Did you see James Milner give Virgil van Dijk both barrels for his pitiful defending of Jadon Sancho’s goal for Manchester United on Monday night?
It didn’t matter to Milner that the player he lambasted arguably has been the best centre back on the planet over the past four or five years. When you stand five yards off someone who is about to shoot 12 yards from goal, with your arms behind your back, it’s unacceptable and Milner let him know. In fact, it looked like he wanted to hook him.
Why? Standards, that’s why. If you want to survive at the very top level, standards that have got you there in the first place MUST be maintained. Which is why Alfredo Morelos will be sitting watching Rangers ’ most important match in years on the TV - if he can be bothered - rather than playing a part in getting his team to the tournament that he’s always yearned to play in.
The Colombian missed almost five months through injury at the tail end of last season and returning has looked as rusty as the first car I bought for £250 back in Nineteen Canteen. That’s not just down to being injured. That’s a lack of willingness or desire to get back to optimum fitness as quickly as possible. That’s mental, not physical.
You don’t need to be a nutritionist or sports scientist to see the timber under the too-tight blue shirt as Morelos has ambled onto the pitch in a series of substitute appearances since the start of the campaign. This is a player who is not adhering to the standards required and when he compounded that felony by leaving his team-mates in the lurch at Easter Road on Saturday by being sent off 12 minutes after coming on - with Rangers already down to 10 men - then action had to be taken.
It’s interesting that some outlets were clearly briefed by the club that the decision to axe Morelos from the squad that travelled to Eindhoven was taken by Gio van Bronckhorst after consultation with the leadership group within the players. That’s not a weakness on behalf of the manager. In fact, it’s the polar opposite. Who knows, perhaps the likes of James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Scott Arfield and Steven Davis even approached the manager and told him they’d had enough of Morelos’ attitude and lack of application.
But it’s more likely van Bronckhorst made the call and wanted to make sure his strongest voices in the dressing room were on board with the decision. Clearly, they are.
So, now Rangers go into a £40m shootout without the ammunition a fully fit and focused Morelos would have brought to the Philips Stadion. It’s a massive call and although noises have been made about Morelos still having a future at the club if he buckles down, it looks like the end of the road is coming for a player who has been invaluable and infuriating in equal measure since he arrived from Finland five years ago.
That’s if they can find a buyer. After all, if Rangers can’t trust him, how can they expect anyone to pay top dollar for a guy who, at 26, is approaching what should be the peak years of his career, but is letting himself down as much as he did his team-mates at the weekend?
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