RANGERS defender Niko Katic accused Kilmarnock of playing 'like a rugby team' after they had held his side to a draw at Ibrox on Saturday, but do the stats back up the Croatian defender's claim?
“In the second half, they made bad fouls like a rugby team,” Katic said.
“They blocked us on the edge of the box. We are a team who want to play football.
“It’s tough when you are Rangers because the fans expect you to play technical football like Celtic or Hibs.
“But they just stand and block you. It’s really hard to play one-twos when they have 11 players behind the ball.”
In terms of fouls, Kilmarnock did commit more on the day, with nine to Rangers' five.
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However, over the course of the season, the Rugby Park side have committed just 10 more fouls than Rangers, averaging 11.77 fouls per game in the Premiership compared to the 11.41 that Rangers commit. Neither of these rates are particularly high in the context of the league as a whole, with Kilmarnock in seventh position in terms of fouls committed and Rangers just below them in eighth place.
The teams are separated by just one card when it comes to bookings, with Kilmarnock recieving 51 so far this season to Rangers' 50, while Rangers have double the amount of red cards, with six to Killie's three.
In individual terms, Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has committed the second highest number of fouls in the division behind Motherwell forward Curtis Main, while the highest-ranked Kilmarnock player for number of fouls committed is midfielder Aaron Tshibola down in 10th place.
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