Gio on Morelos

[Grigo Yossarian]

I didn’t like his petulant waving at the dug out when Sparta had a free kick in the first half and we were out numbered with our marking.

Morelos had a point of course given we were not in the right shape to defend that set piece but it was clear he was screaming at the bench and it might have been taken as disrespectful. His ire should have been directed at his colleagues on the pitch.

I thought he was right to do that, as we were totally exposed there.

Wasn’t it 5 on 2 ?

 

[1914-18]

I was just about done with Morelos tbh his attitude and stinkingvoerformances of late have been an embarrassment, I'm on record on this forum saying I want to the old Buffalo back, the guy who bullies defenders, chases lost causes and scores goals, last night he gave us that and that's the buff I love. On the form consistently he is a £20 million plus player

 

[gersfanal]

Absolutely agree. He is a penalty box striker and needs to focus on that alone.

Primarily at least.

 

[Worthy_Candidate]

I thought he was right to do that, as we were totally exposed there.

Wasn’t it 5 on 2 ?

He was but he shouldn’t be screaming at the bench…. He should have been screaming at his team mates, particularly players like McGregor and Goldson who should have been alert to the danger.

It just looked very disrespectful and I did wonder if he would have pulled that stunt with the previous manager…? He certainly would not have even thought about it with any of our previous great managers….!

Imagine going back into a dressing room to face Souness, Smith, Knox or even Advocaat had you done that? They’d have painted the walls with you!

I hope Gio, Mackaay, Defoe, etc had a strong word in his ear.

 

[Grigo Yossarian]

He was but he shouldn’t be screaming at the bench…. He should have been screaming at his team mates, particularly players like McGregor and Goldson who should have been alert to the danger.

It just looked very disrespectful and I did wonder if he would have pulled that stunt with the previous manager…? He certainly would not have even thought about it with any of our previous great managers….!

Imagine going back into a dressing room to face Souness, Smith, Knox or even Advocaat had you done that? They’d have painted the walls with you!

I hope Gio, Mackaay, Defoe, etc had a strong word in his ear.

Mate, I didn’t see it as disrespectful.

We’ve had a few things to get pissed at Morelos recently, but I don’t regard that as one of them.

I was so delighted when they took the shot.

 

[jweebear]

Morelos straight jacket was taken off last night, you could see he was loving the freedom again.

 

[Laudrup97]

One particular bit Morelos done was when he ran down into the corner in the first half last night.
Strong, held the ball up and done a flick round either 1 or 2 players and he was away from them to create a goalscoring chance or to shoot himself. Thats the old Alfie.

 

[ronadamus_prime]

I think we'll see a much more lean and motivated Alfredo Morelos in the next few months. Particularly once the winter break is done.

Clearly he wasn't happy with his new role overall. You could see he'd lost a bit of that spark last season. Although, he managed to turn it in his favour eventually. However this season it just hasn't really worked at all, the system was failing the entire team at times. But it completely blunted Alfie to the point he was like a man down at times.

Gerrard had previously said he'd never try to change Alfie's game because he knows that is what sets him apart from the rest. He then proceeded to change his game. Opted to put the system first and Alfie suffered as a result. I do think that's going to be less of a problem moving forward, given the fact Gio is less tied and married to one system/style of playing.

Welcome back El Bufalo, I've bloody missed you.

 

[bluenosebazza]

What a novel idea from a manager. Play your goalscorer in the place where hes most likely to get goals.

Mental that Gerrard had turned a striker he said he wouldnt take £50m for 2 years ago into nothing more than a diversion for defenders around 30 yards from goal.

 

[WDYGH]

I think it was aimed at replicating the tactics Liverpool use. Firmino drops deep to link play there exceptionally well.

Yes mate, I think that was the thinking.

If only we had Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. Gerrard didn’t seem to grasp that we don’t.

 

[bluenosebazza]

I didn’t like his petulant waving at the dug out when Sparta had a free kick in the first half and we were out numbered with our marking.

Morelos had a point of course given we were not in the right shape to defend that set piece but it was clear he was screaming at the bench and it might have been taken as disrespectful. His ire should have been directed at his colleagues on the pitch.

I think he was probably pointing out it wasnt the first time and we keep losing goals from it so they need to organise it.

I dont think players like Tav and Goldson will pay any attention to Morelos telling them to chamge who theyre marking.

 

[Number Six]

We want him to play nearer the box rather than dropping back.

Music to Alfie’s ears

 

[Craigie]

I never got this deeper role, He’s our main goal scorer.

The deeper role was for runners to go beyond him in to the space created as a defender followed the striker.

To a large extent it worked a treat last season. However, if no runners go to the space then Morelos' deeper movement is negated.

It relies on others being switched on.

 

[bluenosebazza]

I think it was aimed at replicating the tactics Liverpool use. Firmino drops deep to link play there exceptionally well.

It is. You get a striker to drop deep, bring a defender with him and get players from the channels to drive behind.

We dont have Salah and Mane though. It worked well last season but there was little movement up front this season and no real desire to change it from Gerrard.

 

[Grigo Yossarian]

One particular bit Morelos done was when he ran down into the corner in the first half last night.
Strong, held the ball up and done a flick round either 1 or 2 players and he was away from them to create a goalscoring chance or to shoot himself. Thats the old Alfie.

Yes, that was cracking mate.

 

[Worthy_Candidate]

Mate, I didn’t see it as disrespectful.

We’ve had a few things to get pissed at Morelos recently, but I don’t regard that as one of them.

I was so delighted when they took the shot.

Yeah, I’m probably over thinking it…. I was and I’m still a bit nervous about Gio’s appointment as I do wonder if he’s just too nice a guy to manage this group of players.

I’m hoping he can be a tough bastard when he needs to be though as he wouldn’t have achieved what he has achieved in the game without a ruthless streak.

 

[Grigo Yossarian]

Yeah, I’m probably over thinking it…. I was and I’m still a bit nervous about Gio’s appointment as I do wonder if he’s just too nice a guy to manage this group of players.

I’m hoping he can be a tough bastard when he needs to be as he wouldn’t have achieved what he has achieved in the game without a ruthless streak.

Yes, I honestly think his calm exterior hides a tough & ruthless interior WC.

Let’s hope he’s another Walter in that respect.

It was interesting that at Feyenoord he just dropped Dirk Kuyt out of the team, so he does seem to be ready to take tough decisions.

 

[GazzaG]

2 weeks ago, Alfie would have been 25 yards away when the Sparta defender played that ball for the second goal.

 

[andy5836]

His link up play was much better last night and helped us get up the park.

 

[Grigo Yossarian]

It may be significant that Gio can speak Spanish and communicate much more clearly with Morelos.

We often overlook it and think solely about a players ability but it must be tough to train and play when you don’t speak the language of the Manager and he’s trying to give you instructions or advice

Roy was at Deportivo La Coruna too, which should also help.

 

[Mr Wilton]

Who’d have thought put your striker up front! He looked more like Alfie of old last night, wee bit more on the fitness side and we’ll have our buffalo back charging over defenders!

 

[Tony75tfc]

Fans have been crying out for months for morelos to be in the box ,imo gerrard hindered morelos game by asking him to play so deep he used morelos as a distraction to allow others to run in behind but it wasnt working , morelos is a goalscorer who should be in the box , thats were hes at his best and im glad gio has changed his mindset

 

[bluenosebazza]

Yeah, I’m probably over thinking it…. I was and I’m still a bit nervous about Gio’s appointment as I do wonder if he’s just too nice a guy to manage this group of players.

I’m hoping he can be a tough bastard when he needs to be though as he wouldn’t have achieved what he has achieved in the game without a ruthless streak.

Gio gets the tactics right then lets Roy Makaay go round headbutting players when they need it.

 

[Grigo Yossarian]

Fans have been crying out for months for morelos to be in the box ,imo gerrard hindered morelos game by asking him to play so deep he used morelos as a distraction to allow others to run in behind but it wasnt working , morelos is a goalscorer who should be in the box , thats were hes at his best and im glad gio has changed his mindset

One of his best attributes is winning 50/50 situations Tony.

He doesn’t look at his fittest but he still mostly gets his body in there first.

 

[insanicdrunk]

Alfie coming deep should have been an extra string to his bow. Because it can be useful, gerrard changed it to the way he played. Negating the real Alfie.

 

[RabSpackman]

I'll be honest as this is my first comment at all on gio, but I have this fear it won't work. That said, it'd be the same with any manager.

I'm also of an opinion, I don't think our last gaffer is going to be a good manager in the long run. He'll give villa a boost but will be out thought and too stubborn to change his way, his ego will prevent it.

Why won't he be a good manager? His options blunted our best player, it's affected the player and the team. That was much more like our Alfredo. He isn't fat, or lazy or disinterested. He was used completely wrong to fit with the egos system. Maybe that was the problem.

Brilliant Gio and Alfredo.

Rangers played with a freedom last night that we’ve not seen in a while.

When you reflect on the last 6 months, Morelos being pulled back to be more for the team was all very well but his goals dried up - for a head coach/manager to sacrifice goals for a system is odd.

Gio will have his quirks - all managers do, but for now we are seeing an aggressive Rangers who will go at an opponent.

I joked with a few people that Morelos looked like he had lost half a stone last night and Roy Makaay was clearly working wonders… maybe the half a stone was in his head as much as the body.

 

[¥ungblazebo¥]

We were a one man team under Gerrard for the first 2 seasons, when Alfie played, we played and we struggled when he wasn’t on form. Typically he would lose form towards the middle/end of a season because we were playing a lot of games and he isn’t naturally super-fit.

So Gerrard and his team decided to drop him further back in an effort to reduce our reliance on him, and get more from Hagi and Kent whilst adding Roofe into the mix.

And in a lot of ways you would have to say they succeeded, because Alfie was honking for large swathes of last season and we went undefeated in the league.

However we never saw us hitting the heights of say, Porto away using that system.

And I think that’s the conundrum for Gio.

Alfie needs to be up top, bullying defenders, playing on the shoulder, getting a shot off every time the ball comes to him within 20yds of the goal, when he does that, he becomes a 20m player again.

Gio needs to find a way to facilitate that, whilst getting the most out the AMs behind Alfie, so if he does have a stinker, others can step up.

People have been crying out for us to use a 4231 for a long time and I think you can see the start of something last night.

Kent can play out wide on his own, and his pace and mobility allow him to cover enough grass so he doesn’t get isolated. But his finishing hasn’t improved in his time here and I don’t ever see him becoming prolific.

But on the other side of the pitch Hagi, Aribo, Roofe, Wright and Sakala would all get isolated often in our 433 and lacked either the mobility or movement to contribute to the best of their ability.

Playing two holding midfielders and a number 10 gives us another attacking player in there to get close to the two wingers, get close to Alfie, get us playing one touch whilst on the transition, instead of once the opponent has lined up their low block and hopefully gets us back to playing exciting football whilst getting the best out of the players we have.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

To be fair it actually worked for a good while as it caught teams out at the beginning as centre backs were pulled out of position allowing our midfield, other forwards and Tav to score a barrel load but like everything it was eventually sussed so I can’t understand why gerrard didn’t ask Alfie to go back to his original role again……I think in gerrards head the Liverpool way is the only way and that’s why he was so inflexible!

It was absolutely noticeable in our first game of the season against Aberdeen almost straight away and Kent scored a great goal from utilising it. It was a good tactical switch but the thing about tactics is you need to keep evolving them and changing in response to other teams figuring it out.

 

[Craigie]

It was absolutely noticeable in our first game of the season against Aberdeen almost straight away and Kent scored a great goal from utilising it. It was a good tactical switch but the thing about tactics is you need to keep evolving them and changing in response to other teams figuring it out.

Variation is all that's required. Alfie comes short, goes long etc to mix it up. Defenders are constantly second guessing.

We get the ball wide, try to play through the middle and defences are set up for this. Shooting from 25-30 yards brings defenders out and will create space to slip passes through or to work round with quick 1/2 touch football.

Sticking to philosophies is admirable. Sticking to one, not so much.

 

[WinkieWATP]

Will never understand why Gerrard and co decided to neuter Morelos - like asking your voluptuous new bird to get a breast reduction.

You could understand it if the wider forwards were scoring plenty like Salah and Mane at Liverpool for example but that never really happened.

 

[Bearwood Bear]

Craigan is extremely dire, and can’t hide his Cel, ahem I mean Motherwell allegiances. Murder for the earlobes.

He is actually one of us - which makes his drivel hard to stomach.

Stevie boy, a wee tip: don't try to appease Timothy.

To him, you will always be just another DOB.

 

[Tugay1872]

He is actually one of us - which makes his drivel hard to stomach.

Stevie boy, a wee tip: don't try to appease Timothy.

To him, you will always be just another DOB.

Wow, I’m shocked at that. The way he goes on and just repeats negative aspects of play.

Its shocking the amount of bluenoses who have turned for the green penny.