Malik Tillman has opened up on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s sacking from Rangers insisting the Dutchman was “too defensive”.

The former Ibrox player was axed from his position after a string of poor results domestically and heavy defeats in the Champions League too.

Van Bronckhorst brought Tillman to Rangers, but the Bayern Munich loanee was not overly impressed by his tactics as a manager.

In an interview with Kicker, he said: “In the league we didn’t reach our standard. I feel the sporting performance, the manner of our football, didn’t fit. It was too defensive, we’re expected to score goals.”

On new boss Michael Beale, Tillman continued: “Among other things he plays attacking football. I would say he & his assistant prepare us more for our opponents. We have a better fundamental feeling regarding how we approach a game.”

Tillman had options from further afield when he moved to Ibrox on loan in the summer, but the Scottish giants were always an attractive move to showcase his talents.

On the club and fans, he explained: “Because I followed them in the Europa League last season when they got to the final vs. Frankfurt. Through that came the chance to play Champions League. Along with Celtic we’re the best team. Also with the Scottish toughness, I could add another new component to my game.”

Asked about his future, Tillman added: “I just want to play as much as possible. To me it’s relatively unimportant where that is. I feel comfortable here, in fact very comfortable. I bring my performances which I think Rangers are really happy with. But I could also image the same with the people at Bayern.

“On the one hand I hope Bayern are monitoring, on the other, I know they are. (Asst coaches) Dino Toppmöller and Xaver Zembrod have been in touch here and there, and also (Technical Director) Marco Neppe. So I know they’re watching.”

Meanwhile, Michael Beale believes Malik Tillman deserves all the accolades going after another terrific display disrupted only by his controversial goal helped Rangers to a 3-2 Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle on Sunday.

The 20-year-old midfielder, on loan from Bayern Munich, was at the centre of remarkable incident with the fifth-round tie sitting at 1-1.

Antonio Colak’s header had cancelled out a penalty from Jags captain Kevin Holt with Thistle keeper Jamie Sneddon saving a James Tavernier penalty awarded when Tillman was fouled in the box by Stuart Bannigan.

After the home side put the ball out for Tillman to get treatment for an injury, Holt looked to launch a long ball from a throw-in back into the Gers half, but Tillman robbed him and ran through to round Sneddon and put the ball in the net, to the fury of the Jags.

Beale instructed his Rangers players to allow Scott Tiffoney to run up the pitch unopposed and equalise but the Light Blues got the winner with four minutes of normal time remaining when Connor McAvoy headed into his own net under pressure from James Sands.

The Gers boss preferred to focus on Tillman’s many positives.

He said: “Listen, since I have been here and since the first interview I said I was excited to work with him.

“I think he is a fantastic young player and he has been terrific for the last few weeks, absolutely outstanding.

“I am glad that we collectively made the decision we did because I didn’t want to be sitting here talking about Malik Tillman in a different light. He was completely unaware.

“Malik deserves things said and written about him that are the right things because his effort his fantastic, his quality is fantastic.

“He won us a penalty. He is driving up the pitch, he is taking on a lot of information for a 20-year-old. I couldn’t be happier with his contribution.”