The season incoming Rangers boss Russell Martin was behind only Barcelona and Man City in Europe for possession stats
RANGERS fans will be wondering what to expect under their new manager as Ibrox chiefs close in on the appointment of Philippe Clement's successor.
SunSport understands Russell Martin is in the final stages of negotiations over personal terms and is expected to be the next man in the hot-seat.
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Russell Martin is set to be named the new Rangers manager
Credit: Getty
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The Scot is expected to head back up north and back to Ibrox
Credit: Getty
It's an appointment that will have mixed feelings after the former Gers and Scotland defender was sacked by relegation-stricken Southampton in December.
But should he officially land the job then Gers supporters can certainly expect possession-based free-flowing football in Govan next season, at the very least.
Martin, 39, has stuck by that style at every club he has been, and it was the reason he became a sought-after young coach in the first place.
He was hailed for his approach at MK Dons and Swansea but it came back to bite him in the Premier League this season with the Saints.
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At one stage he even had one of his teams competing with Europe's elite in the possession department.
In 2021, Martin's MK Dons had the third-highest average possession share in the whole continent, with Barcelona and Manchester City leading the way.
The English side had an average share of 63.82 per cent, compared to Pep Guardiola's men in second place with 63.84 per cent and Barcelona at 65.11 per cent.
In early March that year, MK Dons set a British record of scoring a goal against Gillingham to cap a move which comprised of 56 consecutive passes.
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The 39-year-old spoke about his methodology on The Rest is Football podcast last month.
He said: "After a year and a bit of working with the players and believe so much in something and you convince them of something.
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"To then go by the way you are not good enough to do this now so you're going to have to change...
"My feeling is I have learned a lot. Will I do things differently? No in terms of build up and trying to dominate the ball.
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"I changed formation too much but the concept doesn't change.
"You recognise where the space is, spare man and find him, and we will take territory as quick as we can.
"Sometimes it will take 20 passes sometimes one, but you need to feel it, live it and do it together and work out.
"But the problem was we weren't winning, so rather than being really consistent with the shape, and this is how we defend.
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"I was overthinking a bit and going we need to change shape for this game because of this."
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Martin revealed his style of play received plaudits from Manchester City boss Guardiola and his players.
He added: "There were brilliant bits and played City away.
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"It looked great at times, we broke through City's press a lot.
"Pep Guardiola was amazingly complimentary and their players were surprised by the level of capability of the players, the way we played through them.
"But we had five defenders, we had two full backs playing wing back and we couldn't finish it off so the balance was a bit skewed that's what I've learned."
He also enjoyed a 25-game unbeaten run in the English Championship with Southampton.
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A record-breaking number of passes was set by Southampton under Martin in their opening game against Sheffield Wednesday, with 931 successful passes and 477 in the first half.
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