Todd Cantwell made a welcome comeback to the Rangers starting lineup, beginning against Sparta Prague.
The 25-year-old was sharp in his roughly 30-minute stint against the Hibs, but he will still need to wipe out some rust from missing six weeks of action.
Todd Cantwell, who made his comeback with a post on X, will be essential to Philippe Clement’s success this season as the Rangers attempt to carry out the rebuild.
Todd Cantwell can be key for Rangers under Clement
It was a classic two-handicap game.
Rangers puffed and sighed but found the new shape difficult to work with until halftime, when changes were made.
A more pivotal position than he had for Rangers against Hibs over the weekend was given to Todd Cantwell as a result of the system alteration.
It was far deeper as well.
Simply put, Rangers were unable to maintain possession of the ball for long enough to initiate a play or advance up the field.
Regretfully, Cantwell was exerting all of his effort in his own half, but he was displaying glimmers of the ball-carrying ability that initially made him a fan favorite.
The issue was that Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers were playing in front of him.
Neither of them has fully caught up since signing in the summer.
Even a manager with Philippe Clement’s skill level could find it difficult to pull a tune out of them if this is how they are up to speed.
The Rangers lineup has been lacking in energy since Todd Cantwell joined.
When resources permit, Clement has to improve one area of his game, but he can link plays to drive right into the heart of defenses.
Instead of beating players on the midway line, he needs to move him higher up the pitch.
At that point, we should witness a resurgence of the goal-scoring ability from the previous campaign as well as the kind of assist that even Dessers was unable to miss!
