Todd Cantwell has started his Rangers career better than even the most optimistic fan would have imagined, despite not playing since November, the 24-year old has settled in quickly and looks like he will fit perfectly into Michael Beale’s ideology of how he wants his team to play.
What has been surprising is that his relatively lightweight frame hasn’t stopped him from being just as effective out of possession as he is in it.
According to Sofascore, man of the match Cantwell won 6/8 ground duels, won one tackle and made two interceptions. This is on top of a 100% success rate for long passes and 94% success overall for passes. His heat map also suggests that he has been given a free role in midfield, taking up positions all over the park.
On paper, it looked as though Cantwell was going to be asked to play as a number 10 but it was Ryan Kent who was playing higher up the park alongside Fashion Sakala and Alfredo Morelos, when Malik Tillman replaced John Lundstram early doors we had our most attacking set up for years.
What we saw was a shift between a more rigid midfield to one that was constantly interchanging, Tillman could be seen collecting the ball on the touchline on one side before appearing in the box later in the move. Cantwell was the same, occupying the left-back channel in possession during build up play but it was his speed of movement, and thought, that led to the opening goal.
For a player who had barely kicked a ball over the last couple of months, if this is what he is capable of when he is rusty, I can’t wait until he is up to speed.