The kid can play alright. As a matter of fact, Rangers might just have a truly exceptional burgeoning talent on their hands in the shape of Malik Tillman.
Put it this way, if Ross Wilson can land the American youngster on a permanent deal this summer for a fee anywhere close to the region of £5m, then the local Polizie ought to be plastering mug shots of the Ibrox club’s sporting director on every lamppost in Munich.
At the age of 20, Tillman is the definition of a steal. The boy has so much natural ability that he’s bordering on the freakish. But just because he can play it doesn’t necessarily follow that he should play when Michael Beale takes his team across Glasgow’s divide on Saturday morning for a match which simply must be won if the Londoner is to cling onto any hope of dethroning Celtic at the first attempt.
Given that Tillman scored twice at the weekend in a 2-0 win over Dundee United, it might seem like an act of borderline insanity to even consider scrubbing his name from the team sheet now that the league title is about to go on the line. But, be that as it may, Beale has a huge decision on his hands nonetheless as he attempts to throw a spanner into the works of Ange Postecoglou’s runaway, table-topping juggernaut.
Because Tillman at the top of his game could be a potential match-winner. And yet, conversely, he might also be such a luxury that he becomes a liability and a passenger that Rangers cannot possibly afford to carry across to the other side of the city. As absurd as it may sound, if Beale subscribes to the commonly held belief that the first rule of beating Celtic is to match their levels of energy and industry then it could be that Tillman might be better sitting this one out, from the start at least.
Tillman tends to do his damage in sporadic bursts of high intensity dynamism. In between times, there are moments when it seems as if breaking into a jog might bring about the end of him. And yet it’s this languid, unhurried approach which makes him such a uniquely dangerous attacker.
The question is, can Beale really afford to throw the dice on him when so very much is at stake? It’s a dilemma which will be weighing heavily on the manager’s mind between now and the weekend because there is no room for any kind of error where this looming local feud is concerned.
Tillman might be rapidly developing into something of a talisman and, in time, the weaknesses in his game will be ironed out and most probably improved upon. But, in there here and now of it, Beale will have to decide if he can take a risk on a work-in-progress in the hope that, among all the blood and snotters of derby day, Tillman’s calmness and composure might help tip the scales in his side’s balance.
Or if, first and foremost, Rangers will need to fight fire with fire against a Celtic side which is designed to run itself into the ground in the pursuit of three more league points and, ultimately, an 11th title in 12 years. That they struggled to get up to full speed in Dingwall yesterday will have come as a niggling concern to Postecoglou, given what lies around the next bend .
At this tickly point in the campaign, a 2-0 win at Ross County will be enough to keep the boss reasonably happy but, without Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate running the show from the middle of the pitch, his side lacked its usual creative sparkle and customary levels of control.
Indeed, Postecoglou will be pacing up and down outside the treatment room at Lennoxtown over the next few days, waiting for the pair of them to emerge, as Celtic will need all of their top operators declared fully fit and firing for this impending visit from the neighbours.
Had it not been for the latest in a long line of lamentable collaborations between Willie Collum and VAR yesterday then his side might even have come unstuck in the Highlands instead of huffing and puffing their way to yet another top flight win. No wonder County boss Malky Mackay was incandescent afterwards when questioning the validity of the penalty decision which turned the tide in Celtic’s favour in injury time at the end of an otherwise low key, largely uneventful first half.
If the men in charge of the tech have something similar up their sleeve at lunchtime on Saturday then all hell will break loose before the end of the day and this combustible rivalry can do without having added fuel poured upon it from the bunker at Clydesdale House.
It is to be hoped that this game is won and lost by the players who are sent out onto either side of the pitch rather than having its outcome influenced by the man in the middle or, for that matter, by his little helpers in front of the telly.
Not that Beale nor Postecoglou can afford to waste any time or energy worrying about what the officials might have in store for them. It’s their job to focus solely on the controlables rather than fret about the remote controlables
And that’s precisely why Beale will have some serious thinking to do when it comes to selecting his starting XI.
Tillman might well be the unflusterable maverick he requires to unlock Celtic’s defences. Or the manager may conclude, instead, that Fashion Sakala’s perpetual motion, up-and-at-em approach to running down full-backs is what his side will need most in the heat of the battle.
Get it right and all of a sudden Rangers will have reason to believe they can still pull this season’s title out of the fire. Get it wrong and Beale will feel the flames of another failed campaign licking at his toes.
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