How Giovanni van Bronckhorst is unlocking Joe Aribo's goal scoring potential

Joe Aribo has been instrumental to the Scottish Premier League champions’ title defence and is indeed arguably the best player in the Scottish top-flight at the moment.

Aribo, the club’s top-scoring midfielder is set to surpass last season’s best-ever top-flight goals tally (six) having already equaled that haul with a goal against Hearts. Furthermore, Aribo has delivered these returns in seven games less than the entirety of their title-winning campaign (25 appearances).

Two more goals for the Nigerian will see him hit his best ever individual goal-scoring campaign and, given his recent performances and his new-found confidence in the middle of the pitch, he is more than expected to achieve that

The 25-year-old is clearly finding the crucial consistency which would turn him from a good player to a great one. While he was one of ex-manager Steven Gerrard’s key players, Aribo has taken things up a notch under new boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst as he has now recorded three goals and one assist in five league matches so far under the Dutchman.

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Aribo is arguably Rangers’ most important player after Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent and although he failed to beat his own personal best goal tally last time out against St. Johnstone, he set up Morelos to square for Kent for the second goal.

The reason behind Aribo’s improved attacking output

Asides Aribo’s willingness to be more adventurous and never shy away from an attacking play is down to a tactical tweak brought in by his new coach.

Van Bronckhorst offered a simple explanation for the Nigerian's upturn in form and goals:

“[Joe] is very dynamic and we talk a lot with him and all of the midfielders about when to be available in the build-up and then when to be attacking the spaces the opponent leaves”.

Aribo possesses superb movement, technical ability and directness with an eye for the spectacular goal. These qualities have earned him the trust from the manager to be the team’s midfielder who pushes up the most, and the results are there for all to see.

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He is a versatile midfield player, but the player himself has admitted that his biggest strengths are driving with the ball and getting up the pitch. These attributes were apparent in his first two international caps when he scored in friendly games against Brazil and Ukraine.

Aribo’s recent comments also suggest he is enjoying life, after given much room to roam further up the pitch.

"I am just playing freely. I don’t know [what has brought the strength out in the last few weeks] to be honest. I am just playing freely and I am thankful to God for my talents.", he said while speaking to Rangers TV.

Yet, he has been deployed in a deeper role for the most part of his nine caps for Nigeria.

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However, as his form for Rangers has shown, he clearly performs better when unburdened by defensive responsibility which has unfortunately not been the case for the Super Eagles when he's been deployed in a double midfield pivot alongside Wilfred Ndidi. It will be interesting to see what sort of role Super Eagles interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen, will use him in when he reports for Afcon duty.

For a man who is enjoying the form of his life and earning genuine links to Premier League clubs, Aribo needs to be allowed to consistently show his natural goalscoring instincts at international level too.

His form comes at the just the right time for the Super Eagles, who will need a goalscoring threat from the midfield if they are to go all the way at the biennial tournament in Cameroon in January.