The dust has settled on a poor afternoon for Hibs at Ibrox, a 4-0 defeat which spelled the end of Nick Montgomery’s unbeaten record since taking over as manager.

His side were unable to really lay a glove on Rangers, who secured a comfortable victory in their first outing under new boss Philippe Clement. Abdallah Sima struck twice, while Nicolas Raskin and Cyriel Dessers also helped themselves to goals.

The result leaves Hibs sitting ninth in the Premiership table, with two wins in their last six matches. Up next is a daunting test against in-form champions Celtic, as Brendan Rodgers’ league leaders make the trip to Edinburgh for the second time in two weeks having dismantled Hearts 4-1 on Sunday.

Hibs will need to improve vastly from their visit to Govan. Montgomery’s side conceded poor goals and offered little threat in the final third.

The Hibs Observer has pored over the data and footage from Saturday’s match with help from our partners at Statsbomb.

Montgomery made two changes to the side which drew at Tynecastle before the international break, replacing Rocky Bushiri with Paul Hanlon and Christian Doidge with Adam Le Fondre. The manager stuck to his 4-4-2 formation, again designed to essentially become 4-2-4 in possession.

Given Rangers’ struggles so far this season, and with a number of key players either still injured or not fit enough to start, Hibs will have sensed an opportunity to make a real statement. They enjoyed plenty of possession in the first-half, and some of their passing out from the back was assured enough with Joe Newell and Jimmy Jeggo managing to find pockets of space from which to receive and elude the Rangers press.

But Hibs could not advance their cause much further, managing only one shot on target the entire afternoon. The pass map below demonstrates what was plainly obvious during the match – Hibs could not stretch Rangers’ backline to any effective extent.

The pass map shows’ Newell and Jeggo basically overlapping in terms of where they received the ball, and it is indicative of how they tried to rotate which of them would be the man dropping in to show in deeper areas. Centre-backs Hanlon and Will Fish would split at goal-kicks, while Jordan Obita and Lewis Miller pushed higher up.

The plan itself was sound, and when Hibs got it right they were able to advance up the pitch, but too often what followed was lacking in ‘creativity’, as Montgomery himself put it. Dylan Vente’s positioning on the pass map has all the hallmarks of a striker forced to come deep just to get involved in the play, while Le Fondre and Boyle cut isolated figures.

Vente made only eight passes in the entire time he was on the pitch, with that lack of involvement reflected across the frontline. Le Fondre made only seven, Boyle made nine albeit Youan was more prominent with 20.

Youan did, however, struggle to make an impact in the final third, with the below graphic demonstrating how he was rarely able to fashion one-v-one situations against the Rangers defence,

Hibs’ bad day at the office in attack is also starkly apparent on Saturday’s shot map. The only shot on target came from Vente, with an xG of just 0.02. Hibs’ overall xG was a meagre 0.49, with a dispiriting open play xG per shot of only 0.042.

Rangers, meanwhile, had 23 shots in the match with an xG of 2.74, and an open play xG per shot of 0.133. It is certainly a concern for Montgomery that over the last two league matches, his side have conceded 45 shots, a number which quickly needs to be reduced.

The first Rangers goal is sloppy from Hibs’ point of view. A long punt from David Marshall is won by Connor Goldson, with Will Fish then getting his head to the next ball, nodding it back down into midfield.

From there, though, Hibs fail to react. Scott Wright wins the second ball unchallenged, and Obita could arguably do better in getting closer to contest it. Miller then doesn’t put pressure on Sima’s lay-off to Dessers, which at the very least could have stopped him making the run which leads to the goal.

Both Hanlon and Miller challenge Dessers, and no one follows Sima as he races round the other side and capitalises on the break of the ball, sprinting through to apply a fine finish. Getting down the side of Hanlon and Fish was a feature of Rangers' approach, but this was too simple from a Hibs standpoint.

The snapshot above - with a number of Hibs players turning and sprinting back towards their own goal after the ball turns over - will have happened too often for Montgomery's liking.

The second typified how Hibs left too many gaps in midfield, and again struggled to deal with transitions. Newell is caught on the ball by Sam Lammers – Montgomery was insistent afterwards that this was a foul – and the ball drops to Raskin, who has time to fire low beyond Marshall from distance.

As Lammers makes the challenge, though, you can clearly see the empty space which Raskin can step into, whilst also having plenty of time to line up his shot. Jeggo makes a late burst to close him down, but it’s too late to stop the strike.

The third was an example of how Rangers exploited the gaps an expansive Hibs were prone to leaving. John Lundstram advances with the ball and picks out Lammers as he drops into the pocket, and he has far too much time to turn and get his head up.

Newell drifts away from Lammers to pick up Todd Cantwell, whose positioning creates a dilemma for Hibs. Hanlon gesticulates for Dylan Levitt - who is distracted by Raskin - to shift across to the unmarked Lammers. By the time he realises what's happening, though,  the Dutchman has already turned and slipped a pass through for Dessers. Hibs scramble to block successive shots, but the ball is eventually turned in by Sima.

Montgomery may just be disappointed by how neither Levitt nor Newell got themselves back in after Rangers played their way in behind, reacting only when the ball dropped for Sima.

The fourth involved a breakdown in communication between Bushiri and Obita, who both watch the ball instead of Dessers. The reverse ball from Cantwell is excellent, in fairness, but Dessers could have been marked more tightly.

The confusion caused by Cantwell's pass allows the striker time to pause before calmly slotting into the corner.

Overall, it can be described as little other than a really bad day at the office for Hibs. They will feel Rangers didn't have to work too hard for their goals, and be doubly disappointed in how they asked too few questions of them at the other end.

With a motoring Celtic up next this coming Saturday, there's plenty to work on at the training ground this week.