The Saturday afternoon kick off brought out another terrific performance from Todd Cantwell, another positive display where he constantly looked to get the ball forward and carve out attacking opportunities. Easily the most comfortable Rangers player on the ball from the start today, he always looked for space to drive into and if he couldn’t drive into any gaps looked for his team mates to move into those areas so the team could get up the pitch.
Although personally he’s been tremendous, he seems to make the players around him better also and one player who is definitely thriving off of his presence is Ryan Jack. They play really well off of each other and are always an option when the other has the ball, Jack also expertly drops in to cover when players go forward which gives the full backs and other midfielders, like Cantwell, the license to push up and drag the rest of the team with them.
No player in recent games has deserved a goal more than him, you can see how much it meant to him personally and all-over social media Rangers fans were buzzing for him to get his first goal for the club. It may not have been the type of goal fans envisioned him scoring but the first one is always important. He has been in great form since arriving, which has always been backed up by the stats, so let’s look at today’s;
- 78mins Played
- 1 Goal
- 81 Touches
- 89% Accurate Passes (64/72)
- 60% Accurate Long Balls (3/5)
- 2 Key Passes
- 1 Big Chance Created
- 0 Times Dispossessed
- 4 Recoveries
This wasn’t as industrious a performance as fans have been used to over the past few games but he was outstanding on the ball and key to everything Rangers created going forward. He, in recent times, has been an absolute joy to watch, he loves to receive the ball and go at defenders and drag them out of position, this is where a lot of Rangers attacking threat comes from. He drags defenders out to him which creates space for his team mates to move into which then leads to an attacking opportunity. This is something that Rangers had been missing from a central midfielder and he provides it multiple times every game.
Already asserting himself as a fan favourite it’s now hard to imagine how this Rangers team works without Cantwell in it, that’s how big an impression he’s had on the side. The type of player the fans were calling out for and the club truly delivered with this signing, he is the type of player the club should be building around and definitely looks like one of the best bargain buys in recent times, carry on Todd.