Michael Beale is a football obsessive and, watching the Champions League final, the Rangers boss should have picked up a thing or two from Man City boss Pep Guardiola.
One player in particular stands out as a lesson to the Gers gaffer in terms of how to set a team up that frequently has to face well organised or compact opposition.
In Jack Grealish, Michael Beale can see a system that works with a forward who has scored just five goals in 50 games and still be a key player.
The reported £100m signing from Aston Villa has had his doubters but the number of appearances he has made proves his worth.
Ryan Kent played an almost identical role for Rangers but there was one massive difference.
Rangers didn’t have a forward whose sole purpose was to occupy defenders and score goals like Erling Haaland does for Man City.
Michael Beale could have accommodated Kent, however, with no consistent goalscorer available, his lack of numbers stuck out like a sore thumb, however, Guardiola’s system proves that attackers don’t all need to be prolific.
Grealish provided more chances than any other player in the Champions League this season and I’d hazard a guess that Kent wouldn’t have been far off the top for the same statistic in the Scottish Premiership.
Michael Beale appears to be looking to spread the goals around his attack and Todd Cantwell has proven that you can get goals and creativity.
Reported new signing Sam Lammers‘s numbers don’t inspire much confidence but Guardiola has shown that this doesn’t matter.
As with Grealish, if Lammers is to play a similar role then the player ahead of him must be allowed to concentrate on doing his work at the sharp end of the pitch.
There is no need for a Rangers number nine to get involved in build up play.
Look at Erling Haaland and closer to home, Kyogo Furuhashi – and both of their teams have just won trebles.
