Glasgow City v Rangers Preview | The Unbeaten Top Two Face Off
On Sunday Glasgow City host Rangers to kick off a blockbuster few weeks for the women’s game in Scotland as the top tier of the men’s game goes into a World Cup enforced hibernation.
The clash between the defending champions and the most successful side in Scottish women’s football’s history begins a period which will see every derby in the SWPL contested and that will end with the Sky Sports Cup Final between Hibernian and Rangers at Tynecastle on Sunday 11th December.
Sunday’s encounter at Petershill Park will not only be a keenly fought contest between two sides still in possession of 100% records at the top of the SWPL but also an important opportunity for the elite level of the women’s game to lay down a marker saying; we’re here, come watch us.
With that in mind I thought I’d use my two-and-a-half-hour train journey from Seville back to Madrid to knock up a preview looking ahead to Sunday’s contest.
Form Guide
As already alluded to both sides come into the clash with 100% league winning records but City have suffered defeat this season losing 2–1 at home to Hibernian in a Sky Sports Cup Semi Final earlier this month. After a fast start to the season that saw them run seven past Spartans there have been moments of inconsistency in performance from Eileen Gleeson’s side even if results have held up.
They required a 97th minute Jenna Clark header to break down an obstinate Motherwell at K-Park and were given a home scare by Aberdeen, eventually doing enough to claim a 2–1 victory. Their most significant result was a 2–1 victory over another Glasgow rival, and the current third horse in the SWPL title race, Celtic with captain Hayley Lauder popping up in the 89th minute to steer the ball home amongst torrential rain at Petershill Park.
That result was an important checkpoint for City and that ability to go to the last will be something they will hope to draw upon against the current leaders who have now gone 36 league games unbeaten with Rangers last defeat coming on the final day of the 2020/21 season. Against who? Well, Glasgow City of course, as City claimed a 14th consecutive league title with a comprehensive 2–0 victory against a Rangers side who had long since slipped out of the race.
Since that defeat though Rangers’ league form has been imperious (Celtic knocked them out of both cup competitions last term) and they come into Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash having scored 47 league goals without reply. It hasn’t been all plain sailing though, particularly away to Hibernian, where a Tessel Middag free-kick was required to claim the three points at the Meadowbank Stadium.
They face City and Old Firm rivals Celtic in consecutive weeks in what will be viewed as the first real test of the progress Malky Thomson’s side has made since claiming a first ever title last summer.
How They Will Line Up
For much of her time in charge Glasgow City Head Coach Eileen Gleeson has led with a 4–1–4–1 formation that can shift to a 4–3–3 dependent on game state. It’s a formation that usually sees Lauren Davidson and last year’s PFA Women’s Player of the Year Priscilla Chinchilla support a lone striker from the flanks with Abbi Grant and Emily Whelan the main occupants of that role. A return to fitness of experienced and prolific Mexican striker Desirée Monsiváis could prove timely as City look to break down a miserly Rangers defence.
Hayley Lauder continues to provide quality from the middle of the park and from set-pieces and with four assists she leads City in that particular category this term. Where City’s struggles have come is when the magic from that front four is successfully muted by the opposition. Kinga Kozak and Bea Paredes are still settling into the Scottish game while Maddie Fulton’s attributes are better suited to keeping the ball moving from deep as opposed to breaking the play, although she can often be relied on to have a successful pop from range.
If City are to put pressure on Rangers then they will have to move the ball quicker in transition from back to front, something that they failed to do to their cost against Hibernian.
For Rangers, recent success has been built on a 4–2–3–1 formation that allows the midfield to set a solid base, overlapping full-backs and fluidity in the final third which sees the attacking shape tweaked and personal to shift over the course of the game.
While Rachel McLauchlan’s bucannering advances down the pitch and Kirsty MacLean’s youthful presence in the Rangers engine room have earned regular praise this season perhaps the most important role this term has been carried out by Jamaican international forward Kayla McCoy, a player who has stepped up to lead the line following injury to Jane Ross and as Kirsty Howat works her own way back to full fitness.
During the first leg of Rangers UWCL playoff against Benfica at Ibrox she showed quick movement to nod home her first and then razor sharpness to drive home a second, traits that have been replicated in her domestic form.
She has scored seven league goals this season (only Lizzie Arnot with eight has scored more for Rangers this term) but it is her ability to run the channels and hold up play to bring in those around her that has brought a new dimension to her and Rangers’ game.
Strangely though, despite the fact that they are yet to concede in the league this season, it is in defence that they could be at their most vulnerable. Another injury, in a season littered with them for the Glasgow side, has deprived them of captain Kathryn Hill and so a combination of either Hannah Davison, Lisa Martinez or Tessel Middag have occupied the two centre back slots with Davison herself having missed some game time.
Martinez and Davison have been the preferred partnership in recent weeks with Middag stepping up to the more familiar defensive midfield role in which she often excels but Malky Thomson has not been shy in pushing Middag backwards. This can add experience and high quality distribution (see McCoy’s second goal above) in the defensive third but it can also highlight the differences between playing in midfield compared with the centre of defence with Middag susceptible to the turn when retrieving the ball, something that her natural habitat as a CDM gives her time to do.
This is also a Rangers defence yet to experience any real pressure domestically and so City will be looking to test how valid that zero in the goals against column really is, especially from set plays where Jenna Clark has shown herself a dominating presence in the orange of City and dark blue of Scotland this term.
Key Battle: Lauren Davidson v Rachel McLauchlan
In a game that will be full of individual battles the prospect of the league’s most in-form winger coming up against Rangers front foot catalyst is one to savour going into Sunday’s contest.
Lauren Davidson’s numbers speak volumes. She has found the net on nine occasions this season, scoring at a rate of a goal per game and posseses an xAssist rate of 1.51 per 90. Those stats also show she has yet to register an actual assist this term, a pre-emtive nod to one of the challenges City might face in front of goal come Sunday.
The 21-year-old has also just returned from a successful international camp where she impressed in the U23 exhibition against Panama and gained some late minutes during the 2–1 victory over Venezuela for the ‘A’ side. She matches her-on-pitch presence with pace and progressive running and although she sometimes can do with lifting her head that little bit earlier she will provide a formidable challenge for international team-mate, McLauchlan.
While Glasgow City’s attacking approach is balanced across the final third for Rangers 39% of attacks come down their right hand side with McLauchlan, in support of winger Brogan Hay, key to its implementation. The former City defender can not only push Rangers defensive line forward but she also has a penchant for the spectacular, as was shown earlier this season against Hamilton Academical at New Douglas Park.
What will break this battle is who can get on the front foot first. If Davidson can push McLauchlan back and get her turned then she could find joy as McLauchlan’s front foot instincts be exploited with Davidson having the potential quality to do so. However, if the Rangers full back can keep Davidson busy defensively then it will close off an important, and what has so far proven to be a very profitable, channel for Eileen Gleeson’s side.
It’s also worth noting that both Davidson and Chinchilla for City can regularly switch sides and the arrival of American full-back Maddie Nolf at Rangers means that in amongst this contest mini-battles could begin to rise.
Who needs the win more?
A victory for Rangers will see them cement their status as the new top dogs in the women’s game in Scotland although Celtic will want to have their say when they face their Old Firm rivals next weekend. Should they fall to defeat how they react would be the point of most intrigue after such a long undefeated run.
For City, and Eileen Gleeson, a loss won’t define the destination of the title but the need for victory feels more pressing. The result against Celtic was significant, particularly following the devastating nature of defeat in last season’s Scottish Cup Final against the same opposition, but to follow it up with a loss to Hibernian saw the re-emergence of some familiar questions.
Gleeson is yet to get the better of Malky Thomson and if City are to wrestle back control of the title that has become synonymous with their name over the last fifteen years then at some point victory over Rangers will have to come. Will Sunday be that day? Well you’ll just have to tune in to find out.
Glasgow City v Rangers will be live on BBC Alba this Sunday with a 16:10 kick off.