THIS CAN’T BE MORELOS FC, SAYS GERRARD Rangers striker in last-chance saloon after late return from Colombia irked manager
Squad to survive trial
ALFREDO MORELOS will make a career out of taking opportunities, of making the right decision at the right time. After his latest wrong one, he may have blown his last chance at Rangers.
The Colombian is the highest-profile player at Ibrox, perhaps in Scottish football, but Steven Gerrard knows no man is bigger than the club, no figure more important than the team.
When Morelos returned late from a visit to see his mother last week, Gerrard had no choice but to discipline him and leave the striker out of the squad for the Scottish Cup tie with Hearts at Tynecastle.
Morelos had let down himself, his team-mates and his manager once again. When he was needed most, he pushed the self-destruct button for the umpteenth time as the flaws in his character denied him the chance to showcase the positives in his game.
“It’s not important that Alfredo does the right thing for me,” Gerrard said as Morelos gets set to return to the squad for the visit of Hamilton this evening. “It has reached the point where Alfredo needs to do it for the Rangers fans. And for his own team-mates who are desperate to be a success.
“This can’t be Morelos FC. This needs to be Rangers FC and every single player that represents the club needs to behave in the right way on and off the pitch.
“They are paid extremely well to be professional and respectful to the club and the job and the supporters.
“The supporters follow them near and far every single week through all conditions. They do not pick and choose their games. So everybody has to realise that and represent them in the right way. If they don’t, there will come a point where we find someone else who will do that.”
Rangers have become accustomed to operating without Morelos in recent years as his discipline has slipped and he has faced the consequences domestically and in European competition.
On his day, he is a hugely influential and game-changing part of Gerrard’s side and the undoubted talent he has makes him a valuable asset both on the park and off it.
Rangers were certainly weaker without him against Hearts but Gerrard had no option but to take tough action.
He said: “That doesn’t send the right message to our kids at the academy, it doesn’t send the right message to the rest of the dressing room, if I make a new rule that anyone can just miss a full day’s preparation going into one of the most important games of the season and you won’t miss the next game but you might miss the one after.
“I think it was important that we dealt with the situation.
“You can’t miss a full day’s training just because you want to miss a full day’s training. I had to do the right thing for the dressing room, not for me.
“I felt we did the right thing in dealing with that. if there is some short-term pain on the back of that, or people think there is, so be it and I will have to take responsibility for that.”
When Morelos was sent off at Parkhead last season, his reputation amongst fans hit rock bottom. He now faces a real battle to restore it once again.
“It’s difficult for me to answer that because I am not on the terraces,” Gerrard said when asked about the supporter’s opinions on Morelos after another misdemeanour. “From my point of view after the red card at Parkhead it was important we did everything we could to start to show him the support and the love that he needed as a young player. He is going to make mistakes.
“Each player is different. Some need more support than others, some need more guidance. People have had different types of education and learning paths to be where they are in life.
“The staff and the players have always been there for Alfredo from day one. And while he is here we will continue to do that.
“But there is a stage where you need to help yourself and do the right thing for yourself and your family and supporters – and that’s where he is right now.”
host Hamilton this evening but the 12-point gap to Celtic will prove insurmountable.
The European tie with Bayer Leverkusen is all that is left to play for and Gerrard knows performances must improve.
He said: “I think we have a dressing room that all want to get to the same place. We always knew it was going to be tough and a journey that was going to take some real twists and turns and have some high and low points.
“Unfortunately now we are speaking after a real low in terms of Hearts. That was an opportunity in all our eyes to go all the way to the final and do a lot better.
“So we are all feeling a bit raw and disappointed at the moment. But I have had fantastic support from supporters and the board since day one.
“The players need that now to get back into a better place than where we are at right now. It’s a real head scratcher right now because, in the space of seven days, I have probably seen the best Rangers performance since I came here. Followed by one of the worst.
“It has been really tough to pick the bones out of that. There might be different reasons but the reality is that we need to react now. It is what it is. It’s important to focus now on what’s coming up in the future and the short-term is six games before the international break.
“We all need to fight and push and roll our sleeves up. The supporters deserve that more than anyone. It’s not important them supporting me.
“We need to support them now by putting in performances over the next six games which make them feel better.”