I’ve been banging on about the double standards that many within Scotland’s mainstream media have shown when reporting on Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos.

Now I’ll start off by freely admitting that I am a big fan of the Colombian striker. He’s scored twenty-eight goals in his first sixty-one appearances for Rangers. Under new Gers boss Steven Gerrard, Morelos has shown that he can lead the line by working hard and he also looks fitter now too.

His form in Glasgow has been noticed in his homeland and he was called up for his country’s national team last month, winning his first cap against Venezuela.

Now I also believe the forward is still a work in progress, he’s just twenty-two years old after all. The forward can be petulant, his sending off against FC Ufa for kicking the ball away and shouting at the ref was extremely silly. He also needs to learn not to react to provocation, although we should also call out the provocation and have officials that can spot it as well as his reactions.

I’m not overly bothered by the misses that he makes, most strikers unless you’re Ronaldo or Messi miss perceived easy chances every now and again.

He still needs that goal against Celtic, Rangers forwards are judged on their big game performances. That being said Alfredo has bagged four goals in the Europa League this term, including a brilliant brace against Rapid Vienna last night.

Yet when you read the newspapers, twitter or listen to the radio you’d believe that Morelos wasn’t talented at all. The media always have to be negative in some way against the Colombian.

After his game winning display against Rapid last night, The Sun’s Bill Leckie stated in his column:

‘HOW do you solve a problem like Morelos?’

‘Headaches like these are why gaffers like Steven Gerrard get the big bucks — to somehow wring the best out of players it’s all too easy to only see the worst in.’

‘With the guy the Ibrox legions know as Alfie Mo, that must be a soul-destroying task, because all too often he produces a whole load of what rhymes with Von Trapp.’

‘He’s short on pace, he doesn’t press defenders hard enough, his touch lets him down, his positional sense is poor.’

‘His discipline’s poor, between the silly fouls and the talking back and the lying down when he’s barely touched.’

The problem? He scored two goals and won his team a penalty last night! Alfredo was also the club’s top scorer last term.

Gerrard loves Morelos, he’s said that often enough and has given the forward a new contract on the back of his performances.

‘He’s short on pace’ Is he? He might not be lightening quick but he’s got a decent turn of pace. He raced clear for his second goal at Ibrox last night. Plus you don’t necessarily have to be the quickest player to be a top class striker. Both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo have kept scoring as they’ve aged and that’s because they’re smart and can read the game.

That leads me to the ‘his positional sense is poor’ comment. Come on now, he’s scored twenty eight goals in sixty-one games. People lambast him for missing some sitters but that actually still proves he’s smart enough to get into the right positions. A lot of his goals come from inside the box, that’s where you want your strikers to be placed positionally.

Ah ‘he doesn’t press defenders hard enough’? I’d understand that comment more if it was being banded about in May. Morelos went eighteen months of playing football without rest, that was evident in the second half of last season. His head was also turned by transfer talk and then you add the fact the whole club were in crisis for much of those six months at the start of this calendar year. But under Gerrard, Morleos looks fitter and seems refreshed after a summer break. He is clearly working harder on the pitch, working the channels as well as pressing defenders and his hold up and link up play has vastly improved.

Now don’t get me wrong, Leckie isn’t the only journalist spouting these negatives when discussing the attacker.

Recently the BBC ran a story online by Tom English about Alfredo. In it he states that the forward must be driving his manger mad and yet again bringing up his poor discipline.

My main concern regarding this story is why did Mr English decided to do it on Morelos and not Hearts hitman Steven Naismith?

Now let me state I’m a huge fan of the Scottish veteran international but you could write a very similar article about his season and temperament. Yet Tom went after the foreigner.

Naismith is currently playing for Hearts, who are top of the league and he’s leading the Scottish Premiership scoring charts. So really it would be more topical. While leading the scoring charts, Naismith  has also picked up the most yellow cards in the Scottish top flight with his four cards in seven games. Steven has always been a moany footballer and that hasn’t changed as he’s got older as he’s still always in the referee’s ear. Plus he’s also a forward that can miss guilt edge chances, as is the case with most forwards.

Both strikers are key to their team but at the moment Hearts have more to lose as they are the country’s best side.

Now I’d actually prefer reading about either Naismith or Morelos’ better attributes and the positives that they bring to their teams yet the media struggle to tell us these stories.

The Daily Record have also had a campaign against Alfredo. Keith Jackson in particular doesn’t seem to be a fan:

‘There’s probably a player in there somewhere. Buried deep beneath the puppy fat and the bad attitude.’

Oh very clever lets have a go at someone’s appearance, it’s 2018 right?

Funny that his manager doesn’t believe he has a ‘bad attitude but maybe Keith knows more about footballers and Morelos than Steven Gerrard?

Mr Jackson also stated:

‘Gerrard did enough homework before taking on this job in June to identify Morelos as an issue that would need to be resolved.’

That is correct, Gerrard did do his homework and then also worked with the forward during preseason. The Gers boss was handed a hefty transfer budget and brought in fifteen new players this summer but Morelos remains the club’s nailed on starting striker.

I think the Record man has a friendship with Kenny Miller and his attitude towards Morelos stems from Miller being booted out of the club.

It seems to me that for whatever reason, Alfredo Morelos is fair game as far as the Scottish press is concerned. I doubt they’d give the same negative attention to a young Scottish talent.

I also think it’s fairly hypocritical to mention him as a bully if you then constantly pick on him yourself. No one mentions the provocation anymore just that he reacts badly.

Alfredo Morelos, as I’ve already stated, is a work in progress. By all means be critical but not to a degree where you become biased and people start to question that there could be some darker motivation that keeps you pursuing a vendetta.

 

Posted on October 5th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article