Yet again, there was no announcement in the stadium for a Man of the Match, which I imagine was down to the poor performance. This was a game where our attacking players struggled to impress. Players like Dorrans and Candeias who have played well so far were completely ineffective. The tempo was slower than we’ve seen so far, and that often means that wide players and strikers can’t get into the situations they require.
In terms of a Man of the Match, in my eyes the choice was clear. Alfredo Morelos was our best player overall. Whilst that could be damning him with faint praise on the day, he was our only attacking player who created a number of chances and caused the Hearts defence some concerns. From his link-up, Tavernier was unlucky not to find Miller for a tap-in. Morelos himself played a great ball across which was scrambled away by the opposing defenders in the first half. He was asked after half-an-hour to try and drag Berra wider and leave space to run into for others, and he used his strength well to do this.
For various reasons, when a young goalscorer is signed, it can be assumed that they’re not great with their overall play. In the case of Morelos, we’ve been pleasantly surprised as he links up well and is especially strong with his back to goal. Today, he struggled to get any good chances or shots at goal, but he gave us more in an attacking sense than anyone else.
The way he continually tries to win the ball out of possession and closes down shows he’s not scared of the defensive side of his position. He is being asked to play as the focal point, the most advanced of our forwards, but has shown that he could play a little deeper and be effective. Many fans are critical of Kenny Miller at the moment and feel he is holding us back. He plays as more of an attacking midfielder or shadow striker, and it’s likely that Caixinha feels Morelos isn’t ready for that responsibility. I’d like to see how he’d do there, personally.
There will be better performances to come from all of our players in most matches. When a game isn’t giving a striker much joy in front of goal, you need them to offer something else. In Morelos, it would seem we have a player capable of doing that.
Do you agree with my choice? Tweet us @rangersnewsuk with your man of the match!