The St Johnstone blueprint for thwarting Rangers - and how Steven Gerrard's team could have countered it

In their Scottish Cup triumph on Sunday, St Johnstone became the first Scottish side this season to stop Rangers from scoring inside 90 minutes at Ibrox. Craig Fowler looks at Callum Davidson’s gameplan and how the Saints players implemented this tactical masterclass.

St Johnstone worked hard at shutting down Rangers' usual avenues of attack. Picture: SNS

With the exception of a 2-0 defeat to Livingston in late September, St Johnstone have played in a back-three formation the entirety of Callum Davidson’s tenure. But that doesn’t mean he’s inflexible . The first-year boss makes alterations within the framework to both frustrate and exploit opponents, and that’s what he did this past week to twice hold Rangers.

Typically, Saints have lined up in a variation of a 3-4-3. This has either been two No.10s or wide players playing off a central striker, or a strike-partnership with a No.10 playing in an advanced role from the rest of the midfield. In the midweek draw at McDiarmid Park, Davidson trialled a lesser-seen 3-5-2. There was nobody playing No.10, just two No.8s (David Wotherspoon and Ali McCann) with a defensive midfielder (Liam Craig) protecting behind them. The formation worked so well in the Scottish Premiership encounter that he confidently used it again for the weekend’s cup clash.

The intent was to cut off Rangers’ favoured supply lines. This started from the front, where Stevie May and Guy Melamed (replaced by Chris Kane in 58th minute) put in a power of work by pressuring the defenders and key midfield influencer Steven Davis whenever they could. A route out to the full-backs was also blocked off with Shaun Rooney and Scott Tanser aggressively closing down Borna Barisic and James Tavernier, respectively, whenever they got the ball. And any attempts to play into the space between midfield and defence were often thwarted as Wotherspoon and the excellent McCann raced back to support Craig while the centre-backs would also proactively push up. It meant they were able to suffocate any Rangers attacker who thought he’d found space in the area.

They were helped by a laborious performance from the Scottish champions. Potentially Rangers were rattled by the opposition taking away a number of key avenues they typically like to attack, but their play was still so ponderous and passive. Too many touches were taken at the back, allowing St Johnstone plenty of time to get into their shape, while too many individuals further forward often settled for the easy option rather than trying to force the issue.

The gaps to exploit were in behind the wing-backs. At least one ‘chalk-on-the-boots’ winger would have made a real difference as, at the very least, getting down the flank would either pull back Rooney or Tanser, or a centre-back would come out to cover and open gaps in the rearguard. Ryan Kent did it on a couple of occasions, but he prefers doing his work inside, while for Ianis Hagi that just isn’t his game at all. Joe Aribo, who resorted to dropping very deep in order to get himself involved, would have been a better bet in the advanced position.

But credit must go to the underdogs. The intensity and energy they played with threw Rangers completely off their game. And on the rare occasions when they were breached, Zander Clark took care of the rest.

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