Barry Ferguson challenges Rangers ‘difference maker’ Todd Cantwell to match Philippe Clement’s demands
Barry Ferguson has challenged Rangers “difference maker” Todd Cantwell to match Philippe Clement’s demands when playing out of position at Ibrox.
The 25-year-old started against St Mirren on Sunday (3 December) and returned to his preferred position in a more central role and picked up an excellent assist for Abdallah Sima’s opening goal.
While Ferguson admitted that when everybody is fit Cantwell must start centrally, he has challenged the Englishman to adapt to perform when deployed out of position as the Belgian attempts to deal with the injuries in his side.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show (4 December) he said: “In the first half he was quiet, coming a bit too deep, you saw the difference in the second half he was in connection with the forward players.
“When he played that further up the pitch, he’s a player that can see a pass and he split the St Mirren defence wide open. That’s where I want to see Todd Cantwell playing.
“The manager is explaining that sometimes when you’ve got injuries you need to play players out of position. That’s what Clement is probably saying ‘Right Todd you may need to play on the right, on the left if we are suffering from injuries’.
“When everyone is fully fit Todd Cantwell has to be playing centrally, he is the difference maker in the final third.”
Excellent start
Cantwell’s performance against St Mirren offered a glimpse of just how good the 25-year-old can be when deployed in the number 10 role for Rangers, as he picked apart the defence and ran the show in possession at Ibrox.
But Rangers have plenty of players capable of playing in that central role and very few who are able to fill in in the wide areas, with a number of the natural wide options like Scott Wright and Rabbi Matondo suffering injuries in recent weeks.
The best players in the Scottish Premiership will be expected to continue to perform, even when they are not playing in their favoured position and the same has to be expected of Cantwell given his standing in the game.
If the 25-year-old wants to be a long-term success at Ibrox, he needs to show that he can continue to be a “difference maker” in a variety of roles. So far this season he has only been able to impact games from one position and that will not be enough for Clement to pick him week in and week out.
In other Rangers news. Real Betis has suffered a “huge” blow before their Europa League clash with Clement’s side