Kenny Miller urges Rangers to try ‘something different’ amid Alfredo Morelos absence
Rangers were put on the back foot in their Europa League quarter-final last night as they were beaten 1-0 by Braga in Portugal.
Abel Ruiz scored the only goal of the game late into the first half as the Liga NOS side grabbed a slender advantage ahead of the return leg at Ibrox in a week’s time.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst opted to start with Fashion Sakala as the number nine due to the absence of Alfredo Morelos but he struggled to impact the game before being subbed off for Kemar Roofe just after the hour mark.
Ex-Gers striker Kenny Miller is keen to see someone different given a chance as the team’s main striker after Roofe failed to impact the game when he came on.
“It’s been Sakala, it’s been Roofe, it’s even been Itten just after January when Alfredo was away and it’s not quite worked yet,” Miller said, as quoted by the Scottish Daily Express.
“Not just for next week, because there’s a big semi-final after that as well, they need to find the right answer.
“For me now that I’ve seen both Sakala and Roofe. I’d like to see something different.
“Arfield, even Aaron Ramsey or someone like Scott Wright. There are clever footballers there who can bring people forward into the game.”
It’s been coming
Let’s not pretend that it’s a shock to see Morelos’ absence have such an impact on the team because it has been obvious how much the Light Blues rely on him for some time.
Even well before van Bronckhorst arrived in Glasgow to take over from Steven Gerrard, the Colombian was the only striker producing anywhere near what the Ibrox faithful demand of their leading man.
For transfer window after transfer window, Rangers have failed to bring in anyone who could even remotely compete with Morelos for the starting shirt and now they are paying the price for being so reliant on him.
He was bound to pick up an injury eventually and Roofe, Sakala, Cedric Itten and the rest are nowhere near his level, as we’re all finding out.
It will be the same with Scott Arfield, Scott Wright or Aaron Ramsey, as Miller suggests, because none of those are natural number nines.
The only way Rangers find competition for the Colombian is by spending relatively big money for one of Europe’s hotshot talents.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton was baffled by one of van Bronckhorst’s major decisions after the defeat last night.