Fortress Fir Park faces familiar foe // Motherwell vs Rangers
- Declan Dundas
- Feb 11
- 6 min read
Fortress Fir Park faces its next challenge: January Manager of the Month Danny Röhl's Rangers side. Rangers will be looking to close the gap on league leaders Hearts whereas Motherwell will be looking to consolidate that top four position. Alongside this, we dream of climbing a little higher in the William Hill SPFL Premiership.
Standings, Form, and Head-to-Head
The standings reflect two teams that are having an excellent season; perhaps less so Rangers, but after Russell Martin's disastrous start for the Gers, it's pretty impressive that Röhl even has them in the title conversation.
Motherwell's 43 points so far is, by all accounts, particularly impressive. Especially when you consider that last season's overall point total sat at 49, there's a lot of excitement about just how far this Motherwell team can go under the stewardship of Jens Berthel Askou.
In January, Motherwell managed to pick up four wins with the only draw coming away to Hibs at a sold out Easter Road (any excuse to mention the football for a fiver deal, which really ought to be reciprocated by Motherwell).
It is easy to look at the form guide and see a team that is more or less coasting, but there were some really crucial and well-fought victories in amongst that month. The win against St Mirren showed good resilience given the Hampden result and a draw isn't the worst result at Easter Road when Hibs are hot on your tails, though we would've obviously preferred a win
Rangers' form is a little more varied but still some crucial results in there. Their 3-0 win against a well-coached Dundee side was resounding. The loss to Porto was disappointing given that Danny Röhl's men went ahead in the tie and the result had some co-efficient ramifications. Rangers fans expecting a bounce back after that tie would be bitterly disappointed after a lackluster performance against Hibs.
Despite winning against Kilmarnock 5-1 it did not appear to assuage many fans, or at least in the first half, as Ibrox booed the Rangers team heading to the changing room 1-0 up. This prompted a response from Danny Röhl, who said in his post-match press interview he was surprised to hear it. Ibrox is a notoriously difficult place to play - and not just for the away side.
There would be little groans as they avenged Philippe Clement and beat Queen's Park 8-0, a scoreline not seen at Ibrox since they beat Ayr United in 1992. Still, Motherwell represents a difficult challenge and Danny Röhl himself said they'll have to be at their best to get a result.
The head-to-head record also points to a close fixture. In the past 4 matches, Motherwell and Rangers have both won once and drawn twice. If you make that 6 matches, it becomes Motherwell and Rangers have both won twice and drawn twice. For reasons of bias we won't go beyond 6 matches, but the recent story certainly shows a team that is more than capable of holding its own against the Govan outfit.
Predicted lineups and tactics
This is what I'm predicting the lineup to look like this evening. I believe Welsh will come straight back into the fold - with such a big game at stake his quality will be needed at centre-back. Longelo and Sparrow will be the fullbacks, looking to provide width but also contribute to the defence when the other fullback goes forward. I don't see any reason why Fadinger and Priestman would be changed as the double pivot right now.
Now, my slightly more controversial take is that Eythor Bjørgolfsson will make his first start for Motherwell. This Rangers team are extremely physical, their backline is full of tall imposing players. In his pre-match press conference, Askou repeatedly highlighted Eythor Bjørgolfsson's physical attributes. This makes me think he's very likely to start, though I don't expect him to last 90 minutes due to fitness.
One player we had missing from the encounter at Ibrox was no other than the Zimbabwean warrior Tawanda Maswanhise. Motherwell allegedly rebuffed approaches from Celtic, Rangers, Anderlecht and others to keep a hold of the winger. Though he's been utilised more as a striker this season, with the introduction of Eythor I think we'll see Maswanhise drop back into the wing position he loves so much. His pace and imposing play can really upset that Rangers backline and, with the Gers new fullback Tuur Rommens looking a decent addition, it has all the ingredients to be a heck of a matchup down our right flank.
But before we talk about Rommens, we have to talk about Mr Scientific. Maswanhise is currently the most clinical forward in the Premiership. He is scoring 0.66 goals per game from around an xG of 0.33 - he is significantly outperforming his xG.
Leading consensus around xG is that players will probably regress to around the output of their xG, but Maswanhise is showing no signs of stopping. His confidence is at an all-time high, he's running in behind, he's taking his man on, he's shooting with precision. Make no mistake about it: he very well could be the difference maker tonight.
Tuur Rommens is a signing that, in our view, significantly strengthens Rangers’ title credentials. At a time when many full-backs have become conservative facilitators by recycling possession, holding width, stepping inside in build-up rather than attacking space, Rommens is operating at the opposite end of the spectrum.
He isn’t simply “above average” in this profile. He sits in the extreme top-right of the data: high raw volume of underlapping runs, and an unusually high proportion of his total movements coming through that inside channel. That alone marks him out. But the size of his marker tells us that his underlaps consistently lead to dangerous actions.
In a league where breaking compact blocks often defines title races, that matters. Underlaps are structurally disruptive. They attack the blindside of a centre-back, collapse defensive lines inward, and create cutback lanes rather than hopeful crosses. They force decisions. They distort shape.
While much of the modern game has drifted toward risk-managed circulation and predictable wide play, Rommens offers vertical aggression from deep. He doesn’t just provide width; he punctures the half-space. That kind of movement unsettles defences as much as it does stretch them.
If integrated properly within Rangers’ rest-defence structure, this profile is a potential competitive edge. Though, that is a big if. John Walker, a UEFA A License Coach & Analyst posted a YouTube video previewing tonight's match. In it he highlights the lack of structure in Rangers' rest defence, and it's something that Motherwell have exploited in other teams. We've embedded the video below, and began it where John speaks about Rangers' rest defence, but the whole video is really worth watching!
Rangers have had a more settled defence as a whole of late, with Souter and Djiga being preferred over their colleagues, but it could be said that the inclusion of slow, more cumbersome centre halves could play into the hands of Motherwell’s quick style, so it’ll be interesting to see if this changes at the weekend.
Rangers’ other January business includes a whole host of names: Danish midfielder Tochi Chukwuani joins the Bears from Sturm Graz (Well fans will recognise the name from the likes of Max Johnston and Mika Biereth); winger Andreas Skov Olsen already has his first goal for the club, coming against Killie; and German Ryan Naderi joined the Gers from Bundesliga 3, and scored twice in the rout against Queens Park.
While Motherwell’s incomings have been much more modest by comparison - with our only signings of note being the return of Stephen Welsh and the arrival of Byorgolfsson - it is clear that Jens Askou trusts the players he has in the building already. Speaking during the window, JBA mentioned how he was always more concerned with retaining the “pillars” of a team that he has before he tries to build more on top.
The possession battle will also be interesting to watch, as both teams really love to take charge of the contest by having as much of the ball as possible. Indeed, Askou said that his possession-based football is a big part of why Motherwell have conceded so little this season.
Regardless, this is another top of the table tie for Motherwell, and Rangers will be looking to demolish the fortress. With the firepower that both sides have at their disposal this could be another fantastic display, but I still very much see it playing out more like a chess match than a paintball game. This will be calculated, deliberate, and tactical from both sides, and I can’t wait to watch it.
P.S....
If you enjoyed this match preview, you'll definitely enjoy Issue 3 of The Steelmen Dispatch: The Story So Far. We've just release pre-orders. It contains everything from data-led tactical breakdowns, an exclusive interview with Block E, transfer window analysis, historical pieces, analysis on the women's team and more.
You can check it out here.
Great read!