Ibrox View: Roofe performance heralds changing of the guard for Rangers
We may well have seen a significant changing of the guard during Rangers’ 2-0 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.
With Alfredo Morelos omitted from the squad entirely, Kemar Roofe stepped into the breach to start his first ever Gers match, and he capped it off with a full debut goal.
After Steven Gerrard spoke openly about the ease with which he was able to drop the Colombian amid ongoing transfer speculation, and with Roofe more than making up for his absence in the starting XI, could we have seen the last of EL Bufalo in a Rangers shirt?
If Roofe’s performance is anything to go by, yes, potentially.
The ex-Leeds United man recorded a pass completion rate of 90%, as well as a dribble success rate of 100%, as per Wyscout.
Moreover, his shot accuracy was 14.3% higher than Morelos’ average this season.
Of course, the thing that matters most, however, is his goal – and he took it very, very well.
As illustrated by the visual above, Roofe had an xG of 0.36 in the clash against Killie, with his successful effort having an isolated xG of 0.24.
But really, the success here boils down to Roofe’s brilliant movement.
As the ball begins to be worked out into a wide position, you can see in the image above that Roofe is standing just out of sight of the nearest centre back.
By the time the ball has been played out to the flank, that allows him to full drift in behind his man without being picked up, so much so that he ends up in an offside position.
But rather than some kind of error, it seems as if Roofe fully intends to set himself up on the wrong side of his marker.
When the ball is eventually cut back, Roofe has showed enough intelligence and cunning to dart back into an onside position.
By this stage, his man is completely clueless as to where he is, and with just a couple of yards of movement, he gives himself a relatively easy finish.
Morelos may be on his way out, but having a striker with natural instincts like Roofe’s will soften the blow of him leaving hugely.
In other Rangers news, Alex Bruce has hailed this player’s start to the season.