Bonnyloyal
Well-Known Member
Andy Gray has spent the last year monitoring Steven Gerrard’s Rangers revival from more than 4500 miles away.
So he probably didn’t need to be at Ibrox in person on Sunday to identify the biggest single problem lurking inside the Scouser’s dressing room.
But what Gray saw during a surprisingly one-sided romp over Marseille merely convinced him of what he has suspected all of this time.
That the conundrum that is Alfredo Morelos may well be more bother than he’s worth.
The highly valued, yet notoriously combustible Colombian lasted 45 minutes of his side’s pre-season win at the weekend, failing to hit the target but getting himself involved in a minor feud with man-marker Luis Gustavo nonetheless before being replaced by Jermain Defoe at half-time.
Gray has seen it all before, although usually from the comfort of a TV studio somewhere in Doha
And now, with Crystal Palace and West Ham believed to be showing tentative interest in the prolific South American, pretty soon Gerrard may have a multi-million pound decision on his hands. Or at least Gray certainly appears to hope so.
Speaking exclusively to Record Sport yesterday the veteran pundit and Rangers diehard said: “I’m not a fan of Morelos. He’s unreliable in big games. He’s not done enough against the likes of Celtic – he hasn’t even scored against them yet.
“So I’m not a big fan at all but I do understand Steven has got a guy here who scored more than 30 goals last season.
“If it was as simple as replacing him with another guy who will score 30 plus next season then I’d definitely get rid. If someone comes in for him with £15m then Rangers would be foolish not to sell him and try to use the money to bring in that replacement.
“Or, if you could tell me Jermain is going to be fit for the whole season, I would say, ‘Sell Morelos, get the money in and make the group better’.
“But you have to remember there’s 30 goals to replace if he’s sold and it’s Steven’s job to balance that. If he feels he can get those goals from other areas then he’ll be tempted to sell.
“Put it this way, when Morelos was suspended at the end of last season he wasn’t missed that much. It was good for the other boys not to have to be so reliant on him.
“Yes, he does well but if he’s going to cost us as much as he gives us then it leaves Steven with a big decision to make. If nobody wants to pay the money then fine. He’ll have to contribute this season and hopefully he’ll have learned from his mistakes but I’m not so sure.
“Steven has to balance it up and as a manager he can’t make his decisions based on emotion. As a player you live half your life on emotions.
“But as a coach you need to make more rational decisions.
“If it was me being all emotional I’d punt him tomorrow and say, ‘Thanks very much, see you later’.
“But that might not be the best solution for Rangers right now. Stevie has to do what’s right for Rangers.
“I’ve played under coaches who didn’t like certain guys inside the dressing room but they still played them because they were important to the team. So you have to put personal feelings to one side.
“But Steven would admit he let him off a little too lightly last year. If Morelos stays and he still gives the manager problems again then I would expect Steven to really clamp down on him. Big time.”
But while Morelos remains the one major unresolved issue on Gerrard’s summer to do list, Gray believes the manager is fairly motoring through the rest of the remedial work left over from his first season in the Ibrox hotseat.
Gerrard undeniably dragged Rangers closer to Celtic in his first campaign. But losing the title by nine points was still not quite close enough for Gray’s liking.
However, he left Govan at the weekend with a spring in his step
Gray went on: “I was very pleased with what I saw. I had phoned Gary McAllister and told him I was coming up so he sorted me out with tickets and then after the match I went to see Steven and have a chat with him.
“I thought we looked very good. They played some of the new boys I hadn’t seen before and I was impressed by all of them. I thought it was a solid performance. Defensively we looked alright, although we were never troubled by Marseille who were awful.
“I don’t think Steven will be fooled by what was a comfortable victory – it could have been seven or eight – but I expected a lot more from Marseille. They looked like they are about 10 days behind us pre-season training wise.
“But that apart, Rangers kept the ball well, they used it well. We didn’t over pass it either. When we had the chance to get forward and release people we did.
“The second goal was typical of that with a great ball from Ryan Jack and a terrific finish from Daniel Candeias. That was really good football and there was quite a lot of examples of it during the match
“As I say I’m not a Morelos fan and he didn’t do much in the first half to change my opinion.
“Defoe looked much more dangerous when he came on – he’s a predator inside the six-yard box as he showed at his goal. Rangers look better when he is in the team.
“Ojo came on and showed what he can do in flashes. The kid Aribo in midfield looks like a good player, comfortable on the ball.
“And the centre-back, George Edmundson, settled in quite nicely next to Connor Goldson even though he wasn’t up against anything.
“With the new centre-back from Bologna to come in I think we are very well covered, especially when you consider Scott Arfield and one or two others are still to come into the side.
“We are in a much better place than this time last year. Much better.
So he probably didn’t need to be at Ibrox in person on Sunday to identify the biggest single problem lurking inside the Scouser’s dressing room.
But what Gray saw during a surprisingly one-sided romp over Marseille merely convinced him of what he has suspected all of this time.
That the conundrum that is Alfredo Morelos may well be more bother than he’s worth.
The highly valued, yet notoriously combustible Colombian lasted 45 minutes of his side’s pre-season win at the weekend, failing to hit the target but getting himself involved in a minor feud with man-marker Luis Gustavo nonetheless before being replaced by Jermain Defoe at half-time.
Gray has seen it all before, although usually from the comfort of a TV studio somewhere in Doha
And now, with Crystal Palace and West Ham believed to be showing tentative interest in the prolific South American, pretty soon Gerrard may have a multi-million pound decision on his hands. Or at least Gray certainly appears to hope so.
Speaking exclusively to Record Sport yesterday the veteran pundit and Rangers diehard said: “I’m not a fan of Morelos. He’s unreliable in big games. He’s not done enough against the likes of Celtic – he hasn’t even scored against them yet.
“So I’m not a big fan at all but I do understand Steven has got a guy here who scored more than 30 goals last season.
“If it was as simple as replacing him with another guy who will score 30 plus next season then I’d definitely get rid. If someone comes in for him with £15m then Rangers would be foolish not to sell him and try to use the money to bring in that replacement.
“Or, if you could tell me Jermain is going to be fit for the whole season, I would say, ‘Sell Morelos, get the money in and make the group better’.
“But you have to remember there’s 30 goals to replace if he’s sold and it’s Steven’s job to balance that. If he feels he can get those goals from other areas then he’ll be tempted to sell.
“Put it this way, when Morelos was suspended at the end of last season he wasn’t missed that much. It was good for the other boys not to have to be so reliant on him.
“Yes, he does well but if he’s going to cost us as much as he gives us then it leaves Steven with a big decision to make. If nobody wants to pay the money then fine. He’ll have to contribute this season and hopefully he’ll have learned from his mistakes but I’m not so sure.
“Steven has to balance it up and as a manager he can’t make his decisions based on emotion. As a player you live half your life on emotions.
“But as a coach you need to make more rational decisions.
“If it was me being all emotional I’d punt him tomorrow and say, ‘Thanks very much, see you later’.
“But that might not be the best solution for Rangers right now. Stevie has to do what’s right for Rangers.
“I’ve played under coaches who didn’t like certain guys inside the dressing room but they still played them because they were important to the team. So you have to put personal feelings to one side.
“But Steven would admit he let him off a little too lightly last year. If Morelos stays and he still gives the manager problems again then I would expect Steven to really clamp down on him. Big time.”
But while Morelos remains the one major unresolved issue on Gerrard’s summer to do list, Gray believes the manager is fairly motoring through the rest of the remedial work left over from his first season in the Ibrox hotseat.
Gerrard undeniably dragged Rangers closer to Celtic in his first campaign. But losing the title by nine points was still not quite close enough for Gray’s liking.
However, he left Govan at the weekend with a spring in his step
Gray went on: “I was very pleased with what I saw. I had phoned Gary McAllister and told him I was coming up so he sorted me out with tickets and then after the match I went to see Steven and have a chat with him.
“I thought we looked very good. They played some of the new boys I hadn’t seen before and I was impressed by all of them. I thought it was a solid performance. Defensively we looked alright, although we were never troubled by Marseille who were awful.
“I don’t think Steven will be fooled by what was a comfortable victory – it could have been seven or eight – but I expected a lot more from Marseille. They looked like they are about 10 days behind us pre-season training wise.
“But that apart, Rangers kept the ball well, they used it well. We didn’t over pass it either. When we had the chance to get forward and release people we did.
“The second goal was typical of that with a great ball from Ryan Jack and a terrific finish from Daniel Candeias. That was really good football and there was quite a lot of examples of it during the match
“As I say I’m not a Morelos fan and he didn’t do much in the first half to change my opinion.
“Defoe looked much more dangerous when he came on – he’s a predator inside the six-yard box as he showed at his goal. Rangers look better when he is in the team.
“Ojo came on and showed what he can do in flashes. The kid Aribo in midfield looks like a good player, comfortable on the ball.
“And the centre-back, George Edmundson, settled in quite nicely next to Connor Goldson even though he wasn’t up against anything.
“With the new centre-back from Bologna to come in I think we are very well covered, especially when you consider Scott Arfield and one or two others are still to come into the side.
“We are in a much better place than this time last year. Much better.
