Heart of Midlothian 0-3 Rangers: Three things we learned
Second place Rangers ran out comfortable winners at Tynecastle last night as they faced an in-form Hearts. Here are the three main points we learned from the match:
Rangers must buy Malik Tillman
There were many standouts in a complete team performance against the Jambos but one man caught the eye of the Rangers support once again. Malik Tillman impressed yet again after a string of consistent performances. He scored Rangers’ second goal of the night after a Connor Goldson header traveled across goal with the American volleying it in.
His creativity and on the ball ability is a level above the majority of the league, adding a different dimension to Rangers’ attack. The buy option of £5 million seems more than reasonable and he should be made a permanent Rangers player as soon as possible.
Hearts aren’t as good as we thought
The anticipation for this blockbuster match was high among Scottish football. The narrative was Hearts would be Michael Beale’s first real challenge outside of Celtic. Hearts have been free scoring in the league with an unbeaten run stretching to nine league matches, their last league defeat being a 1-0 scoreline to Rangers at Ibrox.
Robbie Neilson came under criticism after tinkering with the team and playing an extremely attacking midfield three of Garang Kuol, Robert Snodgrass and Barrie McKay. This is a complete contrast to their previous game against Livingston where they played a midfield two of Cammy Devlin and Orestis Kiomourtzoglou, a much more conservative midfield. This allowed the Rangers midfield of Glen Kamara and John Lundstram to overrun and dominate the middle of the park.
Hearts couldn’t beat the high press of Rangers as they could barely get out of their own half and when they did, it resulted in nothing. Many were disappointed with the performance and approach from Hearts while being surprised at how good Rangers were. Rangers seemed to have that extra gear that Hearts didn’t.
Alfredo Morelos still has something to give
Two goals last night for the Colombian brought his league tally up to nine for the season. Four of them coming in his last three games signifying a mini renaissance for El Buffalo.
A superb performance last night saw exceptional linkup play and deadly finishing, showing flashes of the Morelos that was linked with £15 million moves to clubs in Europe. He has answered the critics by proving he is still one of the best strikers in the league and can meaningfully contribute to the remainder of the season for Rangers.