Its actually a decent article for once with praise for Morelos, the fact he hasn't won player of the month is a joke though.
Alfredo Morelos should win player of the year but there's one reason Rangers striker might not
The Colombian has had an incredible season and would be a more than deserving winner of the individual award.
By
Mark McDougall
Alfredo Morelos is a name that sends Scottish football into overdrive on a weekly basis.
The best player in Scotland? Arguably. The most important player for one team in the country? Definitely.
The Scottish Premiership player of the year? Certainly. Will he win the award? Maybe not.
It's a bizarre situation when everyone who watches Scottish football can see the importance of Morelos and how he has performed this season yet there are still doubts over whether he'll be voted as either writer's or players’ player of the year. Sure, he has his critics for his temper and the amount of yellow and red cards he's racked up this season.
But the fact he's missed six league games this season yet still has 17 Premiership goals is an impressive stat. It's not just his goals that are important. His workrate and ability to handle two, three and four defenders at once and still get the better of them leaves space open for other players such as Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield, Daniel Candeias and James Tavernier to exploit.
Alfredo Morelos (Image: PA)
Yet there's one surprising statistic that could lead people to think he won't win any of the end of season awards. Of the six player of the month awards handed out this season, none of them have gone to Morelos.
The Colombian has watched Tony Watt, Steven Naismith, James Forrest, Ryan Christie, Sam Cosgrove and Jake Hastie be presented with trophies marking their achievement.
All of those players have impressed for their club during the months they won and generally it would be hard to argue against them - if not for the season Morelos has been having. Now, let's not fall down the rabbit hole and start shouting there is a conspiracy against Morelos. The Colombian gets huge credit and rightly so.
However, from the outside looking in, it would appear his consistency in regularly being good counts against him a bit in these monthly awards. In each of them, there has been one player who sparks into life and has a fantastic month while maybe not being at their best at other times of the season while Morelos has continually been on form.
Although it's only Premiership games that are supposed to be taken into consideration for the player of the month award, you look at the circumstances surrounding the teams and notice that in most months, Morelos was playing many more games than those who won awards due to the success of Rangers in the Europa League.
Most months he was playing six or seven games across all tournaments so to keep up the consistency he has in the Premiership is something that deserves credit and it is surprising he hasn't been rewarded for it.
Dundee defender Darren O'Dea and Hibs centre back Darren McGregor have both proclaimed they will vote for the striker when it comes to deciding Players' Player of the Year. In this campaign, the longest Morelos has gone without a league goal is three games in a row. That happened at the start of the season in matches against Motherwell, Celtic and Dundee.
In the Dundee game which Rangers won 4-0, he set up one, won a penalty for one and played a big part in another. Even when he isn't scoring goals, he's generally Rangers’ best player.
(Image: SNS)
When you look at his goals, he generally creates the opportunities for himself. Sure, someone has to give him the ball, but the work he does to roll defenders with ease and find himself in acres of space mean he's more often than not assisting himself. Morelos' equaliser against Kilmarnock was the perfect example of that.
Tavernier - another who could be considered as a potential player of the year - plays a ball forward. The ball wasn't great and wasn't even straight to El Bufalo's feet. In most cases when that would happen to a striker, the defender would easily nip in and win it back.
In this one? Stuart Findlay - who has arguably been the best defender in the league this season - is left trying to force his way past Morelos. In trying to get by him, Morelos simply lets the ball run past and he rolls Findlay and smashes past Daniel Bachmann in goal.
It was a move everyone has witnessed on countless occasions this season. Defenders across the country have been left bewildered by his ability to do it despite being relatively small for a striker. He's not a powerhouse in the shape of Uche Ikpeazu or the likes of Chris Sutton or John Hartson in the past.
(Image: SNS Group)
At just 5ft 10in, he's not close to being the biggest striker in the game. Even his team-mate Kyle Lafferty towers above him but the Northern Irishman could only dream of having the power to hold off defenders that Morelos has.
His critics will point to him having yet to score against Celtic and it would be an acceptable one if he wasn't the player who caused them most problems at Ibrox in December. His critics will point to his disciplinary record as previously mentioned without any thought of what a season he could have had without silly red cards.
The last time a Rangers player won the player of the year award was Steven Davis in 2009/10 and Celtic have dominated it since with Michael Higdon also winning it as the only non-Celtic player in the past eight years.
With Morelos in the country, it seems almost unimaginable that anyone else would be presented with that trophy at the end of the season. In reality, he should be doing a clean sweep and taking home Player's Player and Writer's Player of the Year. People shouldn't be surprised if he does.
Alfredo Morelos should win player of the year but there's one reason Rangers striker might not
The Colombian has had an incredible season and would be a more than deserving winner of the individual award.
By
Mark McDougall
- 15:17, 25 MAR 2019
- UPDATED16:00, 25 MAR 2019
Alfredo Morelos is a name that sends Scottish football into overdrive on a weekly basis.
The best player in Scotland? Arguably. The most important player for one team in the country? Definitely.
The Scottish Premiership player of the year? Certainly. Will he win the award? Maybe not.
It's a bizarre situation when everyone who watches Scottish football can see the importance of Morelos and how he has performed this season yet there are still doubts over whether he'll be voted as either writer's or players’ player of the year. Sure, he has his critics for his temper and the amount of yellow and red cards he's racked up this season.
But the fact he's missed six league games this season yet still has 17 Premiership goals is an impressive stat. It's not just his goals that are important. His workrate and ability to handle two, three and four defenders at once and still get the better of them leaves space open for other players such as Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield, Daniel Candeias and James Tavernier to exploit.
Alfredo Morelos (Image: PA)
Yet there's one surprising statistic that could lead people to think he won't win any of the end of season awards. Of the six player of the month awards handed out this season, none of them have gone to Morelos.
The Colombian has watched Tony Watt, Steven Naismith, James Forrest, Ryan Christie, Sam Cosgrove and Jake Hastie be presented with trophies marking their achievement.
All of those players have impressed for their club during the months they won and generally it would be hard to argue against them - if not for the season Morelos has been having. Now, let's not fall down the rabbit hole and start shouting there is a conspiracy against Morelos. The Colombian gets huge credit and rightly so.
However, from the outside looking in, it would appear his consistency in regularly being good counts against him a bit in these monthly awards. In each of them, there has been one player who sparks into life and has a fantastic month while maybe not being at their best at other times of the season while Morelos has continually been on form.
Although it's only Premiership games that are supposed to be taken into consideration for the player of the month award, you look at the circumstances surrounding the teams and notice that in most months, Morelos was playing many more games than those who won awards due to the success of Rangers in the Europa League.
Most months he was playing six or seven games across all tournaments so to keep up the consistency he has in the Premiership is something that deserves credit and it is surprising he hasn't been rewarded for it.
Dundee defender Darren O'Dea and Hibs centre back Darren McGregor have both proclaimed they will vote for the striker when it comes to deciding Players' Player of the Year. In this campaign, the longest Morelos has gone without a league goal is three games in a row. That happened at the start of the season in matches against Motherwell, Celtic and Dundee.
In the Dundee game which Rangers won 4-0, he set up one, won a penalty for one and played a big part in another. Even when he isn't scoring goals, he's generally Rangers’ best player.
(Image: SNS)
When you look at his goals, he generally creates the opportunities for himself. Sure, someone has to give him the ball, but the work he does to roll defenders with ease and find himself in acres of space mean he's more often than not assisting himself. Morelos' equaliser against Kilmarnock was the perfect example of that.
Tavernier - another who could be considered as a potential player of the year - plays a ball forward. The ball wasn't great and wasn't even straight to El Bufalo's feet. In most cases when that would happen to a striker, the defender would easily nip in and win it back.
In this one? Stuart Findlay - who has arguably been the best defender in the league this season - is left trying to force his way past Morelos. In trying to get by him, Morelos simply lets the ball run past and he rolls Findlay and smashes past Daniel Bachmann in goal.
It was a move everyone has witnessed on countless occasions this season. Defenders across the country have been left bewildered by his ability to do it despite being relatively small for a striker. He's not a powerhouse in the shape of Uche Ikpeazu or the likes of Chris Sutton or John Hartson in the past.
(Image: SNS Group)
At just 5ft 10in, he's not close to being the biggest striker in the game. Even his team-mate Kyle Lafferty towers above him but the Northern Irishman could only dream of having the power to hold off defenders that Morelos has.
His critics will point to him having yet to score against Celtic and it would be an acceptable one if he wasn't the player who caused them most problems at Ibrox in December. His critics will point to his disciplinary record as previously mentioned without any thought of what a season he could have had without silly red cards.
The last time a Rangers player won the player of the year award was Steven Davis in 2009/10 and Celtic have dominated it since with Michael Higdon also winning it as the only non-Celtic player in the past eight years.
With Morelos in the country, it seems almost unimaginable that anyone else would be presented with that trophy at the end of the season. In reality, he should be doing a clean sweep and taking home Player's Player and Writer's Player of the Year. People shouldn't be surprised if he does.
