Malik Tillman has no idea if Michael Beale was talking a bit of Ballacks. The new Rangers boss may have issued some pretty high praise after likening his Bayern Munich loanee to another talented German playmaker last week - but it mostly went over the Nuremberg-born American international’s head.
Those of a certain vintage will know all about Michael Ballack and his storied career both in his homeland and down south. With four Bundesliga titles, a Premier League crown, three FA Cups and a World Cup runners-up medal, the former Kaiserslautern, Leverkusen, Bayern, Chelsea and Germany midfielder was one of the biggest names in world football during the naughties.
But given 20-year-old Tillman - a former German youth international before switch his allegiances Stateside - was still in his short lederhosen at the time, the scale of his manager’s exalting comparison has pretty much passed him by. But he’ll take the compliment none the less.
“The manager is a very nice guy,” grinned the Ibrox ace. “I heard what he said about me and Michael Ballack as well.
“First of all I am glad to hear that. I think we have improved a lot as a team and yes, we have worked with him for two weeks and I think we still have to improve a lot and have to keep going and do the best we can as a team. I think it is a confident boost but I always try to give 100 per cent either way and just enjoy the game and have fun on the pitch and try to help the team as best as I can.
“To be fair, I think Michael Ballack played at a time when I didn’t really realise who he was or how good he was. But obviously I know he is a German legend. I saw some clips but to be honest I did not realise just how good he was. I understand he is a legend and he was a good player but I don’t really have any memories of him.”
Ballack may not have made much of an impression on the Light Blues ace but Tillman is quickly establishing himself as a firm favourite round Ibrox. There were fleeting glimpses of his undoubted talent before the World Cup break but certainly not on the kind of regular basis that would be needed to convince everyone at the club that the £6million fee required to make his move from Bavaria permanent represented a totally risk-free investment.
But if the early evidence of the effect Beale’s appointment has had on the youngster is anything to go by, Rangers can’t afford not to come up with the cash. Buoyed by a double in Saturday’s friendly win over Leverkusen, Tillman then produced a masterful performance as Gio van Bronckhorst’ s successor marked the start of his own tenure with a win.
With a hand in all three of Gers’ goals - including a bit of dazzling wizardry which teed up Alfredo Morelos’ winner - as they fought back for a 3-2 win over Hibs, it appears already these two are going to get along. He said: “First of all I think we had some good games with Gio as well, but obviously the last couple of weeks were a bit disappointing for all of us so we now have Michael on our side.
“Already everything is more lively in training, the intensity is higher than before. And everyone in the team is trying to give the best they can and try to win every game.
“In the first half against Hibs we didn’t play at our level but in the second half we managed to score two goals obviously and get the win, so in the second half I think we did a far better job than in the first half.
“At half time the manager just told us to play, get our structure back and keep the intensity and obviously try and win the game. I think we did a quite good job. For the winner, I stumbled a little bit but I managed eventually to get the ball to Alfredo so I’m happy for him as well.”
A victory was just what was required for a team that had mustered only two wins from their previous seven games. They had to do it the hard way after twice falling behind to Lee Johnson’s men but Beale got the reaction he wanted to his half-time plea for more.
There’s a huge hill still to be climbed if Rangers are to tackle Celtic’s six-point Premiership advantage - that will be restored to nine if they win at Aberdeen today - but Ryan Jack was glad to see his side rediscover their battling qualities after the meek end to van Bronckhort’s reign. The Scotland midfielder said: ”Team spirit is massive, especially when you go behind at home and the crowd are demanding more, and rightly so.
“At half-time we were demanding more of ourselves, the staff were demanding more of us. It showed a lot of character and togetherness that we managed to get through the game and get the three points.
“The first half was not really us in terms of the way we want to look and the way we want to play,. We were a bit sloppy and slow in possession and obviously with the goals we conceded it was not good enough at this level.
"We should look over that in the next couple of days and address it. In the second half we came out and played the way we wanted to and got the three points which, in the end, is the main objective.”
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