By Lee Clark
Rangers completed a satisfactory week’s work as they ran out 2-1 winners against a spirited Ross County side at Ibrox on Saturday. After the huge effort and excellent performance at Tynecastle on Wednesday night, you always fear a drop off in performance levels and I think it’s fair to say, that was the case on Saturday, particularly second half when it took a 65th minute equaliser from Ross County’s giant of a forward (and huge Bluenose) Jordan White to remind the players, that they had a job to do, after dominating the opening 45minutes.
The goal set up a needlessly nervy end to a game that should’ve been done and dusted long before Borna Barisic’s freekick took a wicked deflection past Laidlaw to seal the points and keep Michael Beale’s impressive start to life in the Managers chair rolling on. Indeed, the Gers registered no fewer than 26 attempts on goal and Michael Beale admitted after the game, that whilst the results have been more than acceptable, the performance levels, particularly at home have been less impressive and this is something, he wants to remedy sooner rather than later.
All that the being said, the players do deserve credit for getting the game over the line. Winning ugly is something Champions do and if we want to be back where we belong, it’s exactly what is required going forward and without dwelling too much on the past, it’s a game where we might well have dropped points a few months ago. As said though, this was far from a poor performance, Rangers played some lovely one touch stuff in the first half. Ross County, to their credit set up to have a go (registering 10 attempts on goal themselves) but, as that first half drew to a close they were visibly tiring, having essentially been made to chase the ball for most of it.
Much has been said and written this week, about the fantastic talent that is Malik Tillman and he continued this rich vein of form by scoring the opening goal but, it was Rangers new boy Todd Cantwell who was at the heart of everything good in that first half. I’ll hold my hands up right now and say, this was a signing I was struggling to get excited about. Cantwell is undoubtedly talented but, reports of a questionable attitude and four managers not giving him much game time, made me a little apprehensive, that he would be able to cope with life at Rangers and the pressure that goes with it.
As it turns out, he can be very pleased with his start to life in our shirt. I missed his debut last week but, whilst his sixty or so minutes against St Johnstone varied in description, I think the ‘worst’ comment I read was ‘he did fine’ so I was certainly eager to see how he would shape up today. After being dropped to the bench for Wednesday’s tough away game at Tynecastle (a decision the manager got spot on) he slotted into a midfield three, alongside Jack and Lundstram. Initially starting on the left and a little deeper than I expected, it was clear straight away that he has excellent technical ability and certainly doesn’t hide when it comes to putting his influence onto the game.
His constant demand of the ball and a willingness to make things happen gave the impression the he had been in the team for several months rather than just a week and his raking cross field ball to release Morelos in the opening stages of the match, was an early insight into a very impressive range of passing. Only James Tavernier had more touches of the ball than Cantwell (91 – 90) and with a passing accuracy of 94% (the highest of anyone on the pitch) it’s clear that he could become a very big asset for Micheal Beale. It was a very assured display, which rammed any negative thoughts I’d had, firmly in the bin although I did still have time to make another faux pas as I remarked to the chap next to me, that I would ‘just like to see him get a bit further forward’. That wasn’t a criticism as such, I just thought, with the game he was having he could be key to unlocking that stubborn County defence and of course, right on cue, Cantwell burst through from midfield, after playing a lovely 1-2 with Morelos, to cross for Tillman to bullet home the header.
It was exactly the sort of ‘influence’ that Todd himself promised us only a week ago and it capped off a fine first half display, which also seen him very unlucky not to score himself as he bending shot clipped the top of the bar with Laidlaw helpless. Another thing that really impressed me about his performance today was his work rate and willingness to get into areas where he can hurt teams but, he isn’t afraid to do the dirty work either. Cantwell, may play the game with a bit of swagger but, winning six out eight duels shows he is quite happy to do his bit for the team, something that our support has taken to straight away with him and he deservedly picked up the Sponsors Man of the Match award. Michael Beale was glowing of his praise of Todd after the game:
‘Todd and Malik were our two biggest performers today; Todd was very clean in possession and gets a lovely assist. In terms of him as a signing, his age, his profile and what he can give I’ve been absolutely delighted with him’
So, a more than decent start to his Rangers career for Cantwell and whilst no one is getting carried away, you can’t really ask much more from a lad who, by his own admission had lost his way a bit and hasn’t played too much football lately. Many Bluenoses were a little miffed that more signings weren’t brought to the club last month but, Michael Beale repeatedly said he would only be looking to bring in ‘quality over quantity’ and it’s so far so good for Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin, who made his debut in the final ten minutes today. He is another who has immediately endeared himself to the Ibrox faithful, slamming into a tackle seconds after coming on and demanding the ball, in much the same way Cantwell had for most of the match. Raskin and Cantwell already look like they will have a big part to play in the second half of the season and with players like Hagi and Colak waiting in the wings with Lawrence and Roofe still to come, this squad is finally starting to have a few options attached to it. This was far from a vintage display but, its very much job done and Rangers now turn to Scottish Cup duty against Partick Thistle next Sunday.
One final word must go to Alfredo Morelos. The last article I wrote, after the New Year Old Firm match, debated the merits of Alfie being awarded another contract to extend his stay at the club (I was against it). I have been highly critical of him this season but, fairs fair, he has been excellent this week. His display at Tynecastle was sublime and despite being smothered by a very stubborn defence today, his movement and link up play was excellent. I also stand by, what I said a month ago. For us to have any chance of winning trophies this season we need Alfredo to step up and who knows, that might just be enough to convince our fans that he isworth keeping around for a little longer and I include myself in that.
