Michael Laudrup: Malik Tillman off the radar for weeks at Rangers as attacker really struggles
Michael Laudrup has slammed a select bunch of Rangers players after their 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday meaning they are all but out of the Champions League.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side is rooted to the bottom of Group A with three games played with another clash with Liverpool, at Ibrox, next week potentially cementing a fourth-place finish.
Laudrup was unimpressed by a number of Gers players but one player who he’s particularly hit out at is Malik Tillman, who the Dane claims has suffered a huge drop in form.
Writing for the Scottish Daily Mail on Thursday (6 October, print edition, page 82) Laudrup said: “Connor Goldson did okay but James Tavernier and Borna Barisic were completely pushed back. The midfield didn’t work. At times, it looked as though the tempo was too much for John Lundstram, which was a little surprising.
“Too many players lack conviction in these games. We saw it again with Ryan Kent. He has some chances to go one-on-one against a defender but chose the wrong option rather than being really positive and creating something.”
Laudrup added: “I don’t want to be too critical of Malik Tillman as he is still young, but he really struggled. He’s gone off the radar for weeks. He started so well at Rangers but now seems to find it difficult to keep to the pace of the game. And he’s not really a right winger.”
Not good enough
While we agree with Laudrup that you cannot be too harsh on Tillman, he’s still a player who’s a full international for the USA and joined us from Bayern Munich in the summer.
Yes, he’s not long turned 20. But you’d expect him to at least try and get involved in massive games like this one against Liverpool.
It’s all well and good scoring against Union Saint-Gilloise and St Johnstone but as a Rangers player, you’re going to be judged by your outings in the big games because they don’t come around too often.
According to stats by WhoScored, Tillman completed just three accurate passes before he was substituted off in the 66th minute.
He has 18 touches of the ball but was dispossessed twice and didn’t complete any dribbles.
It was a horror show of a performance by the young USA international and Laudrup is probably right in saying that he shouldn’t be playing on the right wing.
However, yet again, we’re talking about how Rangers lack players who can star on the right-wing.
How long has this been an issue for now?
Almost all of our issues can be pinned down to recruitment.
Almost all of our issues can be pinned down to Ross Wilson.
In other Rangers news, Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy mocked this Gers fan live on talkSPORT after the defeat to Liverpool.