The fallout from the league cup final will probably linger for the rest of the season with the remaining Old Firm derbies likely to have a big say on how it continues to be analysed.
Losing a cup final is one thing, the manner of defeat was another with Joe Hart rarely being called into action and, if Michael Beale could have another go, it’s safe to say that both the selection and tactics would be different.
One decision that didn’t go down well was taking off Alfredo Morelos to replace him with Antonio Colak. Bringing on the big Croatian made sense but, surely, the right call, at 2-1 down in a cup final was to play them together?
Speaking to GiveMeSport, former Sky Sports journalist Pete O’Rourke has also questioned Beale’s substitution at what was a pivotal moment in the game:
“I think there was a few eyebrows raised at it. Morelos had just got Rangers back in the game with that goal to make it 2-1, and obviously, Rangers were pushing to try and find an equaliser.
“So, to take off a striker in Morelos was a bit of a surprise, many people maybe expected him to go with two up top, but he decided to just replace like-for-like with Colak on for Morelos, and obviously, then Rangers just could not find the goal.
“Of course, if Colak had come on and scored there wouldn’t be any questions raised at all, but that’s the job of a manager, he felt at the time that it was the right thing to do.
“Obviously, it doesn’t help when the player coming off throws a bit of a tantrum as well because that raises a spotlight on the decision.
“I think maybe in hindsight, he might have left Morelos and Colak on together, but Michael Beale knows his players better than anybody else, so it was his decision, and it was a decision that didn’t work out in the end.”
O’Rourke is right, Morelos should have been left on the park because it was clear that the current tactics just weren’t creating enough chances. Going more direct with two strikers would, at least, have given us a better chance of something falling to one of them but Colak just ended up getting isolated.
The Gers gaffer has spoken about playing the pair together, and yet, we have probably seen Kemar Roofe and Colak play more minutes on the pitch at the same time and that is saying something. If Beale wants a reaction, maybe playing them against Kilmarnock would be a good place to start.