Roofe makes sure that Morelos wasn’t missed

Steven Gerrard said Alfredo Morelos made it an easy decision to drop him from the Rangers squad.

Kemar Roofe made it even easier by replacing the Colombian and scoring.

The Morelos issue had to be dealt with by the Rangers boss and he did it decisively.

His form has been poor this year and his attitude has been even worse.

Gerrard admitted Morelos’s head had been turned by transfer speculation in pre-season and the Ibrox club rejected a £16-million from Lille a few days ago.

Some players can deal with their future being discussed and still perform on the pitch, but that’s clearly not the case with Morelos.

Gerrard said: “If I see people who are not focused or who have taken their eye off the ball and not really, really hungry to get this football club results, I have to make easy decisions and Alfredo made it easy for me this week.

“We need players who work hard every single day and who are ready and focused for the challenges coming up.”

It seems inevitable that Morelos will leave Rangers during this transfer window but his exile from the first-team squad is unlikely to hike up his price.

Ryan Kent’s situation is different and that was reflected in his performance against Kilmarnock.

Some of his play was a bit hit or miss – as he has been during most of his time in Light Blue – but he never stopped trying to create openings.

Leeds United have made a bid for the former Liverpool youngster and may come back with an increased offer.

Gerrard said: “Speculation at a club like

Ryan Kent strokes home the second goal to seal the points for Rangers

Rangers is normal. It is not ideal but you have to accept it.

“The most important thing is the players stay hungry and stay focused.”

The first half was a frustrating experience for Gerrard yesterday.

They dominated possession and pushed Kilmarnock back into their own half, but didn’t really look like scoring.

Most of their attempts on goal came from distance – the pick of the bunch being a Kent shot that was acrobatically tipped wide by Danny Rogers.

Beating against a side content to sit back and hit on the break is rarely easy.

It’s even more difficult if your players don’t play at a pace that opens up the opposition.

Gerrard’s half-time team talk brought out that little bit of extra energy that makes all the difference.

There was almost an immediate return when Roofe headed a Barisic cross against the post.

The opening goal came just a couple of minutes later and it saw the former Leeds United man hit his first goal at Ibrox.

Barisic was again the provider and Roofe was on hand to hit home from the centre of

the penalty area. It was a simple strike, but one that visibly lifted a feeling of tension that had carried over from Almondvale. There was no way back for Kilmarnock after that. Rangers continued to press after getting the opener and a second goal made the three points secure.

A shot from Tavernier was blocked and it fell nicely for Ryan Kent.

The winger calmly found the corner of the net with his shot.

Gerrard admitted he was a lot happier with Rangers’ second-half showing.

He said: “We said to them that we’d played three 45 minutes and hadn’t really been at our maximum.

“We took the handbrake off and moved the ball a lot quicker. The formation was tweaked a bit and we got our rewards for it.”

As well as being delighted by the attacking play, Gerrard is proud of his defenders.

They recorded a fifth consecutive clean sheet, and that equalled the club’s all-time record for not conceding at the start of a league season, set way back in 1929. Gerrard added: “We have been working very hard on the training pitch and we defended well.”