaign. The lack of cutting edge has hurt Gerrard's side multiple times this season most obviously against Motherwell where the Gers netted once having taken 24 shots. During that game, Fashion Sakala took five of those shots admittedly netting with one of them but failing to score with the other four and that's where the case for two up top starts.
Sakala can always be seen making good runs and creating opportunities, something Gerrard has touched on in interviews however his end product hasn't been up to standard so far. This problem could be solved if the Zambian was up there with a Kemar Roofe or Alfredo Morelos who are far more clinical when on the ball and could allow Sakala to play to his strengths without being stuck out wide. The same applies to Morelos who has adapted his game to get involved in the build-up play. We saw him do this to perfection with Rangers' goal against Dundee. The Colombian received the ball and flicked it onto the runner in behind which was Joe Aribo. We could see far more goals like this with the addition of another runner in Kemar Roofe up top with him.
This combination happened in the second half against Hibernian. Following the change to put Roofe up top with Morelos, Rangers scored both their goals in the 2-1 win with a front three of Roofe, Morelos and Wright in behind for the majority of that second half. Another example we have of two up top working for Rangers is the 4-1 rout over Celtic in the final Old Firm of last season. Roofe and Morelos both scored in the win and played fantastically with the equally brilliant Ryan Kent creating from the space behind them.
The switch to the 4-3-1-2 would allow the very capable fullbacks to provide from out wide, two strikers to make the team more clinical and a creative player behind such as Kent who can be the link between the midfield and attack. This also wouldn't be a a major change to the midfield three behind the attacking midfielder and two strikers as they are used to covering for the fullbacks in the current system. Gerrard doesn't need to go back to square one but rather to evolve the work he's already done.
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