Well who could have seen that coming.
Bruno Alves the 94 times capped Portugal star didn’t take the news he would start a second consecutive league match at Ibrox on the bench in the professional manner we would have expected from one of the teams leaders and a player with his pedigree.
Many supporters were stunned to see the big centre half’s name omitted completely from the team sheet, with speculation rife amongst the fans that he had succumbed to illness in the lead up to the encounter with Hamilton.
With the recent form of caretaker Murty’s preferred options at centre half in Wilson and McCorie, the latter quite rightly so winning man of the match in the previous game with Patrick, chipping in with a goal for good measure. It was always going to be a tough decision for the caretaker boss on whether to bring Alves into a starting role either by switching either to a back three, accommodating Wilson and the youngster or by dropping one of the players who up until Saturday could stake a claim of being near flawless.
Murty made the easy choice to stick with a winning team for the match, the only change being Lee Hodson coming in on place for the ill Declan John at left back.
This will again prove a test for the caretaker boss coming on the back of the whole Kenny Miller situation, one which he handled with authority and confidence, both in getting a display out Miller and integrating him back into the squad after his exile by the previous manager.
Murty may choose in the sort term at least to leave Alves out in response to his petulance, In turn giving the new manager (whenever he arrives) an almost immediate issue to address upon arrival. The other scenario is the kiss and make up one and maybe big Bruno will be restored to the heart of the defence for Friday’s trip to Dens Park, replacing one of Wilson and McCorie who both looked less than impressive at the weekend in the 2-0 home defeat.
The bigger and more concerning issue in my opinion, is that the amount of player power the senior professionals in the team like to flex. It could be a simple case of the player knowing Murty will not be the long term gaffer, however it still displays a huge lack of respect not only to Murty but to the players he was brought in to for them to learn from him. If we are not careful we risk going the way of Chelsea where player power rules at every turn, while we want our senior players at the club to be vocal and never be happy at not starting, this is starting to become a all to familiar trend at our club.