Where Hibs fell short at Rangers as key theme emerges

After falling behind to James Tavernier's back-post volley, Nick Montgomery's side hauled themselves level through the in-form Myziane Maolida. But parity was painfully brief, with Cyriel Dessers immediately restoring Rangers' advantage, and Philippe Clement's team made the points safe with five minutes remaining as Rabbi Matondo fired an impressive strike past David Marshall from distance.

Reviewing the match footage, it's apparent that Hibs built their way into a number of promising situations, yet the stats show they could not capitalise. 

Promising positions, inconsistent execution

Hibs' primary attacking issue was not being able to convert well-worked positions into clear-cut chances. This is reflected in recording an xG of 0.84, with most of that coming from Myziane's equalising goal.

It is clear, though, that Hibs had opportunities to punish Rangers in transition moments, and only really got it right on that one occasion. With the home side's full-backs often so far advanced, Hibs sought to exploit any space behind them when the ball turned over. With an abundance of pace in the side, and players capable of playing forward quickly, this was a logical approach, but one that mostly fell short in its execution.

This was perhaps reflected in Montgomery's assessment that his team were, 'Good at times, but not good enough'. It will have frustrated the manager that the players were able to get into good areas against a team who have, generally, been conceding very few chances since Clement took over.

In the example below, a second ball drops to Adam Le Fondre, and he spreads the play wide to Élie Youan. Chris Cadden immediately shows for the overlap but the Frenchman delays. The pass is on to slide Cadden down the side, at which point Hibs would have had four players rushing into the opposition penalty area for a cutback. Instead, Youan tries to cut back inside for a shot, but there are too many Rangers players between him and the goal and it's easily blocked.

In the example below, Hibs win the ball back on the left and Myziane drives in-field with runners ahead of him and Rangers not particularly well structured. With Borna Barisic caught high up the pitch, Le Fondre pulls wide, and there's a pass on for Myziane to send the striker through.

However, Myziane delays releasing the ball, and those short few seconds allow Barisic to tuck back inside, and the gap to find Le Fondre tightens. Myziane eventually passes to Youan, but he runs into a mass of blue shirts and the opportunity is gone, with Le Fondre clearly furious he wasn't played in.

In the next example, Hibs manage to evade the Rangers press, with Nectar Triantis passing forward and allowing Youan to turn and drive up the pitch as Cadden makes the supporting run.

Youan and Cadden exchange passes on the right, with the winger driving inside and picking out Myziane's run with a good pass. If Myziane's first touch is better, he almost certainly gets a shot away, but he can't control the ball and Rangers manage to clear.

After the interval, Hibs did make some in-roads down the left side, but again it was decision-making that was their undoing. In the example below, Joe Newell finds Myziane in space on the inside left, and he does well to drive inside to find a yard of space.

But he opts for a shot through a mass of bodies when there was a clear pass on to Emiliano Marcondes in space, with Le Fondre also arriving on the scene. There was a chance for a potential overload on that side, but Myziane, understandably high on confidence, goes for goal instead.

The margin for error is thin when trying to capitalise on such moments at places like Ibrox. That Hibs worked all of the positions above and still finished the match with such a low xG shows where the obvious improvement must come if they are to take the next step in these matches. Basically, they need to be more ruthless, and make better decisions in the final third - a familiar refrain from a frustratingly inconsistent season. 

Opportunities to exploit St Johnstone and Motherwell should, in theory, be more readily available, but Hibs must find that killer touch in these situations if they are to take the six points that are now absolutely required from the final two pre-split fixtures.

Drop-off after 65 minutes

Hibs were beginning to re-establish a modest foothold midway through the second half, again working decent positions and managing a semi-sustained period of territorial advantage. Newell and Triantis were able to pick out Myziane in space on the left at various points, and although Hibs were still struggling to find that final pass with any significant consistency, they were very much in the game at this point.

Both sides made changes around the 65-minute mark, with contrasting fortunes. Montgomery brought on Jair Tavares and Nathan Moriah-Welsh for Le Fonde and Triantis, with Myziane moving into a central striking role. Rangers, meanwhile, brought on Dujon Sterling, in what appeared to be a bid to snuff out Hibs' attacking threat.

Hibs struggled to make much headway from there on. After 70 minutes, Montgomery's side managed only three passes/carries into the final third, having made 13 up until that point. The graphic below demonstrates how that left-sided threat faded in the latter stages, with all the remaining final third entries occurring down the opposite wing. 

Montgomery has made some positive substitutions in the recent run of improved form - namely Dylan Levitt against Dundee at home, and Le Fondre at Ross County - but the simultaneous changes for both teams here only seemed to benefit Rangers. Montgomery did bring on Martin Boyle as time ticked away, and you do wonder whether he would have been given longer on the pitch had he not so recently been sidelined with concussion. Montgomery is nothing if not consistent with his refusal to risk players who aren't 100%. 

READ MORE: Hibs winger Martin Boyle 'remembers nothing' from concussion

Overall, it's difficult to argue that Hibs deserved anything from this game, and the scoreline was a fair reflection of proceedings. Perhaps the most frustrating element, though, is that better handling of key moments could have made it a far trickier assignment for Rangers.