Lee McCulloch has praised in-form Rangers player Scott Arfield, in his Evening Times column.
Since being moved higher up the pitch by Steven Gerrard, the Canadian international has been deadly.
He’s scored four goals in his last two outings, including a hat-trick against Motherwell. That’s compared with six league goals in 23 SPL matches before the switch.
“Arfield is the kind of midfielder that is a bit of a dying breed in the game and Steven Gerrard spoke well about him on Sunday once again”, wrote McCulloch in the Evening Times.
“If you look at someone like Stuart Armstrong when he was at Celtic, he would be the midfielder that would run beyond the striker. He gets chances and goals himself by doing that, but he creates space for strikers as well with those unselfish runs.”
“It can go unseen very easily but it does have a big impact on the team when you have a midfielder that can break the lines and get beyond the lone striker through the middle.”
Analysis
Arfield and Armstrong are midfielders at different stages of their careers. The Gers man has been there and done that in the Premier League, racking up 86 appearances in the competition for Burnley.
Now 30, he’s back in Scotland trying to win things at Ibrox.
Armstrong is just three years younger than the Canada skipper but has recently moved the other way, joining English top flight side Southampton, in 2018.
He cost the Saints £7.16m [
However it’s a fair enough comparison for McCulloch to make. Armstrong was hugely effective in an advanced role during his time at Celtic, scoring 23 league goals across three years.
Based on his numbers this season, Arfield could better that tally if he’s still at Rangers by 2021. If he does so, here’s hoping the Gers will have silverware to their name.
