Rangers legend Derek Johnstone has slammed striker Alfredo Morelos following his sending off in the 1-0 loss to Aberdeen on Wednesday and insisted he needs to ensure he is playing rather than being suspended.
The Gers lost out to their opponents thanks to a goal from Scott McKenna, but Morelos managed to pick himself up two yellow cards, the second being after he fouled Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie.
Johnstone was not happy in the slightest with the 2017 signing, but did manage to say a few kind words about him – including that he is the “best striker in Scotland this season” due to his “fantastic scoring form”.
“Alfredo will know himself that he can’t do things like that and expect to get away with it. He has got to learn. It is great that he is scoring goals and he has probably been the best striker in Scotland this season. But if he is not on the park then he is no use to Rangers,” he said in his Evening Times column.
“Steven needs him up front, not watching from afar because he has picked up too many bookings or collected silly red cards. That is no use.
“The manager has done nothing but praise Morelos in the last few weeks, and rightly so because he has been in fantastic scoring form and he has been playing really well. But there is that other side of him that he has to improve on.”
OPINION
Johnstone is right – Morelos has to learn to control his anger issues, otherwise he is just going to keep on getting sent off, and that is the last thing that Steven Gerrard needs when his side are pushing for glory. The 1-0 loss to Aberdeen would have no doubt knocked the team’s confidence a bit, and they will need to get points in their next games – but because of Morelos’ silly mistake, they will now be without him at a pivotal time. He is a big source of goals for them and his presence will be missed hugely on the pitch, but Gerrard will have to find a way to somehow cope without him. That will be hard, as like Johnstone pointed out, he is “one of the best strikers in Scotland” at the moment. It is Morelos’ fault though that he will miss these games, games which will potenitally be crucial to the Gers’ season.