If one player’s limitations were deeply exposed at Dens Park, it was the curious tactical switch enforced on him by Derek McInnes. Ryan Naderi’s limitations became abundantly clear in a position that simply does not suit him.

Naderi has become a bit of a cult hero in recent times, scoring one or two very important goals and getting a call up to his mother’s national side, Czechia. His stock has risen and the notion has been that, if his development continues, the boy could go from a £5 million player, and a bizarre one at that, to a justified £10 million plus.

However, his performance at Dens Park as a number nine deeply exposed the limitations that Ryan Naderi actually has, and which his selection in the same position for his national side also exposed.

Ryan Naderi’s limitations exposed

Naderi is not a target man. He cannot play as the upfront striker. He cannot be composed on the ball. He cannot shimmy players off the ball. He has no presence and he simply does not have the power to hold the line on his own. He cannot do it.

Why Derek McInnes decided this was the match in which he was going to do that to Naderi, we do not know.

Naderi, of course, excels in the number 10 position, where we have praised Derek McInnes for getting the best out of him. He plays as a kind of Thomas Müller type, the guy who causes disruption deeper in attack, more advanced in midfield, and causes harassment simply by having freedom.

And with this freedom, he can get the odd goal or two. Let’s not forget Ryan Naderi only has 5 league goals since January. It is not an impressive run (it’s diabolical in truth) and it shows that he is not a clinical striker who will score goals repeatedly. It is just not in his makeup.

Consequently, putting him as a number 11 was a huge gamble for McInnes.

McInnes makes a bewildering tactical switch

He dropped Kevin Kelsy as a ‘tactical alteration’. He claimed that he wanted to put Minsu Kim in the middle in the number 10 position so that he could accommodate Badredine Bouanani.

Bouanani, of course, had the best match of the night for Rangers. Without any question, he was Rangers’ star player and he scored a belting goal.

However, Naderi was the man picked to lead the line in accommodating him. We will have more on the Bouanani situation in due course.

But Naderi showed very early on that he is not a target man. He never will be and he cannot hold the line upfront on his own.

We can repeat this ad nauseam, but the more important aspect is that Derek McInnes will know this. He has seen the best of Naderi by playing him deeper. So why he took the risk of putting him upfront, when past experience shows he cannot play there, is beyond us.

It was abundantly clear, as we say, early on in this match that Naderi was struggling. He wasn’t excelling in this slot. It wasn’t getting the best from him and, in fact, he was running around like the proverbial headless chicken that he had been since January.

Ryan Naderi’s limitations cost Rangers

This was not a good use of Naderi’s talents. They, admittedly, are pretty limited in themselves, but you make the best of the skills that you have.

And McInnes did not do that with Naderi. He did not change it at all until far too late. By then, Dundee had a complete grasp of this match and Naderi’s limitations had been deeply exposed.

McInnes has got the best out of Naderi, as we say, by playing him deeper. So we do not understand why he decided to completely flip on this and put him upfront.

If he’d wanted to accommodate Bouanani, he should have kept Kelsy upfront. Ibrox Noise may not have been massively won over by Kelsy, but he is naturally a number 11. Whether we truly rate him at that level is not really the point. It is his position. It is not Naderi’s.

Naderi has shown himself at this level to be incapable of playing as a target man number 11. He could play there as a 3. Liga player, yes, but that’s a different level.

Hansa Rostock doesn’t have the same pressure that Rangers do. Opponents don’t play the same low block that opponents do in the Scottish Premiership. Not in Germany’s 3. Liga, they don’t.

Consequently, we cannot fathom why Derek McInnes put him there. Furthermore, we are seeing fundamentally the limitations that Naderi has. He is not a breathtaking player.

Czechia already exposed the problem

And the crucial part that we have probably missed in this piece is how poor he was for Czechia in that exact slot.

Naderi was nowhere as the number 11 for his national side. He just couldn’t deliver there. It is not his slot and why he played there tonight against Dundee in a crucial must win match, we do not know.

That’s Kevin Kelsy’s position, whether we love the Venezuelan or not. That is where he plays.

And for McInnes to justify that one as a tactical switch, put Kelsy on the bench and put Naderi in his position is completely bewildering.

But it’s what McInnes chose.

Managers will make mistakes. There is no question that managers will make mistakes, but they’re usually mistakes based on knowledge that should, in theory, work.

This one had all the evidence that it wouldn’t.

We do not know why our manager chose something so completely counterintuitive. Ryan Naderi’s limitations were already obvious, yet McInnes chose to expose them in one of Rangers’ most important matches of the season.

Answers on a postcard as to why he did.

Your guess is as good as ours.