Frustrated Brian Laudrup admits he was wrong to assume Alfredo Morelos had left his "bad old ways" behind. The striker paid the price for a return to the ill-discipline of his earlier Ibrox career on Saturday as he was sent off at Hibs.
Referee Willie Collum sent the Colombian international star packing for a flailing arm just minutes after emerging from the bench in the incident-packed 2-2 draw at Easter Road. Ibrox skipper James Tavernier described his team-mate's actions as "stupid" and Laudrup confessed he can't help but agree.
Morelos has entered the final year of his Rangers contract and although he's in talks over an extension, Laudrup reckons the incident sends a "terrible message" to clubs who may have sought to prise him away from Ibrox. He reckons such flash points tend to occur when the 26-year-old has been out of the team and is lacking in match sharpness.
Laudrup wrote in his Daily Mail column: "Frustratingly, we are also back to discussing Morelos’ thought processes. What he did at Easter Road sold out his whole team. At 2-1 up with ten men, Rangers had every chance of seeing out the win or even nicking another goal. Now they’re two points behind Celtic with more tough away games coming up over the next month.
"You couldn’t argue with James Tavernier calling his red card ‘stupid’. The interesting thing was the captain saying so in public. Whether Tavernier spoke to Giovanni van Bronckhorst first I’m not sure but, as captain, you usually have the rest of the dressing room behind you. And there would have been a lot of very annoyed players in there.
"Whatever the debate about John Lundstram’s red card — and I totally understand why Rangers have appealed it — he was just trying to take one for the team by stopping a counter- attack. As a colleague, you accept that. But you can’t accept what Morelos did. I thought, or hoped, he’d left those days behind him. Obviously not. It often seems he reacts that way if he is not 100 per cent fit and not playing regularly.
"For Morelos as an individual, it also sends out a terrible message to clubs who might be interested in signing him. His ambition has always been to move to a big league one day. But who will come in for him if they fear he is back to his bad old ways?"
