Is the 9 position a problem for Rangers? | OneFootball

While Antonio Colak can be rightly delighted with his goal today, it begged a question of whether his style fits Rangers.

See, Colak is a pure 9, a bit like Fashion Sakala claims he is too, and the problem with the pure 9 is it doesn’t really fit in football any more, unless you’re incredibly special.

Look at all the world’s great strikers these days – your Lewandowskis, Messis, Ronaldos, Suarez, Mbappes, Haalands – these are rarely pure 9s, but are in fact the new ‘hybrid’ striker, a position created by the Messi and Ronaldo rivalry.

They started as wingers, but became all-round super forwards, who can do it all.

A bit like Alfredo can.

When he came on the pitch today, the Colombian changed the dynamic completely.

No longer were the wingers and AMs trying to find him, trying to latch onto the striker’s movement, instead, he was coming deeper, moving wide, and bringing other players into the game, while dragging defenders away from their slots.

In short, he affected the game in the way a 9 cannot.

Rangers’ whole game has been built around Alfredo Morelos since 2017, and can we just tell you that unless we can sign an all-round forward like him to replace him, we will miss him very, very badly indeed should we sell him.

This isn’t a diss at Colak, he’s a great striker, but he’s not the kind of striker that can easily adapt into Rangers as the team is currently built.

That would take a lot of work and a lot of change, for a kind of striker the world doesn’t really use any more.

The days of Filippo Inzaghi or Ally McCoist, amazing number 9s who ate up goals but didn’t do a lot else, probably are a distant memory.

Colak is a homage back to that kind of striker, but while we really like him, we wonder how Gio can long-term adapt the side to use the best from him.

Otherwise, Alfie really is the best option.

Food for thought.