‘In my eyes…’ – Gerrard details why Morelos was dropped for Rangers clash v Poznan
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has explained why Alfredo Morelos was dropped to the bench for his side’s Europa League clash against Lech Poznan.
The Colombian forward came off the bench to score a fantastic header that handed his side a 1-0 victory in their second Europa League group game.
Speaking to RangersTV after the game, Gerrard said that Morelos has been missing his usual ‘spark’ after his exploits with Colombia while on international duty.
He said, “Alfredo hasn’t been dropped, I think in [the media’s] eyes he has, in my eyes he hasn’t. For me, it was trying to take him out to freshen him up and to try and get that spark that had maybe been missing in the last couple of appearances.
“He’s played a lot of football and came back from Colombia with a bit of jet lag. I think it was needed. We needed also to get Kemar [Roofe] moving and get a good 60 into his legs. So, it’s positives all around in the forward positions and hopefully, that goal will be the catalyst for Alfredo to go on and score some more goals for us.”
Gers fans will also be hoping that Morelos’ goal on Thursday will be a catalyst as he hasn’t quite looked the same player he was last season.
The Colombian only has six goals in his 14 outings this season which for most forwards isn’t a bad return, but he a has a long way to go if he is to match last season’s haul of 29 goals.
He has plenty of competition at the moment as well with Kemar Roofe, Jermain Defoe and Cedric Itten all vying for a place in Gerrard’s starting 11. The Gers have an abundance of strikers and if Morelos’ form starts to dip again there are plenty of candidates to replace him.
Morelos had looked off the pace in the Light Blues’ last few outings in the league and in Europe and Gerrard’s comments go some way in explaining why that may have been. But Gers fans will be aware there is another international break coming up and they will be hoping that Morelos will return from November’s international games fresher than he did from October’s.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has blasted a Rangers player over two incidents in the win against Lech Poznan.