Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has blasted Rangers forward Alfredo Morelos for his poor disciplinary record this season.
The 22-year-old may have scored 17 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions this season, but he has also been booked 10 times and been sent off on three separate occasions.
Morelos was suspended for the 1-1 draw at Dundee on Sunday in a game that Rangers desperately missed his cutting edge up front, and Strachan believes that moving to Ibrox has proved too big for the Colombian as he has been trying too hard to get on the good side of the fans.
“For some, petulance is a problem. If you look at Alfredo Morelos’s record at Helsinki, did he keep getting sent off there? No. It’s the fact he’s playing for Rangers, and it’s testing his mental strength, on and off the pitch,” said Strachan on the Scotsman website.
“It’s a real shock to people to go there, and maybe it’s too much for him. And he’s letting his team down. The fans might cheer him off, and the manager might support him publicly, but he’s knackering the team, and risking the result.”
OPINION
Is Strachan suggesting that Rangers fans cheer Morelos when he has been sent off because he is playing with his heart on his sleeve? They are cheering him because he is their player and they are supporting him at what will be a low moment for him. Morelos won’t be going out there and getting himself booked and sent off because the fans cheer him everytime he does receive a red card, he does it because it has served him well on the pitch in his year and a half in Scotland, so he will carry on doing it. The issue that is Morelos is now Rangers’ most important player. If he is not on the pitch then they really struggle to win. Morelos has to realise that he can be aggressive and be hard to play against within the laws of the game. Steven Gerrard will obviously be working hard to get the Colombia international to sort out his discipline issues. If he does not then the help of a sport psychologist could be the answer.