MICHAEL Beale has admitted that Todd Cantwell needs to calm down in Europe after seeing the Rangers playmaker narrowly avoid a red card in the Champions League play-off first leg match against PSV Eindhoven.
English midfielder Cantwell performed well for the Glasgow club in the 2-2 draw with their Dutch opponents at Ibrox and was involved in the build-up to the second goal which substitute Rabbi Matondo scored.
However, the former Norwich City man was fortunate not to pick up a second booking from French referee Clement Turpin in the second-half for a rash and needless challenge on a rival player and get himself ruled out of the second leg in the Netherlands next week.
Beale admitted he had tried to calm his January signing down on the touchline during the intense encounter – but expressed confidence that the fans’ favourite would learn invaluable lessons from the outing.
READ MORE: Connor Goldson bemoans shoddy Rangers set-piece defending in PSV draw
“I just feel there are times and places where you have to make fouls and tackles and that wasn’t one,” he said. “He just needs to be careful.
“He is usually on the end of things like that, so I like him to show his grit and things like that. But this is a new level again for Todd. He has not played in Europe in his career.
“He has played youth international football, but he has not played in Europe so this is a new level again. The level compared to domestic football goes through the roof.
“He will have learned a lot from tonight as well. He had a fantastic part in the second goal, but it’s tough to get on the ball against these teams. They counter press well, they are athletic and they are very organised.
“So this is the best learning ground for our team, but the most important thing next week is that we try to get the right result for everybody.”
Beale saw Rangers take and then relinquish the lead twice last night and he admitted that was a source of frustration to him – but he is hopeful that his charges will have benefited greatly from their run-out against Peter Bosz’s men.
READ MORE: Sima strike helps keep Rangers' hopes alive - but loanee must do more
“I think for this group of players having to sweat, run and make tackles and blocks for each other and to play against an elite opponent where you don’t always get your own way is really important for team building,” he said.
“I was here, as everyone knows, for three and a half years and that team wasn’t built on day one. We played Skopje here in Europe. That team, compared to the team that beat Porto and Feyenoord and went on to beat Dortmund, had a lot of grey days to get to there.
“I get that everyone wants it now. I’m at the front of that queue, no one is more frustrated than me. But sometimes I have to be positive and tonight was a step in the right direction. Let’s focus on next week and what is a huge, huge game for the club.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel