Michael Beale made the choice to introduce Antonio Colak to his starting line up on Saturday and now he has dropped a hint that the Croatian international will retain his spot for Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday.
The boss felt vindicated with his decision to rotate his front man, with Alfredo Morelos given a rest until he was introduced as a late sub in the 3-1 win over Kilmarnock.
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the midweek trip to the capital, Beale stated when asked if his men prefer the thick and fast of a three game week, as opposed to more training space between fixtures:
“I think the players would prefer that. I think if you asked them, they just want to play the games.”
“You just spoke to Antonio Colak, I’m sure that he cannot wait for the next two games because he’s in a good place physically and obviously mentally after a good performance at the weekend.”
That unprompted mention appears to be a signal of his thoughts ahead of the next game, in what would be something of a controversial call. It is one thing making a change for Kilmarnock at home but a different proposition in the more challenging environment of Easter Road, especially with Morelos in decent form at present.
As reported earlier by Vital Rangers, Beale was effusive in his praise for Colak’s impact on Saturday when he was very prevalent for Rangers goals:
“I felt for Tony a little bit first half. I thought he was our best player. I thought he came off and linked the play really well. You can see that we’ve been doing some fitness work with him in the background and he’s the main thing I’ll take away from today’s game. That’s exactly what I want from Antonio.”
On that basis, it will be very interesting to see if the manager chooses to stick or twist on his striker selection on Wednesday evening.