There’s been an idea, for quite a while now, that Alfredo Morelos’ temper is what makes him such a good striker.
The Colombian has such a hot-head, and has received three red cards already this season. This has led to Rangers dropping points against the likes of Aberdeen and Dundee in their last two matches.
There’s no denying that if Morelos was available against Dundee, he would’ve made a huge impact. Kyle Lafferty just isn’t firing at Rangers, and has been a massive disappointment.
The onus for goals therefore falls on Morelos, who already has 17 strikes this season. Unfortunately, he also has 12 yellow cards and three reds to his name too. His suspension picked up against Aberdeen overtook a suspension he already had for too many yellow cards being racked up.
Lee McCulloch is one who feels it takes something away from his game.
“He reminds me a lot – not in terms of ability, but in terms of his personality – of Luis Suarez.
“The Barcelona and Uruguay striker went through a phase where he got into a lot of trouble as a result of his ill-discipline. He obviously had to screw the nut a bit and not get involved in all of the nonsense that he was doing before.
“But if you take away that hunger and desire then you lose a lot of what makes him a truly great player. The same thing applies to Alfredo for me.”
Mythical nonsense
To be fair to McCulloch, who was a hero during his time at Rangers, he isn’t the only one to think like this. The idea of aggressive players keeping their heads having a negative effect on their game is a long-standing idea.
People said the same about Suarez too. In the past, many players have been labelled as hot-heads, but lauded for how that feisty nature makes him good players.
What makes Morelos a good player, however, is his positional awareness and finishing in front of goal. Sure, he barges into defender sand throws his weight around, which is another big plus to his game. But you can have that without getting involved in afters and throwing elbows around the place.
Morelos needs to cut out that element of his game for Rangers to get the best out of him. At the moment, he continues to be a liability just when you believe he’s coming onto a game.
If he doesn’t sort it out, Rangers will continue to drop careless points. Let’s not pretend, however, that throwing daft elbows and kicks is what makes him a better player.
