The fallout from Rangers defeat to St Johnstone continues and, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst looking increasingly like he is going to be keeping his job, the attention has turned to the players responsible for such a performance.
How Rangers managed to go from being in total control and looking like they were going to score with every attack to pedestrian and out of sorts remains a mystery but, Barry Ferguson, speaking on Go Radio, via Football Scotland, believes that he knows one reason why we aren’t killing teams off:
“I look at the three in midfield and it’s not like they’re bad players – John Lundstram, James Sands and Malik Tillman.
“In terms of Tillman, I thought at times he looked bored on the pitch when he lost the ball.
“There’s no doubt the guy has unbelievable technical ability but you’ve got to do the dirty side of the game.
“That’s what a number of the Rangers players aren’t doing at this moment in time.”
Personally, I thought that Tillman was one of our best players. His work rate has improved and he was looking to play passes in behind the St Johnstone defence rather than just playing it wide for crosses to be thrown into the box, it wasn’t a great surprise to see almost all creativity from the middle disappear when he went off midway through the second half.
I don’t agree with Fergie on this point, Lundstram didn’t do himself any favours with his efforts leading to the opening goal but it is more a culmination of basic errors and missing chances that is costing us just now.
We have enough players in the team to win the ball back without expecting our only player capable of creating something from midfield to be running about putting tackles in too. Fergie played with guys like Brian Laudrup and Ronald de Boer and, for all that Tillman is nowhere near their level, I can’t remember managers asking them to “do the dirty side of the game”.
Tillman was garbage , he gives up after 15 minutes if everything isn`t going his way .Lundstram was criminal the way he reacted when he and Sakala gave the ball away and didn`t have his best game but he had a shot saved , hit the post and hit the bar whereas Tillman refuses to shoot and gave up long before even half time .We cannot keep carrying guys like him who contribute nothing and play as if they are out for a stroll.I very rarely agree with Barry who seems to forget his own mistakes as a player on and off the park but I do agree that we can`t put up with Tillman any longer .
Who plays as our number ten if not Tillman then? Hagi, Lowry, Lawrence, all injured or unavailable.