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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has overseen a stunning start to the season by his side.
Through the first three months of the season, Rangers have conceded just four goals. Not until Week 8 did any Scottish Premier League side manage to breach the Gers' defense and score. After 17 games, Gerrard's side has won 15 and kept a stunning 14 clean sheets in the process. It is now the sole remaining unbeaten team across the top divisions of England and Scotland.
17 games
15 wins
14 clean sheetsRangers are on a tear this season pic.twitter.com/DBsjGM2iTd— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 29, 2020
Rangers earned a 1-0 victory over Polish side Lech Poznan in the Europa League on Thursday thanks to a header from Alfredo Morelos, who came off the bench to seal the points. It has now taken two wins from two in the Europa League group stage this season, following last week's 2-0 defeat of Standard Liege, which was the Belgian side's first defeat in a home European game for six years.
The early-season results add to Gerrard's impressive European record with Rangers. Since taking over, he has led his side into European competition 37 times and lost only five, winning 20 and drawing a further 12. That stretch includes impressive victories over Porto, Feyenoord, Braga and Galatasaray.
Rangers sit in first place in the Scottish league with a +25 goal difference and a six-point lead on archrival Celtic, which has a game in hand. The Ibrox side earned a comprehensive 2-0 victory in the latest Old Firm derby, outclassing Neil Lennon's team in front of an empty Celtic Park. The home side finished the game without a single shot on target.
The only unbeaten team across the top tiers of England and Scotland.
Six points clear of Celtic.Steven Gerrard's @RangersFC pic.twitter.com/TRSuqLdlFm
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) October 25, 2020
Gerrard has, at various times throughout his tenure, found himself under pressure for failing to bring Celtic's dominance of the Scottish league to a halt. Rangers managed to keep the pressure on Celtic for large parts of the last two campaigns before falling away later on in the season. The unbeaten run to start this term, the longest such streak for Rangers since 1982-83, has given the side a strong platform from which to chase the league title that has eluded it for so long.
Praise should surely be heaped on the defenders, but Rangers' success in keeping clean sheets so far has come as a result of the coaching staff's belief in defending from the front. Rangers play with a high defensive line and press the opposition constantly. This often forces the team's opponents to try to play over the top — no easy task considering both Connor Goldson and Filip Helander boast an aerial success rate of 72 percent.
Assistant coach Gary McAllister has praised Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos' tenacity and work rate in recent weeks, saying: "When you see that sort of stat (clean sheets), you tend to look at the back four and the goalkeeper. But I would look further up the pitch, I think, when you watch the front three just now, particularly Alfredo, he’s doing a lot of unselfish stuff for the team."
Gerrard's men are on course to break all sorts of defensive records this season should they continue to suffocate their opponents like they have in the campaign's early stages. Next up for Rangers is Kilmarnock away in the league before a tough trip to Benfica, joint-top in Europa League Group D, next Thursday.
