What's He Doing?

 The title of this article could really relate to 4 different people. Just like most of the fan base I'm a little annoyed at Saturday, though not as surprised as I should be. On the latest episode of Bett on Rangers (@BettsPod) our host Chris Bett said he wouldn't be surprised if the game ended in a draw. I disagreed, I expected a comfortable win, but over the course of the game I became less expectant, and once the reds were shown I was sat waiting for the inevitable equaliser.

Morelos

First up for analysis on "what are they doing" is Alfie. We all know how important a fit and firing Alfie is to this team. He's our talisman, he's our all-time leading scorer in Europe, he's pushing for all-time leading scorer in the history of the UEFA cup/Europa League and more often than not we've seen that no Alfie can often mean no goals...

However, we're not the same team that relied solely on Morelos for goals anymore. Tony Goals (credit @DerickSnake) has shown that if we provide him with service then he will score the goals. Granted he doesn't bring the all-around play that Alfie brings, but he is a more accomplished finisher, and with 4 goals in 7 games so far he could end up being a very big player for us this season.

All the more reason for Alfie to show us he's still the top dog. In order to do that though he needs to show he's fit (currently he looks like he is still a bit off the pace, though after a lengthy injury I'll not criticise too much) and that he's ready to be a leader. Unfortunately, this is where he's obviously still lacking.

After 5 seasons at the club, Morelos is no longer the cheeky chappie that can get away with being a bit immature. He's a fixed, senior member of the squad, and he needs to lead by example. Saturday he let himself down, and let the club down. Yes it's the first time in a while since he's had a red card, however he should know better. He should know by now he's an easy target. He should have known Collum was out to make the game about himself. He should have known that after already receiving a talking to from Collum, he would be looking for any reason to send him off... and yet he still flicked his hand out.

I don't think it's a red card by the laws of the game, and we should appeal, as there was no dangerous play, malicious intent, excessive force, etc., but none of that will change the fact that while 2-1 up, away from home and down to 10 men, Alfie put himself in the position to be sent off and make a difficult task impossible. 

He simply needs to be smarter.

As I type this it's just been confirmed that he's been left out of the squad for PSV over concerns about his fitness and attitude... this is our most important match in years and we can't rely on him.

Gio

Gio has been in charge for nearly a year now. He's had some great highs, like making the Europa Final and winning the Scottish Cup, and he's had some lows, hammering at Parkhead & losing a 6-point lead in the league, but there are still questions about his tactics.

Gio needs to stop being so conservative against these lower teams in the SPFL. We seem to go into every game with no intensity, looking to feel the opposition out and then try to win the game later on. Often starting with 2 holding midfielders, a tactic that perhaps wasn't as bad when we had two rampaging fullbacks, but as they don't seem to be as far forward these days, we need to be looking at a more attacking line-up.

Contrast that with our rivals, who go all out from the first whistle. Yes, they often tire midway through the 2nd half, but they tend to be a few goals up by then, whereas we last the full 90 but seem to toil quite a lot for most of the game.

I'm a fan of Gio, and I still have a lot of faith in him to bring us sustained success, but I'd like to see him be more adventurous in these league games. I think his tactics are perfect for Europe, and probably the bigger league games, but we need more urgency against the lower teams, we need to start taking them out of the game earlier.

I'm surprised that Gio doesn't see it to be honest. He played in this league, he knows that we'll be up against very defensive teams, so I'm not sure why we're not more attacking in these games. Hopefully, Saturday will be a wake-up and he starts trying to take games from the first whistle. 

He has credit in the bank for last season's Europa run and Scottish Cup win, but a loss in Eindhoven and a defeat in the first Old Firm of the season may just see that credit run out.

Willie Collum

I'm not going to waste too much time on him, as everything that can and should be said has already been said. The club has continually highlighted our concerns with this cheat, and they will continue to go ignored by an SPFL that I wouldn't trust to run a school fete. 

The man is either grossly incompetent and needs to be removed from his role for the good of the game or he is simply a cheat and needs to be removed from his role for the good of the game.

That being said, rightly or wrongly, we know what we're up against when he is the ref and we need to play smarter. We need to make sure we don't give him any excuse at all because we know he will snatch at it with both hands.

Ross Wilson

For the most part I think Wilson has had an excellent summer. He's brought in good fees, though I would have wanted a bit more for Aribo but it depends on the sell-on and what it earns, and I think he's bought well. 

I love Tom Lawrence, Tillman is amazing to watch (although he needs to make better decisions but that will come), Colak is scoring the goals we need just now and Matondo, while being hot and cold, looks like he will bring a contribution this season. 

However CB still concerns me, Souttar was a know injury risk and is out still, Davies I said worried me a bit, and while playing well in his start he's also out injured now. With Helander out still that means our CB choices currently are Goldson, Sands (a CM really), and Leon King. 

Another concern for me is CM, especially if Kamara goes. If that's the case, and it probably is the right time to cash in if we can get a good fee, we need to invest well in CM. I'd like to see us invest proper money there though, in the 5-6m range. 

Last year we should have had a player like Veerman, but ended up with Bacuna. We can't make that mistake again. I love Lundstram, but he's the only CM that I'm confident in just now. Ryan Jack and Steven Davis are both players I love too, but Jack has injury concerns and Davis is too old to play 2 games a week every week. We need another CM in to help with this workload.

Hopefully the last few weeks of the window will see that addressed, although I imagine it will depend heavily on the Kamara situation and the Champions League situation.

Pods

For those of you that listen to the pods I'm on you'll find we now have more social media presence. The flagship can now be found on the link above and for our Whose Team Is It Anyway pod we can be found @WhoseTeamPod on Twitter and WhoseTeamPod on Instagram. Give us a follow as we will tweet out all links to the pods when they're free on Spotify and Apple Music.

We've some good episodes coming up with guests such as Stevie Clifford from 4Lads, then in S2 we will run an all EPL version with The Spurs Show, The Anfield Wrap, London is Blue and many more.

The Rambling Ger

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