Rangers have already seen ‘dark arts’ of Michael Beale v Aberdeen
Andy Firth claimed Michael Beale has mastered football’s dark arts earlier this week and Rangers got their first glimpse of it against Aberdeen.
Rangers left it late to rescue three points against Aberdeen, with Scott Arfield scoring twice in the dying minutes to secure a 3-2 victory.
It wasn’t a high-quality performance from Gers, but the team’s grit, desire and never-say-die attitude pulled them out of trouble.
Earlier this week, ex-Rangers goalkeeper Firth explained to The Athletic that Beale has mastered the dark arts of football, and it was on full display at Pittodrie Stadium on Tuesday evening.
“The one thing he probably doesn’t get credit for is how much he loves the dirty side of football, mastering the dark arts like slowing the game down, cynical fouls and getting under people’s skin.
“He definitely added that to the Rangers team.”
Beale’s side did everything possible to win against Aberdeen on a night where the squad was clearly lacking confidence and quality.
They weren’t afraid to get physical and go toe-to-toe with Aberdeen and that was reflected in the number of yellow cards and fouls in the match.
Rangers picked up five yellow cards during the match, with both Arfield and John Lundstram receiving cautions from the referee after coming on as substitutes.
On top of that Rangers dwarfed the number of fouls Aberdeen made, with 13 made by Gers to Aberdeen’s eight.
This kind of fight and tenacity is exactly what was missing from Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side, and it hasn’t taken Beale to drum up some intensity and aggression in his squad.
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