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LORENZO AMORUSO - SPL PLAYERS' PLAYER OF THE YEAR

THE greatest accolade a player can receive is to be recognised by his peers so Lorenzo Amoruso will take great pleasure from Sunday's announcement that he has been named the Scottish Players' Player of the Year.

The Italian has enjoyed an excellent season for Rangers, often leading by example despite no longer being the captain of the club. When Dick Advocaat decided to strip Amoruso of the captain's armband, it looked almost inevitable that the Italian would be on his way out of the club. But the transformation in his form has been nothing short of remarkable with Amoruso now playing the best football of his Ibrox career.

Most noticeable has been the improvement in Amoruso's concentration levels - the all too familiar sight of the ex-Fiorentina man giving away possession in front of his own goal a thing of the past.

However, this hasn't diminished the style with which Amoruso plays the game and the Italian's 88 dribbles and runs - with 94% of them ending in success - shows a man full of confidence and ability with the ball at his feet.

What sets Amoruso apart from the rest of the league is his ability to read the game. The Scottish league is full of defensive players who like nothing more than to propel the ball into row Z of the stands and, to be fair, there is a time and place for that.

But Amoruso dominates play from the back with grace as well as power - his ability to nick the ball off an attacker's toes one of his main strengths. This season Amoruso has made 36 interceptions - a total that no other SPL player can match - and, while this is undoubtedly his forte, he still puts in his fair share of graft.

For a side that doesn't have to defend as often as some others in the SPL, Amoruso's basic defensive stats make impressive reading. For example, St Johnstone have been under the cosh for the majority of this campaign and you'd expect a player like Darren Dods to have made a high number of clearances.

But when you consider that Rangers spend the majority of their matches on the attack, Amoruso's total of 241 clearances - the 12th highest in the league - is an impressive indication of the amount of work that he gets through.

Yet, this wouldn't be a comprehensive piece about Amoruso if we didn't mention his attacking attributes as, time and time again, the Rangers defender delivers the goods at the other end of the park.

Amoruso has netted four goals in the SPL this season, six in all competitions, and his 35 shots on goal is an absurdly high number for a defender. However, the sooner he stops taking those free kicks then the sooner the fans behind the goal can rest easy - Amoruso's efforts not always as accurate as he would like.

With the Scottish Cup Final against Old Firm rivals Celtic coming up this weekend, Amoruso will be aiming to put the seal on a superb season with a win. The league title may have been out of their reach this season but Rangers - especially under the guidance of Alex McLeish - look to be a much stronger side and next season should see Celtic's dominance tested to the limit.

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