- Glasgow Rangers lack of success last season was due to a variety of reasons. As the Premiership campaign reached its climax, the Ibrox side faltered, as several of the senior leadership team failed to inspire the team when the going got tough.
The fact that Philippe Clement had to play numerous games without several of his important players—most notably Abdallah Sima and Ridvan Yilmaz—didn’t assist the cause either.
The Light Blues’ downfall was ultimately caused by their matches against Celtic, as they were unable to overcome their Old Firm rivals in any of the 2023–24 seasons, including a 1-0 loss in the Scottish Cup final.
Rangers have only triumphed in one Old Firm match in ninety minutes since August 2021, and that was in the 2022–2023 season, when Celtic had already secured the League title.
The cause? A lack of discipline in the midfield has given Celtic the upper hand by enabling them to control the game.
The fact that Steven Davis was able to control play in these kinds of games shows how much the Gers miss him.
Rangers statistics for Steven Davis
The Northern Irishman had two fantastic stints with the Light Blues, appearing in 362 games and winning numerous awards in all of his stints north of the border.
Even though he was becoming older, Davis was essential to everything that the Rangers did well under Steven Gerrard, especially in the 2020–21 season when the team ended a ten-year league title drought.
| Steven Davis’ Rangers stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | Games | Goals |
| 2022/23 | 16 | 2 |
| 2021/22 | 33 | 1 |
| 2020/21 | 49 | 2 |
| 2019/20 | 41 | 1 |
| 2018/19 | 18 | 0 |
| 2011/12 | 39 | 5 |
| 2010/11 | 53 | 5 |
| 2009/10 | 50 | 4 |
| 2008/09 | 39 | 6 |
| 2007/08 | 24 |
1 |
The midfield player demonstrated his skill with the ball, which allowed him to control the entire game from the center of the midfield area, by finishing that season with an 89% pass success rate, averaging 81.7 touches per game, winning 57% of his ground duels, and only being dribbled past on 0.7 occasions per match.
In that Rangers team, he served as Gerrard’s conductor. It is no accident that the team has lacked this control and additional bite in the middle of the pitch ever since he had a career-ending injury in 2022.
His performance versus Celtic is noteworthy as well, particularly from his second stint in Glasgow. Davis has participated in 13 Old Firm games since returning to the Gers in January 2018, losing only three of them.
The fact that the Light Blues have lost seven times and drawn twice since Davis’ final appearance in the derby in September 2022 is another proof of how much they have missed him.
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