STEVEN GERRARD has spoken more about Alfredo Morelos than he has any other player during his time at Rangers. The conversation is again all about the striker, but one with him could be the key to calming the latest controversy to engulf the man that makes the headlines.

When Gerrard held his media conference ahead of the game with Kilmarnock last Friday, he admitted the 24-year-old ‘didn’t look himself’ amid ongoing conjecture about his future at Ibrox and interest from Lille. The following day, Morelos was nowhere to be seen as Gerrard left him out of his team and his squad for what turned into a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The decision was ‘easy’ for Gerrard as he admitted after the game that the Colombian hadn’t done enough during the week to earn himself a jersey. The immediate thought, then, was that supporters might not see Morelos in their colours again.

That would be a sad and needless way to end his Ibrox career and it is surely not the one that the player or his manager wants. But only time will tell if Morelos has convinced that he is ready, willing and able to feature against Hamilton this afternoon after another heart-to-heart with his boss.

“Listen, I sat down with Alfredo and had a good chat with him earlier in the week,” Gerrard said ahead of the Premiership fixture with Hamilton. “I told him what my thoughts were, told him the reasons why he wasn’t involved in the squad last week.

“I have seen a difference in him this week, there has definitely been a refocus and he has trained hard and trained well.

“I saw Alfredo again [on Friday] morning since and since my chat with him earlier in the week I have seen a difference in his focus and how he has gone about things in terms of his application. We will manage this situation day by day.

“I do feel for him slightly because his head has been turned and at stages weeks and weeks ago there was a lot of interest and a lot of phone calls coming in and then all of a sudden it has gone really quiet.

“He probably doesn’t know what is going on in his head and he is finding it hard to process where he is at right now.

“But what I have said to him is that it is important that he respects the supporters here, he respects the club and he respects his team-mates and his application needs to be bang on otherwise I can’t select him. He understands that and I have seen a difference in the last few days.”

In times gone by, Gerrard almost had no option but to stick with Morelos no matter how poor his application had been or what his mood was like. With few alternatives, the 40-year-old had to hope the forward would be alright on the night.

That is no longer the case, though, and the arrivals of Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten – no doubt in anticipation of Morelos’ departure this summer - has given a new look to the Ibrox attack.

Roofe would score his first goal for Rangers against Kilmarnock and there is no need for Morelos to come straight back into the side even if he returns to the squad in Lanarkshire.

“As a manager you analyse your players on a daily basis and pick the ones you think are going to get you the right result,” Gerrard said. “You don't pick on name or reputation.

“You pick the players who are training hard, who are focused and who are listening, taking messages on board and going to give you the best chance for your team to get the right result. Last week we made a decision for the benefit of the team and the squad.

“Cedric and Kemar came in and I thought their application was really good, I was really happy with their performance considering it was their first starts. There was real positive signs with Kemar getting off the mark and Cedric's work rate.

“What I will say is we're in much better shape from an attacking point of view in terms of options. We're not heavily reliant on one person. I'm hoping to have Jermain Defoe ready after the international break too so I welcome those tough decisions.”

Having bounced back from their dreary draw at Livingston with relative ease against Kilmarnock, Rangers must now avoid another slip-up on the road.

There will be no place in the squad for Joe Aribo or Jermain Defoe but Ianis Hagi is available after being dropped last weekend.

Rangers should be well aware what to expect from Accies, but Gerrard has more than enough tools at his disposal to ensure the test isn’t failed.

“More often than not you don't like to change a winning team,” he said. “You do set the players that responsibility and that challenge of keeping their shirts if selected.

“But it's going to be impossible to select the same players for every game because hopefully we're going to go on and have another 60-game season.

“So at the right time I do have to off-load and take people out to give them a rest and freshen them up.

“Hagi is fit, he's had a bit of a niggle that we've been managing but he'll be available.

“Alfredo is back in terms of being with the group to train so we've already got some options and I've already got some dilemmas over the next 24 hours.

“Hopefully come Dundee United after the international break I have even more headaches and that's the position I want to be in. That's the reason why we've purchased these players and asked them to represent the club as we feel there is enough in there to be successful.”