‘Control it’ – Kevin Phillips claims Rangers ace is letting his teammates down
Kevin Phillips has claimed that Alfredo Morelos’ disciplinary issues could let down his Rangers teammates in their bid to dethrone Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race this season.
The Colombian returned from a three match ban in the 0-0 draw against Aberdeen at the weekend, after being dismissed in closing stages of December’s Old Firm victory over the Hoops.
Morelos also served a ban in December after being sent off for making an offensive gesture in the aftermath of a goal against Motherwell prior to Christmas.
And Phillips has suggested that he needs to be careful, or he could end up having an adverse effect on the Gers’ title bid, especially with fellow hitman Jermain Defoe sidelined.
Speaking to Football Insider, the former England international said: “You do not want to take aggression away from players. You need to channel it in the right direction and control it.
“What you are doing when you keep making rash decisions is letting your teammates down.
“Rangers are now seven points behind Celtic and decisions like that can cost you. Things like that can really hurt you and with Defoe getting injured it is important that he stays fit and disciplined.
“There are so many people in the background who can help you now but ultimately it has to come from the player. He needs to concentrate on what he does best – score goals. If he does that Rangers will run Celtic all the way until the end of the season.”
Is Morelos letting the side down?
It’s an odd one this, all things considered.
On the one hand, the South American has hit 28 goals in all competitions this season, and is the most dangerous striker in Scotland by quite some distance.
In that regard, it seems ludicrous that he could ever be considered to have let the side down.
That being said, there isn’t a Rangers fan on the planet who wouldn’t prefer it if he could just keep his temper in check sometimes.
Ultimately, when he is banned, the Gers look so much less potent, and it’s easy to see why.
This is a player who contributes an average of five successful dribbles, 4.27 shots on target, and makes 1.6 accurate passes into the box per game, as per Wyscout.
Take that influence out of any side and they will struggle.
With that in mind, hopefully El Bufalo can do a better job of keeping a lid on things in the second half of the season.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart seemingly takes Twitter swipe at Gers amid ongoing controversy.