There were few players who emerged with pass marks on Sunday, the subs that came on in midfield and Allan McGregor, probably, the only ones that would be agreed upon by most fans.
Alfredo Morelos falls under the category of neither having a bad nor a good game given the quality of service that he had to work with but this didn’t stop Charlie Nicholas from targeting the Colombian, despite him getting us back into the game with a well-taken finish – his only chance of the game.
Springing to his defence was The Scotsman’s Joel Sked, also a regular on A View from the Terrace and a long-term admirer of what Morelos brings to Scottish football despite being a well-publicised Hearts fan.
Speaking in response to Nicholas’s claim, the journalist said:
“This is a WILD take. Morelos is one of few Rangers players who deserved pass marks. Any hope of an equaliser evaporated after his substitution.”
It was certainly a surprise to see Morelos going off when Antonio Colak came on especially when we resorted to playing even more direct than we had been for the previous 70-odd minutes. One of the issues that we had for most of the game was that we simply weren’t getting enough bodies in the box to put their defence under pressure or to capitalise on loose balls.
With seven goals and five assists in 13 starts since Michael Beale took over, he is certainly looking much more like his old self in terms of numbers but he has still shown signs of inconsistency. Sked is right though, against Celtic, taking Morelos off was another of the manager’s mistakes and not just because it was a like for like change.
We all know that a confident El Bufalo is a dangerous one and making him leave the pitch just after scoring was a call that surprised everyone of a blue persuasion, surely, if there was ever a time to play two strikers together it was at 2-1 down in a final with 20 minutes to go?