The Roofe Is Off

[Uilleam 5,673]

According to The Times,

once a newspaper of record, but, as they used to say,

"You let wan in......." 

Perhaps it is just that  rasellik has had the Transfer Window smashed open (presumably by the green brigade).

 

Non-stop Roofe leads the way for Celtic

‘He’s like the Duracell bunny,’ says Gerrard

Michael Grant

Friday December 04 2020, 12.00am, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/non-stop-roofe-leads-the-way-for-celtic-b0hfv2vnk

 

Kemar Roofe is drawing superlatives from manager Steven Gerrard

 

Rangers’ glowing statistics are well-documented but Steven Gerrard likes an entirely different set of numbers which go unreported.

His team is unbeaten in 24 games, through to the last 32 of the Europa League, is top of the Premiership by 11 points, and still has four fronts to fight on at home and abroad. But Gerrard — yesterday named SPFL Premiership manager of the month for November, with James Tavernier taking the player’s award — is equally impressed by other figures.

“I have to pay credit to the fitness department and the sports science lads,” he said. “The numbers that we are hitting right now are really impressive. Kemar Roofe certainly helps on that. He doesn’t stop, he is like a Duracell bunny. He is hitting numbers that you don’t really expect from a forward player. He is running more than the midfielders and running the most in the team at the moment.

“He is really setting the example in terms of what we need to put into a game to get the results we are getting. Everyone is hitting impressive numbers, but Roofe has raised the bar with the last couple of performances he has put in.”

Roofe did not score in the 3-2 win over Standard Liege at Ibrox last Thursday night, which eased Rangers into the last 32 of the Europa League with a game to spare, but his intelligence, movement and technique were again impressive in a powerful second half.

Rangers’ opponents will be drawn on December 14 and will be influenced by whether they proceed as group winners or runners-up. On TalkSPORT yesterday Roofe suggested the other 31 will respect them. “We have to take it game by game but what we’ve shown so far is that we are good team, especially in the Europa League,” he said. “I think teams and players will start taking notice of that.”

Rangers face Ross County in Dingwall tomorrow determined to extend an unbeaten run which includes 15 league games, one in the Betfred Cup, three Europa League qualifiers and five group games since the start of the season. “I still think there is more to come,” said Gerrard. “They’re in a good place. The challenge for me is to try and keep them all healthy and keep the squad good, try to offload people at the right time and remain as fresh as we can because the schedule is about to get even more challenging over the next six to eight weeks.

“The pitches are going to change, the weather is changing, as you saw last night, [and] the challenge for us is to stay where we are for as long as we can and can we show as a group that we are capable of going the distance.”

Continuing in Europe will be financially rewarding but Gerrard said of the January window: “I predict that there will be a few more going the opposite way than coming in the door. I don’t think we need a number of incomings, if you like, but we might need maybe one or two to try and freshen it up.”

County would have “more belief, more confidence” about them after their stunning Betfred Cup victory away to Celtic last weekend but Gerrard already had been impressed by them when they lost 2-0 at Ibrox in October. Ryan Jack, Filip Helander and Nikola Katic are all still out for Rangers.

If County concede a penalty they may as well head towards the centre circle and prepare for their restart. Tavernier has scored nine out of nine this season, among his 15 goals overall. When he was taken off penalty duty last season, after uncharacteristic misses, he committed to improving. “I just kept on working on it after training,” he said. “Free kicks and penalties. That’s something I’ve always done after training.

“Even when I wasn’t on them I kept on working hard to improve myself. I always go into a season wanting double figures on both goals and assists. The boys are really performing well up top. The movement they are creating and the problems they are creating for defenders is giving us the opportunity to have penalties.”

 

[der Berliner 3,453]

Wee sidenote ... just 21 more games to go to beat Sir Walter`s record of unbeaten games in season 1992/93.