No guarantee Morelos will see out the season, admits Gerrard
When the transfer window closed in Qatar last Sunday night, the latest bout of speculation over the future of Alfredo Morelos came to an end.
But R angers manager Ste - ven Gerrard accepts it is simply a temporary cessation to the transfer noise which so often surrounds his Colombian international striker, who was most recently linked with a move to Qatari club Al-duhail.
“I’m a little, tiny bit more certain about Alfredo in the short term,” said Gerrard with a smile. “But are we out of the woods on that one? In Alfredo’s case, I have always been in the woods since day one here.
“And I think I will remain in the woods while Alfredo’s here. I just manage Alfredo from day to day, week to week. He’s available now until January. I can’t predict the future beyond that.
“We are happy to have him here. We need him back at his top level in terms of his form and scoring goals in the short term. That’s my only priority right now.”
After going six games without a goal, Morelos sat out Rangers’ 2-0 Premiership win over Livingston at Ibrox on Sunday. He is set to return to the side for tonight’s Europa League Group D clash at home to Lech Poznan and Gerrard hopes the increased competition for places up front, following the summer signings of Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten, will be of benefit to Morelos.
“Time will tell over the course of the season. It’s fantastic for me to be in the position of having the quality and options I have available.
“It’s a challenge for all of them to stay in form, stay sharp and keep themselves in a good place. It’s the players who are in a good place, good form and scoring goals who are likely to get the most minutes. We have been heavily reliant on Alfredo for a large part of the last couple of years. We are in a better place now, we have other options, so that should be helpful to Alfredo and the other boys."
Gerrard also confirmed that South African midfielder Bongani Zungu, could make his Rangers debut from the bench against Lech Poznan.
"If the game allows, he could maybe be introduced for a short time,” said Gerrard.
Meanwhile, Gerrard believes his in-form winger Ryan Kent is in a long queue of wide men waiting for the opportunity to play for England.
The 23-year-old, last capped by his country at under-20 level back in 2015, has been one of the stand-out performers for Rangers in their unbeaten start to the season in the Scottish Premiership and Europa League.
It prompted Rangers assistant-manager Gary Mcallister to suggest recently that Kent may be on the radar of England head coach Gareth Southgate. But former England captain Gerrard believes Kent has to focus solely on his club career for the moment while Southgate is able to call on wide players such as Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Callum HudsonOdoi and Harvey Barnes.
“I don’t know what Gareth is looking for,” said Gerrard. “But I know he has a luxury of wide men available. He’s got wide men who are producing the goods consistently in the English Premier League and Bundesliga. So it’s certainly a big challenge, not just for Ryan but for any young English winger who has ambitions of repre - senting England.”
Celtic’s need for result therapy is patently obvious.
A trip to face a Lille team currently tucked behind ParisSaint Germain only on goal difference at the summit of the French league would hardly seem what the doctor ordered. Yet, following a three -game winless run ludicrously being treated as cataclysmic for Neil Lennon’s men, a Europa League away encounter could – could – just be the required medicine.
In terms of wins on the road in continental competition as a Celtic manager, Lennon keeps rarefied company. Across his two spells at the helm, he has won ten such encounters. Only the great Jock Stein, with 13, has more.
Of course, almost all of Lennon’s successes have come in either qualifiers or the secondar y setting of the Europa League. In part that explains why, despite leading Celtic to back-to-back appearances in the last 16 of the Champions League in the late 2000s, Gordon Strachan did not post a single away win in Europe across four seasons at the helm.
Ye t , a s t h e y s e e k to end a sequence wherein they lost a closing-seconds equaliser at Aberdeen on Sunday following defeats to AC Milan and Rangers, more pertinent is the showings in Europe since Lennon returned for a second Celtic stint 20 months ago. The Glasgow club have played ten European away games in that time.
They have lost only one of them – a dead-rubber in Cluj last December when Lennon rested a clutch of regulars with top spot in their Europa League section already then assured. A first European group success for the club was, in part, achieved precisely because they were able to thrive in unfamiliar settings.
As proved with a first win for the club in Italy they claimed cour tesy of Roman exploits over Lazio that followed a creditable, and well deser ved, 1-1 draw in Rennes.
The parallel between Rennes and Lille can then offer encouragement to Lennon. Discouragement comes in the knowledge that Celtic did not go into their French foray last September seeking to address serious defensive deficiencies. Problems that have resulted in them conceding eight goals in three games – their worst such run in four years.
The 2-0 loss to Cluj apart, Lennon’s side have never coughed up more than one goal in their past ten European away games. Frankly, it does seem a stretch to believe their shortcomings will allow them to continue in such a vein against Lille.
Especially since they will be ranged against opponents that have netted 12 goals in their past four games – four of these bagged in their emphatic victory away to Sparta Prague last week with which they began their Europa League Group H tilt.
If Celtic are to have any prospect of avoiding another damaging loss that would also hugely diminish any hope of group qualification, the vulnerabilities exhibited by Shane Duffy in recent games must somehow be eliminated.
Potential replacement Nir Bitton may be back in Celtic’s squad following his recovery from Covid-19, as is Odsonne Edouard. However, it is unlikely that either will be considered for a starting place. The upshot is that the Lille will provide the Republic of Ireland captain with the opportunity to play himself back into some sort of form – and atone for the illjudged and misdirected clearance that precipitated Aberdeen’s second goal in the weekend 3-3 draw.
Yet, the Celtic manager suggests, whatever his options, he
would not have been swayed by the mullering given to Duffy for his performances at Pittodrie, against AC Milan, and in the derby.
“He is a big strong boy,” said Lennon. “I had a chat with him the other night. He is feeling it obviously, but he knows he’ll come through it. We just need to show him a bit of patience. He made a mistake at the weekend.
"The vitriol that has come after it is incredible, absolutely incredible. It is my job to support him and that is exactly what I will do, and I will support the other players as well. It isn’t the first time the players have been thrown out into the lion’s den, as it were, in terms of insults and criticism. But no one more so than myself. I know exactly what he is going through. He has the character and personality to bounce back straight away.”
It isn’t merely Celtic’s backline that needs to sharpen up, it is the protection offered by those in front of them. Analysis of the team’s metrics over the past four seasons by club blogger Celtic By Numbers demonstrated that chance creation and goalscoring both are on an upward trajectory across Lennon’s second spell. The fact Celtic have netted in every one of their nine, truly, competitive European away games over this period is surely an expression of that. Equally, though, the number-crunching also illustrated that opponents are able to play through Celtic more readily than in the Brendan Rodgers era
This raises questions as to the screening offered by Scott Brown in his deep-lying role. And whether, at 35, the Celtic captain can still offer the mobility and bite required to smother attacks in pressurised situations. He started on the bench at Aberdeen. However, the need to shore up in central areas means that, for Lennon, the Lille assignment is one for the veteran of 129 European encounters.
Indeed, it may be that Mohamed Elyounoussi is sacrificed in order to accommodate Ryan Christie, Callum Mcgregor, Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham as well as his on-field general.
“I think this game is well suited to Scott,” said the Celtic manager. “He made a really positive contribution on Sunday at Aberdeen when he came on and he’s fresher. The rest did him the world of good and, obviously, he’ll come into contention to start.”