There were plenty of Malik Tillman headlines in Michael Beale’s press conference this weekend.
A Michael Ballack comparison, admission he’d buy the 20-year-old US international in a heartbeat next summer and some context as to why the youngster’s form has dipped and peaked during five months at Rangers.
Beale also provided some insight into how he hopes to harness the midfielder's undoubted ability.
“He wants to play slightly higher up the pitch. So we’re going to give him the freedom to run out of that midfield and into the positions he was in today,” Beale said.
“We have to let Malik go and make the game and make the team. In football you have ideas but players dictate and I have to allow these players to go and express themselves.”
Saturday’s game was a friendly result by any metric. Leverkusen are behind in their preparations and never really enjoyed a spell of pressure throughout. That doesn’t mean Beale won’t be encouraged by what he saw from his own side. He praised their ability to apply the ideas worked on during the World Cup break.
That extends to Tillman who scored twice in 45 minutes, playing in a system that looked far more acclimatised to the youngster’s best attributes.
In an attacking sense, what stood out in Beale’s first game was fluidity. Rangers lined up in the below shape with the ball but as covered in our post-match analysis, the side’s attacking appearance took on many forms. Tillman was more advanced than Glen Kamara and Ryan Jack, handed “freedom to run out of midfield”.
Beale, who believes the attack can produce more than they have this season playing in his system, seemingly wants to grant the likes of key talents Tillman, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos greater autonomy within an overall, structured system. The proof of this process will be in results over a crucial festive period.
Tillman’s technical quality has never been in doubt and even though his work rate has been questioned, playing in a man-marking system under Giovanni van Bronckhorst left him with more ground to cover.
It’s worth remembering this is the Bayern Munich loanee’s first professional season and up to this point, he’s played in a team performing well beneath their capabilities.
His frame and physique allow him to win possession high up the pitch, just like in Eindhoven earlier this year. A couple of minutes into Saturday’s tie he reads Jonathan Tah’s pass across the pitch, jumps up and intercepts.
This is also a good example of how Beale wants his team to press. Leverkusen technically have three passing options in this scenario. However, given Rangers guide Tah onto his weak foot and block off all the closer options, he’s only left with one viable passing route.
Another area of Tillman’s game that Beale complimented was his ability to “take the ball and twist and turn”.
In the below example, you can see Leverkusen are blocking passes into Kamara and Jack. So Tillman drops into the midfield, receives with his back to goal and escapes the attention of his marker.
Much like Kamara, Tillman can allow his team to play through pressure. Given he’s strong holding off opponents and able to bypass an opponent with clever feints and flicks.
In an attacking sense, Beale says he’ll grant the American freedom, but Tillman’s also able to drop and help progress the ball through the midfield before joining the attack.
Here, he again notices that Rangers require an extra passing option to break the Leverkusen press so comes towards the ball, gets free from his marker with a drop of the shoulder, disguises his intention and drives forward.
“I don't want to go too far, but it was like a young Michael Ballack used to play, arriving from deep and the header off the set play,” Beale added on the topic of Tillman’s style of play. No pressure then!
Here, he arrives untracked but Rabbi Matondo is unable to pick him out with the cross deflected.
To open the scoring, the midfielder powers ahead of his marker and meets a James Tavernier cross. Getting his knee above the delivery to control a volley into the net.
During his fortnight as Rangers manager, player improvement has been one of the consistent questions faced by Beale. Tactical decisions will undoubtedly play a part and it’s clear the manager thinks that he can get more out of the current contingent.
However, in Beale’s own words “players dictate games and have to be allowed to express themselves”. As stated in his Coaches Voice presentation last year, he doesn't view his job as teaching players how to play, but how to play together with shared vision and understanding. To get the best out of the individual.
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