Rangers downed in ‘berserk’ moment at Aberdeen as Alfredo Morelos given ‘cartoon baddie’ tag by BBC Sport’s Tom English
Alfredo Morelos is a Rangers “cartoon baddie” around Aberdeen so him losing out to Liam Scales made the defender’s goal “most perfect” says Tom English.
The Dons man scored his first for the club after nipping in to steal possession as the Gers striker was waiting for a pass to reach him, before firing in a long-ranger from an attempted cross as the home side won 2-0 at Pittodrie on Sunday (23 April).
It was a wild moment that caused the crowd to go “berserk” and summed up a miserable afternoon for Michael Beale’s side where conversely it all went right for Barry Robson’s.
Writing in his match report for BBC Sport English said of Scales’ freak strike: “In getting his cross so wrong, he got it absolutely right. For Aberdeen folk, the fact that it was Alfredo Morelos – a cartoon baddie in these parts – that he mugged in the preamble before launching his effort over the despairing Allan McGregor made it just about the most perfect goal. Pittodrie went berserk in that moment.”
Bad day
In some ways it is hard to legislate for a defender stepping forward and firing an attempt at a cross into the far corner from 35-yards out on the wing.
And on the day Rangers had enough chances to score more than enough goals to win the game, but they didn’t and their sloppiness was punished, both in front of goal and in Morelos being slack in the build up to the opener.
It wasn’t the only time it happened against Aberdeen, and Malik Tillman especially was guilty of expecting too much time on the ball in the 3-2 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead on 8 April too.
With Beale looking at a significant overhaul in playing staff in the summer it is something he is going to have to look at in order to stamp it out of his players’ habits at key times.
The defeat was his first in any game outside of Old Firm derbies, and with it coming on the same weekend that the Hoops dropped their first points in over three months illustrates the gulf at the moment.
For Ange Postecoglou’s side to be cantering to the title and still extend the gap at the top even without winning isn’t good news for Beale, and while it could perhaps just be written off as a bad day at the office at Pittodrie, in the context of the winder SPFL picture it shows what work there is still to do.
In other Rangers news, a scouting mission has just been embarked on with a view to bringing in key competition at a position that has lacked it for a long time ahead of a Gers “recruitment drive”.