Rangers star Morelos in race against time to face Hamilton after delayed return from Colombia

It’s a Defoe game tomorrow, I’d expect him to score a couple at least. Seems like the manager has sanctioned some family time for Alfie as we would be resting him anyway so he’s fit and firing for this grueling fixture run.
 
Defoes due another hattrick tomorrow Alfie to get the last 5-10 mins off the bench if he's up to it
 
Confident Defoe will do the business for us in any case, he loves a goal against Hamilton.
 
If he's fit he has to start, we need to pick our strongest team available everytime not just give Defoe a shot for the sake of it no matter how capable he is
 
Wouldn’t it have been easier for his family to have met him in New York. I’m sure Alfie can afford a couple of return tickets. Saves him flying all the way to Columbia.
 
Going against the grain here and will get stick but fuck it. I’m not happy he’s returning late, if he’s been allowed to go to Columbia from the States it’s a mistake from the manager/coaching staff/board (whoever sanctioned it). Especially with the protests over there, this could have been foreseen, regardless, the extra travel alone should’ve ruled it out.

Yes, we have Defoe to deputise and we should have enough but that’s beside the point. What if something happens to Defoe before kickoff. We wouldn’t have done it if we were playing cel’ic and it’s arrogant to do it to Hamilton, even if they have injury worries. I really hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.

Let the abuse commence.


EDIT: I forgot Alfie’s missus is pregnant, if it’s related to that then it’s a bit more understandable. He might want to share it with family face to face but if that’s the case it’d have made more sense to fly them to US.
 
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Its quite clear he won't be playing tomorrow and that is the right move, we will do fine with Defoe upfront
 
I understand in the circumstances what the manager has done.

It doesn’t mean I won’t be nervous.

JD has been great for us. But he isn’t Alfie.
 
We're talking about Jermaine Defoe playing up front against fucking Hamilton, and people are getting nervous? I'd have rested Alfie and played Defoe anyway.
 
As well as his wife being pregnant, I think it was also his mothers or grandmothers birthday. I'm sure he has a shirt under his match shirt with a message to her if he scored.
 
TN8 said:
We're talking about Jermaine Defoe playing up front against fucking Hamilton, and people are getting nervous? I'd have rested Alfie and played Defoe anyway.
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Defoe could easily get injured though. He he gets injured and we don’t have a lead I’d be nervous
 
AriseSirWalter said:
Going against the grain here and will get stick but fuck it. I’m not happy he’s returning late, if he’s been allowed to go to Columbia from the States it’s a mistake from the manager/coaching staff/board (whoever sanctioned it). Especially with the protests over there, this could have been foreseen, regardless, the extra travel alone should’ve ruled it out.

Yes, we have Defoe to deputise and we should have enough but that’s beside the point. What if something happens to Defoe before kickoff. We wouldn’t have done it if we were playing cel’ic and it’s arrogant to do it to Hamilton, even if they have injury worries. I really hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.

Let the abuse commence.


EDIT: I forgot Alfie’s missus is pregnant, if it’s related to that then it’s a bit more understandable. He might want to share it with family face to face but if that’s the case it’d have made more sense to fly them to US.
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His country is his country. It matters not a jot where it is. Managers do stuff like this all the time. WS done it with the Italians at the club on a regular basis to allow them time with their families. Players appreciate these things and it only benefits the manager and the club.
SG will have looked at it closely before he sanctioned it and without any disrespect to Hamilton, he will have taken into account that he had no intention of starting with Morelos anyway. Stuff happens in football especially
when South American players are having to travel.
 
Derta said:
His country is his country. It matters not a jot where it is. Managers do stuff like this all the time. WS done it with the Italians at the club on a regular basis to allow them time with their families. Players appreciate these things and it only benefits the manager and the club.
SG will have looked at it closely before he sanctioned it and without any disrespect to Hamilton, he will have taken into account that he had no intention of starting with Morelos anyway. Stuff happens in football especially
when South American players are having to travel.
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When Walter was manager he was never in the position of trying to win our first major trophy in the best part of a decade. And I doubt he’d have done it if he was up against an opponent as strong as the current cel’ic side.

It’s all about opinions and I’m clearly in the minority here but given there’s so little margin for error it’s a mistake to go into a game with arguable our most important player not in the best possible condition for it.
 
I personally think the plan was always for Defoe to start this one to give Alfie a rest with the amount of big games coming up that he must start. Would be good to have him on the bench however.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
Going against the grain here and will get stick but fuck it. I’m not happy he’s returning late, if he’s been allowed to go to Columbia from the States it’s a mistake from the manager/coaching staff/board (whoever sanctioned it). Especially with the protests over there, this could have been foreseen, regardless, the extra travel alone should’ve ruled it out.

Yes, we have Defoe to deputise and we should have enough but that’s beside the point. What if something happens to Defoe before kickoff. We wouldn’t have done it if we were playing cel’ic and it’s arrogant to do it to Hamilton, even if they have injury worries. I really hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.

Let the abuse commence.


EDIT: I forgot Alfie’s missus is pregnant, if it’s related to that then it’s a bit more understandable. He might want to share it with family face to face but if that’s the case it’d have made more sense to fly them to US.
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You ever considered that one of the reasons we still have Morelos and are confident of keeping him past January is because we treat him well, like he’s a human being rather than a resource?

If he needs to go back home during an international break, he needs to go. Stopping that just fucks him off. He’s always been good with coming back before.
 
I think if it is physically possible for Morelos to be in the squad and on the bench then we have to do that.

Whilst I appreciate travelling can be difficult, he’s a young man, rewarded handsomely for his work and I think it would be negligent to not have him as an option for us if required.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
Going against the grain here and will get stick but fuck it. I’m not happy he’s returning late, if he’s been allowed to go to Columbia from the States it’s a mistake from the manager/coaching staff/board (whoever sanctioned it). Especially with the protests over there, this could have been foreseen, regardless, the extra travel alone should’ve ruled it out.

Yes, we have Defoe to deputise and we should have enough but that’s beside the point. What if something happens to Defoe before kickoff. We wouldn’t have done it if we were playing cel’ic and it’s arrogant to do it to Hamilton, even if they have injury worries. I really hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.

Let the abuse commence.


EDIT: I forgot Alfie’s missus is pregnant, if it’s related to that then it’s a bit more understandable. He might want to share it with family face to face but if that’s the case it’d have made more sense to fly them to US.
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I trust they all have up to date passports and no issues entering the USA?

It's obviously easier for Alfie himself to make a quick stop in Colombia then come back here.

Things like letting him go home, visit his family and check in with his charity will clearly keep him happy and producing his best for Rangers.
 
Big Buff said:
You ever considered that one of the reasons we still have Morelos and are confident of keeping him past January is because we treat him well, like he’s a human being rather than a resource?

If he needs to go back home during an international break, he needs to go. Stopping that just fucks him off. He’s always been good with coming back before.
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The implication here is that if we don't let him go home while on international duty he'll potentially want away in Jan? That's unfair on Morelos, he clearly has ambitions to move on in the future but at no point has he spat the dummy out, so there's nothing to suggest he would if we told him to report back after his international games.

If it was a game against cel'ic there is no danger that we'd have let him go home, that doesn't mean we're treating him inhumanely.
 
GazzaG said:
I trust they all have up to date passports and no issues entering the USA?

It's obviously easier for Alfie himself to make a quick stop in Colombia then come back here.

Things like letting him go home, visit his family and check in with his charity will clearly keep him happy and producing his best for Rangers.
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There may well be issues with his family getting to the States, I honestly couldn't tell you if that's true or not.

I'm all for going out our way to keep our players happy as it should result in better performances but it can't (except for exceptional circumstances) come at the expense of him not being in prime condition for a game. If it was against cel'ic it wouldn't have happened and if it did we'd all be in uproar. So we're taking a calculated risk because it's Hamilton, I don't think we should be doing that considering how little margin for error there is in the league.

I would have played Defoe anyway in this game but that doesn't change my opinion that Morelos should have been back in time to start this game in case Defoe got injured prior to kick off.

I accept that I'm in the minority about this (and it hopefully looks like it's not going to cost us) but there you go.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
There may well be issues with his family getting to the States, I honestly couldn't tell you if that's true or not.

I'm all for going out our way to keep our players happy as it should result in better performances but it can't (except for exceptional circumstances) come at the expense of him not being in prime condition for a game. If it was against cel'ic it wouldn't have happened and if it did we'd all be in uproar. So we're taking a calculated risk because it's Hamilton, I don't think we should be doing that considering how little margin for error there is in the league.

I would have played Defoe anyway in this game but that doesn't change my opinion that Morelos should have been back in time to start this game in case Defoe got injured prior to kick off.

I accept that I'm in the minority about this (and it hopefully looks like it's not going to cost us) but there you go.
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You're basing it on ifs, buts and maybes.

The bottom line is that we're playing Hamilton today, so Morelos has been allowed a visit to Colombia.

It sends a terrible message to the rest of the squad if we believe we can't win games without Morelos.
 
It’s a lot easier for Alfie to go home from the US than it is from Glasgow so it was hardly a terrible idea, especially as SG seemed to suggest Defoe was always going to play today.

The strike was unfortunate but if we can’t win at Hamilton without Alfie we’re never going to win the league. The other players simply have to get it done. If we’d been playing Celtic he would have come straight back I have no doubt.
 
GazzaG said:
You're basing it on ifs, buts and maybes.

The bottom line is that we're playing Hamilton today, so Morelos has been allowed a visit to Colombia.

It sends a terrible message to the rest of the squad if we believe we can't win games without Morelos.
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I'm basing it on the fact that we should have all our best players available for all games, especially in the league that's so tightly fought. Not to mention how important this particular league is.

What message does it send to the players that we don't need to be at our best to win today?!

You dismissively say we're playing Hamilton today but we're into the last 20 mins and there's only a goal in it.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
I'm basing it on the fact that we should have all our best players available for all games, especially in the league that's so tightly fought. Not to mention how important this particular league is.

What message does it send to the players that we don't need to be at our best to win today?!

You dismissively say we're playing Hamilton today but we're into the last 20 mins and there's only a goal in it.
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He is available, as I type he's walking on to the pitch.

That kinda puts paid to anything else you've said.
 
GazzaG said:
He is available, as I type he's walking on to the pitch.

That kinda puts paid to anything else you've said.
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He’s was available to start from the bench. He obvious didn’t have the best preparation for the game but you know that.

I don’t blame you not wanting to continue with the it’s only Hamilton attitude given how the game went today.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
He’s was available to start from the bench. He obvious didn’t have the best preparation for the game but you know that.

I don’t blame you not wanting to continue with the it’s only Hamilton attitude given how the game went today.
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Did you miss the manager saying Defoe was always going to start today?
It was right before the game we won 3-1.
 
GazzaG said:
Did you miss the manager saying Defoe was always going to start today?
It was right before the game we won 3-1.
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And if Defoe pulls up before kick off with a hamstring? What then?

That’s fair enough rotating, I’d have started Defoe today but that doesn’t get away from the fact Morelos should have been back in time so he was prepared to play 90 mins if needed.

It was 3-1, aye that’s fact but you’re kidding yourself on if you think it was comfortable. The performance shows up the ‘it’s only Hamilton’ brigade.
 
AriseSirWalter said:
And if Defoe pulls up before kick off with a hamstring? What then?

That’s fair enough rotating, I’d have started Defoe today but that doesn’t get away from the fact Morelos should have been back in time so he was prepared to play 90 mins if needed.

It was 3-1, aye that’s fact but you’re kidding yourself on if you think it was comfortable. The performance shows up the ‘it’s only Hamilton’ brigade.
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I'll take a result over a performance every day, sorry if that doesn't suit your agenda.

If Defoe is hurt in the warm up then guess what? Morelos would have started.

I'm at a loss as to exactly what you're trying to argue now.
You want Morelos back ready to play, he was back ready to play.
 
GazzaG said:
I'll take a result over a performance every day, sorry if that doesn't suit your agenda.

If Defoe is hurt in the warm up then guess what? Morelos would have started.

I'm at a loss as to exactly what you're trying to argue now.
You want Morelos back ready to play, he was back ready to play.
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Such a long flight so close to kick off means that he wasn’t best prepared to play 90 mins. Everyone knows that.

What agenda? I’ve commented that I think it was wrong to allow him to travel all those extra miles so close to an important game. Others like yourself, felt it was only Hamilton so doesn’t matter if he’s travelling the day before the game.

Answer honestly, would you be happy if it was cel’ic we were playing and he was on a long haul flight the day before the match?
 
AriseSirWalter said:
Such a long flight so close to kick off means that he wasn’t best prepared to play 90 mins. Everyone knows that.

What agenda? I’ve commented that I think it was wrong to allow him to travel all those extra miles so close to an important game. Others like yourself, felt it was only Hamilton so doesn’t matter if he’s travelling the day before the game.

Answer honestly, would you be happy if it was cel’ic we were playing and he was on a long haul flight the day before the match?
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He didn't have to play 90 minutes, between him and Defoe they rarely see out the full 90.
I've no idea why you think that's relevant based on the regular 70th minute sub.

You're saying "others like myself" the manager and player are both fine with it, who are you to tell them otherwise?

I've done a 14 hour shift on the back of a long haul flight, I've run a half marathon 9 hours after a 17 hour shift. It's not that big a deal for me, I doubt a proper professional athlete is genuinely going to struggle.
 
GazzaG said:
He didn't have to play 90 minutes, between him and Defoe they rarely see out the full 90.
I've no idea why you think that's relevant based on the regular 70th minute sub.

You're saying "others like myself" the manager and player are both fine with it, who are you to tell them otherwise?

I've done a 14 hour shift on the back of a long haul flight, I've run a half marathon 9 hours after a 17 hour shift. It's not that big a deal for me, I doubt a proper professional athlete is genuinely going to struggle.
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it’s relevant because if Defoe got injured before the game then Morelos would have likely had to play the 90 mins.

I’m not saying he couldn’t do that, I’m saying he couldn’t do it to the best of his abilities after a long haul flight. Plus the chances of him getting injured are increased.

You’re not seriously comparing your half marathon to a Rangers game in importance are you?!

Without meaning to be disrespectful to your job a professional footballer manages everything from sleep, diet, exercise throughout the week. Some down to the level of having their own travel pillows to avoid infection why go to all that bother if something like a long-haul flight isn’t going to affect their performance?

If it doesn’t make any difference whatsoever why doesn’t Morelos do it more often?!

I notice you avoided my question about how you’d feel if it was a cel’ic game.
 
Ranger1003 said:
Not for 1 kin am I saying Defoe inst dangerous but Morelos seems to strike the fear into people
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The third goal was the perfect example. Hamilton too busy focusing on Morelos that Kent just walked through the middle of their defence.
 
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