Rangers are only behind Manchester City and Ajax in a ranking of Europe's pass masters, a new study has shown.
Swiss experts at the CIES Football Observatory have compared the 35 top leagues across the continents to find the most dominant sides in possession.
They have analysed which clubs have made the most successful passes in the opposition’s third of the field and cross-referenced that with the number of passes they have allowed in their own defensive third.
And the data shows that Steven Gerrard’s Rangers are flying high in third position.
The Gers have averaged 179 successful passes in their Premiership fixtures this term, while they have allowed just 59 in their own danger zone.
However, the accolade is no guarantee of results, with English champions Manchester City - currently trailing Liverpool, Leicester and Chelsea - in the race for the title topping the list with 210 passes made compared to 59 allowed. Ajax (220 / 64) are in second spot.
Celtic also rank highly in seventh spot, with Neil Lennon’s charges finding a teammate 161 times in the final third and allowing just 64 from the opposition. They are one place ahead of German giants Bayern Munich.
The stats make grim reading for Hamilton, who are remarkably rock-bottom of the table which covers the whole of Europe.
Accies average just 63 passes in the attacking third, while they allow 163.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel