Rangers: Todd Cantwell will be fortunate to start Viaplay Cup final v Aberdeen after Philippe Clement comments
Todd Cantwell must surely be sweating over his starting spot for the Viaplay Cup final against Aberdeen after comments made by Rangers boss Philippe Clement.
Speaking on the back of Saturday’s (10 December) 3-1 win over Dundee, as per Rangers Review’s Joshua Barrie, Clement confirmed Cantwell was hauled off at half-time for purely tactical reasons.
At least from the 25-year-old’s perspective he was taken off at the interval, rather than during the first half – as was the case in the 1-1 draw with Aris Limassol on 30 November.
It is rather worrying that Clement has twice felt the need to intervene and take off Cantwell with half – or less than half – of two of Rangers’ past four matches played
“It’s a pity for Todd, he was in a good way,” Clement said as he explained this latest choice of early substitution. “The good thing is he will be more fresh for Thursday [vs Real Betis].”
Whether it is playing out on the right – an experiment that Clement will surely not repeat too often – or in his favoured number 10 position, Cantwell is not showing enough consistency.
As Chris Sutton said during Sky Sports’ coverage of the Hearts game earlier in the week [6 December, 19:49]: “He’s an intelligent footballer but hasn’t been consistent enough over the years.
“Sometimes he can put his image of himself above the team and that’s something he needs to change.”
Personal feelings aside, Sutton does unfortunately have a point. Cantwell assisted both goals in the 2-0 win over St Mirren last week – one of just three games out of 20 he has either scored or assisted in this term [WhoScored].
It goes without saying that Cantwell’s return is not good enough, but he may have an opportunity to prove himself once again in Thursday’s (14 December) showdown with Real Betis.
Fail to do so, and it may well be that Clement has a drastic rethink for the showdown with Aberdeen a few days later. If that proves the case, Cantwell only has himself to blame.
In other Rangers news, one of the Gers’ upcoming opponents are facing a “crisis” after recent events.