Chris Sutton insists Rangers lost Malmo clash due to complacency
Rangers lost the first-leg of their Champions League third qualifying round to Malmo on Tuesday, and Chris Sutton believes they were complacent.
Steven Gerrard’s men suffered a 2-1 defeat in Sweden, with some of their key players missing due to injury, suspensions and a late return from holiday.
Alfredo Morelos, 25, was still in quarantine when Rangers left the country for the crucial game, and Sutton insists Gerrard got that one wrong.
Ally McCoist was asked on BT Sport’s Scottish Football Extra for his thoughts on the performance, and he replied (via Daily Record): “I was not happy, I was not happy with…
Sutton immediately cut in, adding: “They were complacent weren’t they Ally?
“It was complacency. We all saw it. It was the old Rangers, wasn’t it?
“Should Steven Gerrard have made sure Morelos was back? He knew Roofe couldn’t play.
“When I talk about complacency, has Steven Gerrard taken it too lightly by not bringing Morelos back?”
McCoist agreed with the Sutton, replying: “Morelos, regardless of where he is playing, Rangers started the season to qualify for the Champions League and that’s the most important thing of the lot. He’s got to be back and doing the same as Kamara. Kamara was at the Euros.
“We know Morelos, our Alfredo, and we love him, has a bit of previous in this department. I would imagine the Rangers staff would have wanted him back. I was concerned about the lack of goals in the centre forward position.”
Spot on
We do not often agree with Sutton when it comes to Rangers matters, but we have to admit he got this one right.
Morelos should never have missed such an important game, and that narrow loss could prove very costly in the end.
With a place in the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in a decade at stake, deciding to allow the Colombian to have an extended holiday was never advisable.
A lot of players cut short their break just to return to action in preparation for the new campaign, and Morelos should have followed suit.
The 25-year-old has been linked with Porto all summer, and it seems he is very much keen on leaving Ibrox as soon as possible.
Missing one of our most important games of the season does not speak well of him, and he needs to make it up for us with a top performance in the return leg.
However, he has not played for a while, though, and could struggle for match fitness as a result.
The Bears need to be on top of their game on Tuesday, and failure to progress to the play-offs would be heartbreaking.
In other Rangers news, Jordan Campbell shares major Joey Veerman update amid development at Ibrox.