It wasn’t a great afternoon for the Rangers fans who think that Antonio Colak should be sold because his link-up play isn’t as good as Alfredo Morelos’s.
The Croatian international was given the nod against Kilmarnock and he did his chances of holding onto the jersey in the future no harm at all with an all round performance that shows he is more than just a good finisher.
Speaking after the game, Michael Beale was full of praise for the Gers number nine and hinted that he might well be rewarded for his display in the coming weeks, as reports by The Rangers Review:
“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.
“There’s no other reason for leaving Alfredo other than I want to give Tony a go. And I thought he played fantastically. You know, if that’s the boy that was fully fit at the start of the season and doing well, then I haven’t seen that until today, so I’m delighted for him on a personal level.”
What benefited Colak was that there was a significant increase in one and two touch passing in the final third, this brought the best out of his movement and should have seen him get on the scoresheet. One move he started himself with a lovely back heel to Ryan Kent and a header that was well saved. Fashion Sakala should also have squared it to him with the goal gaping.
He was involved in the first goal and teed up Sakala perfectly for the second, he also put Ryan Jack through for a fourth only for it to be ruled out for offside. Another day and he walks off the pitch with a couple of goals and a couple of assists to his name, there’s not much more he could have done to impress.
It has annoyed me this season how often we have had square pegs in round holes or asked players to do things they aren’t capable of – albeit sometimes through injury – but if we play to Colak’s strengths, we have a player who is more than capable of leading the line for Rangers now that he is fit.