Alfredo Morelos’ greed really seemed to hamper him in his early days at Ibrox. Now? It’s a totally different story.
When the Colombian arrived in Glasgow, it wasn’t to much fan-fare. Nobody knew much about him, and in a crazy era under Pedro Caixinha, everyone was just hoping he would be successful as opposed to expecting it.
He showed early promise too. A red-hot start to the season last term saw him bag eight goals in hist first nine Rangers matches. He was clearly a clinical goalscorer, and looked the part.
Almost immediately afterwards, 10 consecutive games arrived where he went without a goal. That’s a distant memory these days, but Morelos was all over the place in that spell. Once he had gone a couple of matches without scoring, he was snatching at everything and taking too much on himself.
Regardless as to whether there was a team-mate in a better position, the striker wasn’t interested. It was total greed and it was coming at the expense of the team.
When January ticked around, Graeme Murty brought in Jason Cummings, and he and Morelos never truly hit it off. It was even more noticeable how spiteful the striker seemed of Cummings in matches where he scored and Morelos didn’t.
The Scottish Cup clash against Falkirk comes to mind. Cummings netted a clinical hat-trick to seal Rangers’ place in the semis. Morelos’ face wouldn’t have told you that. He looked gutted at the fact he missed a couple and Cummings netted his. Having confidence and a certain amount of greed is great for a striker, but not if you put it ahead of your teamwork.
Morelos bagged some more goals to finish last term as Rangers’ top goalscorer, but he still had to work on his attitude.
The turnaround
All of a sudden, this term he seems to be a totally different player. He’s already bagged a total of eight assists as well as 12 goals in all competitions. He’s become so much more than just an individual forward, and it’s showing in the stats.
There’s no surprise that he’s the clear number one in Steven Gerrard’s team these days. His build-up play and his ability to bring others into play is now showing. It’s also no surprise that Rangers are also benefiting so much from his change in demeanor.
He looks twice as happy as he did last season, and his stock is growing because of it.
Finally, Morelos is performing as the Morelos everyone knows he can be. Under the tutelage of Gerrard, the striker is thriving off the back of a new contract.
He still has moments where he perhaps takes the shot on when a team-mate is in a better position. But it’s nowhere as often as before. He understands the importance of putting his team first before individual success.
It’s one of the main reasons Gerrard’s Rangers have started the season so positively. And it’s all been done because Morelos has knuckled down and improved as a team-player.
