Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WRECK IT ALF
Gerrard tells misfiring ace Morelos he must find a way to begin demolishing opposition
STEVEN GERRARD’S patience, it appears, has been tested once too often.
With his own reputation going back on the line on the European stage tonight, he has given up on making excuses for those players whose standards fall below his own. Players such as Alfredo Morelos, for example.
It does feel as if Saturday’s spectacular malfunction in front of goal – when Morelos squandered all manner of sitters in the clash with Hearts – may have pushed Gerrard to a tipping point.
Ordering Morelos to sharpen up in the immediate and emotionally heated aftermath of that match was one thing. But yesterday, Gerrard went several steps further in what seemed for all the world like a cold and calculated warning to his notoriously volcanic talisman.
He rapped: “Five in 15 [goals] is not enough for me. Not just from him, we need to score more goals – all of our strikers.
“We are at Rangers here, the chances we are creating I would expect the guy who has played the majority of the minutes as a No.9 to have more than five in 15.
“They are stats we need to improve on moving forward. We have to keep providing the service and the chances for Alfredo to get more goals.
“But if you look at previous number nines and also Alfredo’s record, it has been better than five in 15.
“I am sure Alfredo himself, and our attacking unit in terms of our number nines, we want to get more goals.
“If I have got any advice for him it would be for him to focus on keeping getting in the right places and right areas and he will absolutely smash 100 goals in no time.”