Kris Boyd and Barry Ferguson urge Michael Beale to drop Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak for Rangers clash v Celtic
Kris Boyd and Barry Ferguson have urged Michael Beale to drop both Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak for the upcoming Old Firm clash between Rangers and Celtic.
Beale has been rotating between the two strikers since he came into the role as manager during the World Cup break, and both have played relatively well with a combined 27 goals this season for the club.
But with a huge Old Firm clash at Parkhead to come on Saturday (8 April), Beale has been urged to try “something different” by two Ibrox legends and that means that neither player should start.
“When you look back to last season and the last time Rangers got a positive result at Celtic Park was that 1-1 draw and Joe Aribo was the false nine,” Boyd told Sky Sports (3 April).
“Is that something that might come into Michael Beale’s thoughts? There’s an argument for it. I don’t think Alfredo Morelos or Antonio Colak have had the impact that Michael will have been wanting especially in this fixture.
“Tillman obviously with two goals at the weekend as well, Sakala didn’t play after coming back off international duty and you’d expect him to come back in, so there are options there.
“It might just be something he might look at. Tillman has shown he could potentially play in that higher area.”
Ferguson also stated something similar while appearing on GoRadio (3 April), but suggested it should be Fashion Sakala who leads the line instead.
“Morelos is strong at holding it in. Colak isn’t the type of player who can hold it up, he’s more of a penalty box striker.
“So I think something different, like Sakala through the middle, just to spin in behind. You could put balls in and he’ll go and chase it.”
Different
The first sign of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
Beale opted for a 4-2-3-1 system with Alfredo Morelos leading the line in both of his games against Celtic this season, and he’s yet to see a victory against them in either game.
Starting Morelos again would be bizarre, but Colak has often been criticised for not offering enough to the team outside of his excellent goalscoring ability and either of their inclusions would mean that one of Ryan Kent, Todd Cantwell, Fashion Sakala or Malik Tillman would need to be dropped.
All four of them are in excellent form and all have goals in them, while they all work hard off the ball too which could be the perfect way to counter Celtic’s intensity.
It will be interesting to see what Beale does, but he has plenty of options and a win is absolutely needed to keep the title race alive.
In other Rangers news, the club have received a definite answer as midfielder transfer news has emerged.