Rangers: Ibrox dud Scott Arfield has been disappointing this season | OneFootball

Rangers have seen a change in management at Ibrox this season, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst arriving in the midst of the Gers’ campaign to retain their league title from last season and make strides in Europe.

Domestically, Rangers have managed to win 22 of their 31 league games, drawing seven and losing just two, scoring 62 goals and conceding 25 in the process.

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Who did Rangers beat in their first game of 2021?

Celtic Aberdeen St Mirren Ross County

In terms of which players have done a good job for Rangers throughout the season, particularly in the Premiership, one man who hasn’t been quite up to the standard that Van Bronckhorst may have been seeking is Scott Arfield.

Since arriving at Ibrox in 2018 on a free transfer from Premier League side Burnley, the Canadian midfielder has made 177 appearances across all competitions, scoring 33 goals and providing 18 assists along the way.

Despite chipping in with four goals in 23 league appearances this term, there have been other aspects of his game that have not been quite as impressive. Although he has found the back of the net four times, the 33-year-old has only gotten 15 of his 42 shots on the target.

From a defensive point of view, the midfielder has committed 26 fouls, made 14 interceptions and only won 10 tackles, along with losing 64% of his duels, showing that he can be a liability when Rangers don’t have the ball.

His overall performances have earned the former Burnley man – who is currently picking up £16k-per-week according to Salary Sport – a rather underwhelming season rating of 6.6/10 from WhoScored. That makes him one of the lowest-rated outfield Gers players currently in Van Bronckhorst’s squad to have started more than two league games. On that evidence, he has been anything but a “manager’s dream”, something he was labelled by his former boss John Hughes.

Has Arfield been disappointing this season?

Yes

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No

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Moving forward, Arfield will need to fix up his performances if he is going to help them retain the Premiership title under their Dutch manager.

The best way for the 33-year-old to do this is by putting in a solid display in Rangers’ crucial upcoming league clash against Celtic, with whom the Gers can draw level at the top of the league table if they can defeat their arch-rivals in next week’s Old Firm derby.

With the Hoops having more possession than any other team in the league this season, this is where Arfield will need to show how useful he can be for the Light Blues when they don’t have the ball, or else he could potentially cost the club the chance of winning the title.