GERRARD IS BAFFLED BY ALFIE STROP
century the Colombian took the huff when he was replaced by Jermain Defoe in 65 minutes of the 4-0 Ibrox rout of Aberdeen, taking forever to come off the pitch and then tossing his gloves into the technical area in frustration.
Gerrard was puzzled as he hailed his side for an otherwise perfect day with Ryan Kent, Kemar Roofe, Scott Arfield and James Tavernier, with a penalty, netting.
On Morelos’ reaction Gerrard said: “I can’t work it out. We’re 4-0 up, we’ve played well. His team-mate is about to come on. We’ve got a big game on Thursday.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Alfredo why he was a bit sad. I was really happy.”
Gerrard is refusing to get carried away sitting pretty in the table after less than four months of the season despite continuing their flying start to the campaign.
Gers crushed Derek McInnes’s decimated Dons and Gerrard admitted they could have scored more than the four which takes their tally in their last three games to 15 goals.
It’s now 21 games unbeaten in all competitions ahead of Thursday’s Europa League visit of Benfica where victory could see them reach the last 32 with two games to spare.
They’ve also won 10 on the spin at home and haven’t conceded at Ibrox in a domestic match with the start their best to a league campaign since 1967-68.
But Gers lost the league by two points to then European champs Celtic on that occasion and Gerrard isn’t reading too much into the current standings.
That didn’t stop him praising his side for capitalising on Celtic’s slip-up on Saturday to take a double-digit lead at the top, albeit having played two games more.
Aberdeen’s plans were hit on the eve of the game with Lewis Ferguson, Connor McLennan and Ross McCrorie all out of action after being caught up in Scotland’s U-21 coronavirus chaos.
Loanee McCrorie would have been ineligible anyway against his parent club and Gerrard said: “Aberdeen had some issues but I can’t take anything away from my boys who were outstanding.
“We played some incredible stuff again. Some of our movement in the final third was exceptional. We are showing that relentlessness and really executing when we get in the right places.
“It could have been more emphatic. We were strong from start to finish and I managed to make five changes and look after people who have been doing a lot of travel.
“We’ve had a very positive, strong start to the season. There’s no getting away from it – we’re keeping clean sheets, winning, on a good run and we’re in a fantastic place.
“I can’t deny that but in terms of stats and numbers and where we are we take no notice of it. We have to remain humble and realise where we are and what stage of the season – it’s still November.
“I look at the league table every time we play. I’m not going to deny that. But I’ve never known a manager to get carried away in November. There is a lot of football to be played, a lot of challenges, a lot of big hurdles to get over.
“But I’d much rather be where we are of course. We can rest in the league for a couple of weeks.
“We’ve got some big European games and a big game in the League Cup against Falkirk to look forward to. We move on to the next challenge.”