Scott Arfield turns Rangers mentor for Malik Tillman as he reveals plan to 'keep putting pressure' on loanee

The Bayern Munich loan star has improved in the early days of Michael Beale's tenure after struggling for consistency under Gio van Bronckhorst.

Scott Arfield wants to help Malik Tillman yank his career up to the next level with Rangers. The experienced midfielder may be coming into the twilight of his career but he showed with his brilliant stoppage time brace at Aberdeen that he still has plenty to offer.

The super sub was certainly the toast of the Light Blue legions in the Granite City, as Michael Beale maintained his winning start to life at Rangers. The 34-year-old admitted his priorities have now changed and although he wants to play in every game it is about doing what is best for the team.

Arfield has played second fiddle to Tillman for most of the season and he is hoping his performances can help the US star raise his game to new heights. Beale has already talked the former Bayern Munich youngster up and wants Rangers to keep him at Ibrox long-term. Arfield knows why because he has seen the talented playmaker at close quarters and has witness what a special talent he can be.

He acknowledged: “It’s always a challenge to play first team football. You get to an age where you start to see football differently. You obviously want to play every game but you also appreciate the talent and the ability the other guy has, particularly in that midfield area.

“It’s only really myself and Malik that fill that role so it’s only going to be one of us. It’s important I keep putting pressure on him because that will help take his game to the next level.”

It was Tillman who provided the cross that led to the late clincher at Pittodrie. Rangers had looked down and out as they trailed to 2-1 when the board went up for seven minutes of stoppage time.

The Light Blues then managed to turn the game on its head. Arfield knows there have been too many times where his team have lost points late on and it was good to pull this one out of the melting pot. He was delighted with the way his team fought to the death to get their just rewards.

He confirmed: “The character is there, I think we’re showing that. A lot of the times this season we feel we have been done by last minute goals.

“Or on other occasions we have drawn games where we felt we’d done enough to win and dominated. It’s better when you win and it’s even better when you get a couple of last minute goals. We’re hoping that continues and that we don’t make it as nervous moving forward.”

Beale praised his team for that never-say-die character but warned they need to up their performances. Arfield watched from the bench as Rangers fell apart either side of half-time. He knows the standards need to be a lot higher.

Arfield said: “It was eventful, the whole game was eventful to be fair. It was a typical Scottish game in many ways, the fans were right after it. We got off to a good start, we scored a good goal and we could have had a couple. But a great free-kick for their boy takes us into half-time level.

“We had enough chances to win that first half. So that was disappointing. We just didn’t start in the second half and they had a couple of chances. From there it was all about us trying to get the right result and starting a busy week off as best we could.”

Rangers have made a positive start under Beale. They have won both their Premiership games, although they had to come from behind twice, against Hibs and Aberdeen. Arfield knows he is getting his points across and it helped that he has worked with the majority of the squad before in his time as first-team coach under Steven Gerrard.

Now Beale is the main man and making the goals, as he heads up a new-look coaching team of Neil Banfield and Damian Matthew. He is putting his stamp on the team. Rangers players have shown they can play good football and at other times they can dig in and win ugly, like they did at Aberdeen.

Arfield stated: “The manager’s message has always been clear, even going back to his first stint here. I think from a players’ point of view we have tried to pick it up as quickly as possible.

“The Leverkusen game was a good indicator of that. We played some terrific stuff in the game and we built on that, or at least we’ve tried to build on that.

“You saw a different side against Aberdeen and that’s now three wins the manager has under his belt. That’s only going to breed confidence and help get his message across.”

The Light Blues chase leaders Celtic and will continue that charge with Friday night’s trip to Dingwall. If they can win that and then the home games against Motherwell and Celtic then the season’s outlook could start to look a lot more promising on the south side of Glasgow.

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