Ally McCoist believes Antonio Colak can score as many goals as Alfredo Morelos has for Rangers as he called on Premiership performances to be 'far better' and named the key difference between his former club and Celtic at this moment in time.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst brought in the Croatian this summer from PAOK in Greece and he has taken to life at Ibrox like a duck to water. The 29-year-old has a stunning record of ten goals in 10 domestic games this season with his other three strikes coming during the Champions League qualifying campaign against Union Saint-Gilloise and PSV.
He's been largely preferred to fans' favourite Morelos over the piece to date with his goals justifying his selection. Ibrox legend McCoist is aware the two strikers are completely different but he reckons Colak is more than capable of hitting the back of the net with his main strength coming from his positioning inside the box.
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Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, he said: "Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak are completely different players. Colak is more reliant on service and his main strength is his positioning inside the box and if he can continue getting the service from his team-mates then I think he can certainly score as many goals as Alfredo Morelos has for Rangers."
Rangers have only lost one league game so far this season. That was a heavy Old Firm defeat to rivals Celtic - who they trail at the top by two points.
McCoist knows his former club are yet to get started. They bounced back from the midweek hammering by Liverpool in the Champions League to defeat Motherwell at Fir Park. The Ibrox hero concedes the performance was far from where Van Bronckhorst and his troops want and need to be with displays having to be 'far better'.
He said: "If you look at Rangers’ league form on its own, they’ve only had one defeat and one draw from ten games which isn’t bad. In fact, it’s better than not bad but I still don’t think they’ve fired up yet and Celtic have played with more consistency
"The game at the weekend was massive for Rangers after their capitulation in the second half against Liverpool and also for the result for Celtic at home to Hibernian.
"Despite scoring two very good goals, the performance was far from where Rangers and Giovanni van Bronckhorst want to be.
"At the start of the season, they would’ve been aiming to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, so that’s a box ticked whilst the results have been fine in the league, but the level of performances could be far better."
One man McCoist believes Rangers are really feeling the absence of at the moment is summer recruit Tom Lawrence.
The former Derby County man made an excellent start in the side before his injury. The talkSPORT and BT Sports pundit didn't think he would be saying that about the midfielder at the start of the season, but he reckons his energy and drive are the difference between Celtic and Rangers at this moment.
He added: "There’s an energy level that Celtic posses which Rangers haven’t been matching, particularly in wide areas of the pitch. Celtic are really direct and positive and you can see that the other players in the squad are really benefiting from the directness of Celtic in the wide areas.
"I don’t think Rangers have that same positivity about them and I really think they’re missing Tom Lawrence. I’ll hold my hands up and say I didn’t think I’d be saying that about him at the start of the season.
"I knew Tom was a good player but I didn’t think he’d become such a key part of the team so quickly. Rangers are missing his energy and drive and that’s the difference between Celtic and Rangers at the moment."
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