van Bronckhorst reveals the Morelos Miracle

On August 20 Giovanni van Bronckhorst publicly slaughtered Alfredo Morelos, questioning his physical condition and attitude.

For an international footballer it doesn’t get much more damaging. You can be off form, short of confidence or have a variety of issues but having your weight and commitment questioned is dangerous territory.

Within a month it seems that Morelos has been transformed into a model professional, whether his team-mates agree with that assessment is another matter.

Listening in to today’s media conference The Herald reports van Bronckhorst saying:

Alfredo is in a good place mentally and physically, he is training really well and I have had a good conversation with him. He is in a far better place and makes it difficult for me to decide on my starting team.

Since his red card at Hibs and outburst from his manager, Morelos has played 30 minutes against Celtic, sitting on the bench throughout the 4-0 defeat against Ajax with Antonio Colak restricted to just 25 touches of the ball.

With the transfer window closed van Bronckhorst has got no option other than to sweet talk the chunky Colombian and hope that transfer guru Ross Wilson can find a striker in January as Morelos runs down his contract.

Allan McGregor will replace the injured Jon McLaughlin for the match against Napoli. The mood in the camp is apparently very positive with van Bronckhorst not going to change his tactics or approach based on two 4-0 defeats.