Kris Boyd ‘surprised’ that Malik Tillman started for Rangers v Liverpool
Kris Boyd has admitted he was “surprised” that Malik Tillman was named in the starting lineup for Rangers in their 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday.
The light blues were dominated at Anfield as goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohammed Salah all but ended the club’s hopes of qualifying from the group stages in the Champions League this season.
But after Tillman got the nod on the right wing of the attack, Boyd admitted while on Sky Sports [4 October] he was surprised at the decision after the American struggled in a similar role against Ajax last month and said the team were “poor” in possession which led to their downfall.
“I thought Rangers in terms of possession were poor,” he said. “In terms of turnover, when you’re playing at this level, you need to keep the ball.
“They never really done that. If it wasn’t for the 40 year old in nets it would have been a lot more. Because, again, he showed why he’s an outstanding goalkeeper and has been for a number of years.
“I was actually surprised that Tillman started today. He started in the Netherlands as well with the same type of formation and he struggled there.
“I think the pace that Fashion Sakala and Matondo have got, I actually thought Rangers would have played a five with Ryan Kent tucked in right behind Alfredo Morelos. They didn’t. And you kind of got the feeling that with Davis and Lundstram in the middle of the pitch, they did struggle to get to grips with Liverpool.
“The front three for Liverpool were playing right up against Rangers’ back three and Liverpool’s full-backs were pushing Rangers’ wing-backs back as well, so it did become, eventually Rangers were hemmed in.”
Drop him
Tillman started the season for Rangers on absolute fire and it seemed like he was on course to become a key man for Giovanni van Bronckhorst over the season.
However in recent games he has been largely invisible and the credit those early performances gave him has run out now.
In a setup like Tuesday nights, there needs to be pace and an ability to carry the ball over long distances to be able to counter attack, and Rangers really lacked that with Ryan Kent struggling for form and nobody else capable.
With such a defensive approach the attack was starved of service, but the pace of the substitutes that came on made it a more even contest and should definitely be something that the manager considers for the return game next week.
Tillman deserves credit for his early season form, but he needs to continue to earn his place and now deserves to be dropped to give other players an opportunity to cause panic to the opposition.
In other Rangers news, one BBC pundit said it was a “miracle” that Rangers weren’t thumped by more by Liverpool