Rangers boss Steven Gerrard baffled by latest Alfredo Morelos huff after storming off during Aberdeen win
THE gloves are off in the title battle.
But Steven Gerrard can’t understand why Alfredo Morelos’ mittens were thrown off when he was subbed.
The side were
just a few days earlier.
He’d played the final 30 minutes of a 3-0 defeat at home to Uruguay then sat on the bench in Ecuador as the hosts won 6-1.
But back at things were still on the up.
Morelos hasn’t scored in the league since September 20 but this victory was sending Gers 11 points clear at the top with a goal difference 17 better than .
The Dons had only lost once since their opening day defeat at home to Gers while their last pointless trip on the road in the league was way back in December.
But they were blown away by Gers and Gerrard said: “Aberdeen have been on a fantastic run. They have been excellent defensively and very hard to score against.
“So I’ve got to pay my boys credit. I know Aberdeen had some issues before the game but the focus is always on us. We had to go and do the job.
“We were playing against good defenders and a really organised team. Derek doesn’t get the credit he deserves at times for how well he sets his team up.
“Having said that, I’ve got to pay my players a lot of credit because they found the answers and they could have found even more.”
Dons boss Derek McInnes couldn’t argue with the scoreline – but did think Gers got lucky with their penalty.
He said: “We came into the game with a lot of key players missing and Scott Wright was added to with a groin problem.
“We also had the three players out with the 21s. We were a team that lacked pace and that’s something we’ve had a lot of this season.
“We went with a team we had to pick rather than one we wanted to pick. These things are sent to test us and we tried to get a shape that gave us to come here not only defend but also to have an outlet at the other end.
“I thought we started well against a Rangers team who are in a good place. The first goal took a big defection and the second goal we could do better with.
“At half-time we talked about the next goal and six minutes later we lost another deflection then a soft penalty. If that was a penalty there will be a lot more penalties for that.
“I felt he went over early and it was pretty soft. We didn’t feel like we had the breaks but my players worked hard despite the obvious difficulties.
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“There was plenty of effort from a lot of players who haven’t played a lot of games. I have no complaints, we were well beaten but at least we have another game on Wednesday.
“The last time Rangers beat us we had to wait 19 games for the next one. We had 26 from 36 points coming into this and it’s important we take the next three points.”