Move over Lawrence: Rangers gem who won 88% ground duels was the true hero

Glasgow Rangers moved back to within five points of the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a 1-0 win away at Dundee United on Sunday.

The Light Blues claimed all three points away from Ibrox with a narrow victory, thanks to a first-half goal from attacking midfielder Tom Lawrence.

It was a scrappy, hard-fought, win for Philippe Clement’s side and one that they needed after losing the first Old Firm clash of the season 3-0 before the international break.

The match-winner, Lawrence, enjoyed an excellent afternoon at Tannadice but he was not the only star of the show for the Scottish giants.

Tom Lawrence’s performance in numbers

The Welsh attacking midfielder opened the scoring by bundling his way through several attempted challenges from Dundee United defenders before lifting the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

That was one of five shots taken by the former Derby County man, who had three shots on target and missed one ‘big chance’, as he constantly threatened the opposition’s goal.

Lawrence was not particularly creative for his side, though, with one key pass and zero ‘big chances’ created from 60 touches of the ball in total.

The Welshman also lost 11 of his 16 duels throughout the match, including four of his five aerial contests, which suggests that Dundee United players found it too easy to get the better of him in physical battles.

It was a flawed, but still good, performance from Lawrence and the real hero of the story at Tannadice was Brazilian left-back Jefte, who caught the eye with a strong showing.

Jefte was the hero of the story

The summer signing enjoyed a successful afternoon on Sunday with a fantastic performance in and out of possession down the left flank for Rangers.

Ridvan Yilmaz’s absence through injury has provided the Brazilian starlet with a chance to show what he can do for Clement, and will surely have impressed his manager with his display.

He provided a constant threat down the left side with his willingness to run beyond Oscar Cortes in the first half to whip crosses in – producing eight crosses in total.

As you can see in the table above, Jefte was also dominant defensively for the Gers as he won 88% of his ground duels and eight of his 11 battles in total.

The superb left-back, who made nine tackles, interceptions, and clearances, was crucial to the clean sheet with his interventions to prevent Jack Butland’s goal from being threatened.

He also completed 86% of his attempted passes and both of his attempted dribbles, which shows that Jefte was reliable in possession and able to retain the ball to help his side control the game.

Overall, he was the real hero for Clement due to his contributions in and out of possession for the Scottish giants, whilst Lawrence left a fair bit to be desired from his display outside of his match-winning strike.