Gio van Bronckhorst says he’ll keep picking red-hot Antonio Colak until Alfredo Morelos gets himself in from the cold. The Rangers gaffer hailed the Croat, who bagged a brilliant brace against Ross County to put the Ibrox side top of the Premiership.
Colak now has seven goals in just nine games, while Morelos has been frozen out by van Bronckhorst for a lack of professionalism. The Dutchman revealed Morelos’ attitude has improved since being left out of their trip to Eindhoven in midweek to face PSV in the Champions League play-off.
But while Colak continues to impress and score goals, van Bronckhorst says he’ll continue to lead the line for Gers. After the 4-0 win over County, he said: “I’m really happy with Antonio and he’s in a very good moment for us. The start he’s had here has been fantastic. We just have to make sure we keep pushing him and he gives us the performances we want every week. Morelos worked hard this week and I’ll sit down with him today and speak about his future. He’s still our player and Alfredo knows what he has to do to become available again. The first week’s reaction he showed has been very positive.”
Rangers returned to the top of the league but now have 20 games in 77 days before the World Cup in Qatar. As well as Premiership and League Cup action, they’re in a Champions League glamour group with Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli.
Van Bronckhorst says his squad is strong enough to cope. He said: “We have a big squad. I could easily have picked some of my bench players to start against Ross County and that shows the strength we have.
“We could have changed more but you see with the changes we made, our intensity and level of playing doesn’t drop. That’s what you want as a club and as a manager. It was a great result on Wednesday against PSV and we were on a high after qualifying for the Champions League. But we had to switch back to the domestic game today and it’s about keeping the same standards and way of playing the game.
“The games are coming fast but when you start like we did today, you will never drop your levels and we reached a very high level today. I was pleased with the performance, clean sheet and the goals we scored.
“We have a squad and we can rotate but we’re playing a lot of games. We just have to keep going and keep playing. That’s why I picked a strong team today because they have to play and get stronger physically.”
As well as Colak’s double, John Lundstram and Steven Davis scored for Gers in a dominant display. Ryan Kent got two assists and playmakers Tom Lawrence and Malik Tillman also impressed against the Staggies.
Van Bronckhorst said: “Tom is a player who can play between the lines and find spaces. He has the ability to scan surroundings, he’s one of those players capable of doing that.
“It’s the same with Mallik who sees the big picture. Tom's movement was excellent throughout the game. Even as a striker later on, he found the pockets to become available. I’m really pleased with his performance.
“If you look at Ryan’s stats from last year, we wanted to keep assisting the players but also score goals. Being right footed his first intention is to go inside.
“That makes it really hard for defenders and he’s playing well. With the second Colak goal, he started the move with the turn and pass to create it.”
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