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Rangers: Tam McManus praises Giovanni van Bronckhorst for Kemar Roofe substitution

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Image for Rangers: Tam McManus praises Giovanni van Bronckhorst for Kemar Roofe substitution

Football pundit Tam McManus has praised Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst for his ‘brave’ decision to substitute Alfredo Morelos in the club’s last game. 

Over the weekend, the Gers claimed a narrow 1-0 home win against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership. With the game tied at 0-0, hoping to make a key change, Van Bronckhorst opted to bring on Kemar Roofe for the final stages of the game.

However, as Morelos left the pitch, the decision was met by a chorus of loud boos from the home crowd, who evidently weren’t pleased with the decision.

Will Giovanni van Bronckhorst succeed at Rangers?

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By full-time, though, they had been proven wrong as Roofe netted the winner in the 81st minute of the game. While speaking about the incident on the PLZ Soccer Show, McManus praised the Rangers manager for his gutsy call.

He said: “It was a big call taking Morelos off when you’re needing a goal. It was a brave call from the manager.

“But as you said, it paid off. You know, managers live and die by their decisions, and that was a great decision. You know, he [Roofe] came on and scored the winning goal.”

TIF Thoughts on Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Rangers…

Considering Morelos has scored 18 goals and added a further eight assists across all competitions this season and is the club’s top goalscorer, it’s easy to see why fans were reluctant to see him leave the pitch when they were chasing a goal.

However, the resulting outcome proves that they should have a little more faith in the actions of their manager. It’s not as if Roofe is a stranger to the back of the net, either – as with his 12 efforts, only Morelos has more goals for the club this term.

While he is still new to the job, Van Bronckhorst clearly has to spend a little more time at Rangers before he truly earns full backing from the home support. But a ‘brave’ decision like this, as McManus puts it, will certainly help his cause.

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