Sir Kenny Dalglish: Morelos issue just one problem for Michael Beale to solve at Rangers

Michael Beale’s job last Thursday night was to lead Rangers to three points against Hibs.

It was never going to be easy, and it was never going to be a world-class display.

It was just all about getting the win, and the Light Blues did that, despite twice going behind in the first-half.

The same will apply this week when they travel to Aberdeen on Tuesday and Ross County on Friday.

Get the job done, and keep a bit of pressure on Celtic as they head towards the Old Firm game at Ibrox on January 2.

Michael will have had the chance to get in another couple of sessions on the training pitch with the squad, and there are things to work on.

Being tighter at set-pieces will be one thing to address. They need to be more aggressive in their defending, and players must take more responsibility.

The positives will be that Allan McGregor looked the part against Hibs, and had two excellent saves. Fashion Sakala and Ryan Jack scored important goals.

Ryan Kent looked in the mood, and he can be a major player for Michael.

It just depends how long he stays, and I wonder if Ianis Hagi’s new deal means they expect Kent to call time on his Ibrox career at some stage in 2023.

Time will tell.

But as long as he is there, it’s up to the manager and his staff to get the very best out of him.

The same applies to Alfredo Morelos. He scored the winning goal and that’s what he is at the football club to do.

For a variety of reasons, he didn’t hit the heights in the first half of this season and he rarely featured under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Antonio Colak was regarded as the main striker, and I agreed with Giovanni’s assessment on that.

There is a working relationship between Michael and Morelos.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the manager wants him to stay for the long-term, or that the player wants to be part of the plans beyond this season.

At the moment, it would be fair to speculate that there doesn’t appear to be many attractive offers for Morelos to consider.

That could work in Rangers’ favour as the player will need to reproduce the form he showed two years ago to get a higher level of interest from elsewhere.

So he may well need to stay put for the next six months and really show what he is all about.

First and foremost, his challenge will be to stave off Colak and Kemar Roofe to be the main striker. Let’s see if he is capable of doing that.

Beyond that, and looking at the bigger picture, there is work to be done for Michael.

He will need to improve the squad in January, and it will be interesting to see the funds made available to him to do so.

There are also several players out of contract, and I’m sure he’ll want to know as soon as possible if new deals are going to be agreed.

It all points to a lot of work ahead, on and off the park.

This is not going to be an easy job for Michael, but he clearly has the appetite and desire to give it his all.

I’m sure he will leave no stone unturned, and will use every ounce of his coaching credentials, to get the best out of every player at his disposal.

He will also require a wee bit of luck along the way to overcome Celtic.

© Craig Williamson / SNS Group

Ange Postecoglou has his club in a very good place, and they don’t look like a team ready to give up the Premiership title any time soon.

They’ve already strengthened their squad, and they seem relaxed should they lose any of their players in the January window, such as Josip Juranovic.

He is attracting attention, and they could make a healthy profit on the Croatia right-back.

That will go back into the pot to make their financial position at Parkhead even stronger.

It will increase their options and shopping prowess next month or in the summer. That’s a great place for Ange to be in.