Todd Cantwell’s return to Rangers starting was a welcome sight with the playmaker included to face Sparta Prague.
The 25-year old managed nearly half an hour against Hibs too, and looked sharp, but will still have some rust to work out after being unavailable for six weeks.
If Philippe Clement is to have any success this season, Todd Cantwell, who has marked his return with a post on X, has to be a key players as Rangers look to continue the rebuild.
Todd Cantwell can be key for Rangers under Clement
It was a textbook game of two halves.
Rangers huffed and puffed but struggled with the new shape until adjustments were made at half-time.
Todd Cantwell, due to the system change was given a more central role than he had for Rangers against Hibs at the weekend.
It was also a lot deeper.
Rangers simply couldn’t hold onto the ball long enough to make something happen and get up the pitch.
Frustratingly, Cantwell was doing all his best work in his own half but was showing flashes of the ball carrying skills that made him a fans’ favourite to start with.
The problem, was that he had Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers playing in front of him.
Both of whom are yet to truly get up to speed since signing in the summer.
If this is them up to speed, then even a manager of Philippe Clement’s ability might struggle to get a tune out of them.
Todd Cantwell brings an energy that has been missing in Rangers line up.
He can link play to drive into the heart of defences himself but Clement needs to fix one aspect of his game when resources allow.
He has to get him higher up the pitch and beat players around the box rather than on the halfway line.
That’s when we’ll see a return of the goalscoring form of last season and a repeat of the sort of assist that even Dessers couldn’t miss from!
