Michael Beale’s first 6 games

Many eyebrows were raised when Rangers elected to appoint the inexperienced Michael Beale as their new manager following the sacking of Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. It was a tough start for the Englishman with games against Hibs, Aberdeen and Celtic in his first six. Results and performances have been there with five wins and a draw from his first six and if it wasn’t for a last minute equaliser from Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi it would’ve been six for six from the former QPR boss. But what have we learned from his first few games?

Tactical tweaks

Under Van Bronckhorst, a lot of the issues among the Rangers fanbase came with the pedestrian style of football. It was very predictable to watch and eventually opposition managers sussed it out and it was time for him to go. Ever since Beale has come in, it is a lot more entertaining for fans to watch and it is a lot less predictable. It has certainly helped and improved members of the squad.

Ryan Kent is one player who has thrived since Beale has come in, under the previous regime his role was to hug the touchline and stretch the defence as much as possible, but that was a waste of his talents which Beale has changed.

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Beale has given Kent a free role, his job is to find space between the midfield and defence and use his pace and to run at the backline and put them on the back foot. We saw this come to fruition in the last-minute comeback against Aberdeen when Kent picked the ball up and drove at the Dons’ backline before his shot was saved and Scott Arfield followed up scoring the equaliser.

Even though there has been one draw in there for the Englishman, Beales side have won every game based on Expected goals. Although that doesn’t mean a lot in the grand scheme of things, it does mean that the performances have merited victories and there are improvements in the team in a short space of time.

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We have also seen Beale not be afraid to change it. Tweaking from 433 to a 4231 and reaping the rewards, with a lot of the time, the second half being better than the first. The Celtic game was the biggest example of this. In the first half at Ibrox we saw Reo Hatate and Callum McGregor have a lot of space in the midfield given that Malik Tillman isn’t the most defensive minded of players and him starting the game on the right hand side of a midfield.

Moving him further up into a 10 in the second half where he could drift anywhere behind Morelos up front and find space, that’s what he done but he spent a lot of the time out wide and helping Fashion Sakala on the right as the biggest weakness in the Celtic side was Josip Juranovic at left back.

Beale tweaking to show Rangers’ strengths and the oppositions weakness, is ego not getting in the way and being able to change depending on how the game is going.

Mentality change

Rangers have gone behind in three of Beale's six games in charge and not lost yet, and while that can be explored as a negative it is something that we are seeing as a positive with the mentality of the squad being questioned a lot over the last number of years. Scoring two goals after the 90th minute is something unheard of within the Rangers fanbase, especially at the second toughest away ground in the league. Scott Arfield’s brace at Pittodrie sent the away fans into raptures in scenes that were both in celebration and shock.

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Coming from behind in any game but when its away at Pittodrie, home to Hibs and Celtic. Three of the toughest games you can have as a Rangers manager, that is something that needs to be acknowledged. Hibs going behind twice to win but the Celtic game, considering the record against them over the last few games as well, and going behind In the first five minutes. It took a lot of reaction from the players to not give up and take the lead, were unfortunate not to come away with the win.

Lack of experience

While a lot of the first few months of his reign have been positive there has been a few questionable decisions, which you are expected from a manager with less than a season of experience as a manager, but at Rangers it is difficult to get away with it.

The Celtic is the prime example as bringing James Sands on before Scott Arfield left the Ibrox crowd scratching their heads. Arfield brings you dig and energy which Sands doesn’t, Sands is a better technical player, with him completed the most passes per 90 in the squad. But when you are 2-1 up in an Old Firm and slowly getting pinned back by opposition you need energy in the middle of the park and Arfield gives you that in abundance.

That wasn’t the only decision from that game that left the Rangers fans questioning the gaffer. Fashion Sakala had been giving Juranovic a torrid time down the right hand side so bringing off Alfredo Morelos and moving Sakala through the middle so Scott Wright could play on the right was odd. Especially considering there was Kemar Roofe and Antonio Colak on the bench, so you could have had an archetypal centre forward on the pitch to hold the ball up and win a foul or a throw in up the pitch.