Why does Morgan play?

[Ricey]

He's played well the last couple of games, Evans has looked shakey and Soyuncu isn't ready yet. Why is this even a debate?

 

Maguire was more of a liability on Saturday than Morgan in the sense that he was at fault in the first half to let Josemi through and nearly gave a penalty away in the second half after being turned too easily.

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Wes is big in the changing role. I think Puel’s being careful not to upset that. 

[Hanan96]

2 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Again language comes up....How many top teams buy foreigners,who need an interpreter..some for 2-3 yrs...

Pitch calls..are easy to pick up...1st few months very basic language easy to pick up...Language is not a footballing problem,

Only when it's time to get your round in...

Well interesting. Did those football player are defender, and immediately played as first team without yet to be fluent with the language? 

From soyuncu history himself, he also struggle with language at previous club which prevent him from playing first team for a while 

[Guest MattP]

Bournemouth aside he's been absolutely fine this season.

 

The idea he needs to be dropped is weird football groupthink, nothing so far suggests Evans or Soyuncu will offer better at this point in time.

[fuchsntf]

39 minutes ago, Hanan96 said:

Well interesting. Did those football player are defender, and immediately played as first team without yet to be fluent with the language? 

From soyuncu history himself, he also struggle with language at previous club which prevent him from playing first team for a while 

Fluent...??? Get out of here!!

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, Ricey said:

He's played well the last couple of games, Evans has looked shakey and Soyuncu isn't ready yet. Why is this even a debate?

 

Maguire was more of a liability on Saturday than Morgan in the sense that he was at fault in the first half to let Josemi through and nearly gave a penalty away in the second half after being turned too easily.

Sorry,but he never...nearly gave a penalty away..he held his ground..top defending,attacker tried it on by grappling Maguire..ref read it perfectly.

Just another false point to make an opinion seem sound..i

Maguire and Morgan made some top tackles on Saturday some posters(not you), should remember those!!I

 

So many looking out for errors and mistakes,but conveniently forget the good,sometimes great work from a lot of our players!!

[Collymore]

Morgan does it time and time again. Just when you think he's finished, he turns into Mr Reliable. 

[Babylon]

17 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Morgan does it time and time again. Just when you think he's finished, he turns into Mr Reliable. 

He's like the @RumbleFox of the team.

[PaulW]

22 hours ago, m4DD0gg said:

Has to be contractual

That'd be some contract!  I doubt there's a player in the country with a contract that says 'must play in first team every week'.

[RumbleFox]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

He's like the @RumbleFox of the team.

I'm in my fvcking prime I'll have you know.  X

[Foxxed]

I can't wait until the summer when our twitter account posts a picture of him signing a contract extension. I will be here pressing refresh like a man possessed laughing like a maniac before floating away in an opium-filled cloud.

[gerrytaggart]

On 15/09/2018 at 15:55, KFS said:

Can someone ITK let us know the real reason why he's still playing? He's absolutely finished at this level but they won't drop him. It just isn't right, we can all see it...

1. He still posesses the required quality to play at this level.

2. The manager picks him to play.

 

[ThaiFox]

1 hour ago, gerrytaggart said:

1. He still posesses the required quality to play at this level.

2. The manager picks him to play.

 

3) The other centre backs we have are just not better than Wes, ready to play, or fit enough to play.......yet.

 

Puel is watching them all train everyday. He obviously thinks Wes is the best choice we have at the moment. Wes is quite unfairly attacked on here when both our right backs are not yet giving confidence, or the required support, and Wes is often having to cover for their mistakes.

 

I must admit I would like to see Wes be more of a leader when we start slowly, or when the right backs mess up. I have elaborated on this in other posts. His biggest weakness though, is he is so predictable when he has the ball, and the opposition know this and are happy for him to have it. It is either pass back to Kasper, a square pass, or a hoof. Puel knows this, but still sees him as better, at the moment, than the alternatives we have.

 

However, it seems obvious to me that his team mates don't see him as a liability and he remains a respected captain by them, if not some on here.

[Detroit Blues]

It's funny, because if we signed Wes from another team, people would be clamoring for him to play. A premier league winner, a team captain, a solid old-school defender. 

 

 

[PaulW]

1 hour ago, ThaiFox said:

3) The other centre backs we have are just not better than Wes, ready to play, or fit enough to play.......yet.

 

Puel is watching them all train everyday. He obviously thinks Wes is the best choice we have at the moment. Wes is quite unfairly attacked on here when both our right backs are not yet giving confidence, or the required support, and Wes is often having to cover for their mistakes.

 

I must admit I would like to see Wes be more of a leader when we start slowly, or when the right backs mess up. I have elaborated on this in other posts. His biggest weakness though, is he is so predictable when he has the ball, and the opposition know this and are happy for him to have it. It is either pass back to Kasper, a square pass, or a hoof. Puel knows this, but still sees him as better, at the moment, than the alternatives we have.

 

However, it seems obvious to me that his team mates don't see him as a liability and he remains a respected captain by them, if not some on here.

Yup!

[Clever Fox]

The one thing Morgan gives us is a great big lump of physicality which we lack throughout the team.

 

I'd say quite a few forwards don't like coming up against him. And to be fair to him he hasn't let us down often.

[Sionnach gorm]

Imo, I agree with the initial poster.  I believe Morgan is more of a liability than an asset.  I’m not sure what games you’ve all seen but he’s become a mediocre defender.  His reflexes are clearly slowing, he’s often out of position and he doesn’t seem as fit as he was just two seasons ago.

The downturn is clear to me.  I thought it might be a phase, but two season tells me it’s not.  

 

[mozartfox]

11 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

The one thing Morgan gives us is a great big lump of physicality which we lack throughout the team.

 

I'd say quite a few forwards don't like coming up against him. And to be fair to him he hasn't let us down often.

I agree in that the more physical style forwards would not relish playing against him.  But on the flip side, the more nimble and mobile forwards (e.g. Bournemouth/Liverpool) would most probably enjoy their afternoons immensely.

[KFS]

He's been better recently compared to when I started the thread. There are still some horrible moments, like Newcastle's only chance at the weekend, he pressed too high and they were in behind through Perez. But for a Maguire tackle we could have been 1-0 down. 

 

I'll say it again. I have an incredible respect for Wes for what he's done for the club, but the moment we have another CB up to speed I'd like to see him replaced. If we want to get to the next level we need to improve positions steadily.

[Ric Flair]

I said in the summer that I could see him having a solid year, keeping out Evans and will get rewarded with a new deal. I wouldn't be surprised to see the new deal happen during the season. I've no problem with him playing if he is good enough, the issue I suppose is that he's probably not going to be afforded many mistakes without criticism and calls to be gotten rid of which players like Maguire or Soyuncu would be less vilified.

 

He is a player who has maximised every ounce of ability he has, he's been an absolute warrior for us and if he plays like he did the last couple of games throughout the season then there'll not even be a debate on my part and that's irrespective of how scandalous it'll be to have Soyuncu kicking his heels.

[ealingfox]

Was pretty concerned at the way he ran after Joselu when he went through at the weekend, specifically that he barely ran at all, in a way that suggested he either couldn't, or couldn't be arsed. Neither is good. 

 

Legend and an absolute beast at his best but think times caught up with him now. His body must be feeling the years by now, particularly when he went about 3 years playing almost every game for club and country with barely any break.

 

He should have enough to get through this season but we really ought to be thinking about either parting ways, or a one-year extension with the understanding that'll be a bit-part and pastoral role next term. After all we've got a lot of young players now, someone's got to teach them how to get off a drink-driving charge, or hide affairs from the missus 

Edited 3 October 2018 by ealingfox

[shen]

20 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Was pretty concerned at the way he ran after Perez when he went through at the weekend, specifically that he barely ran at all, in a way that suggested he either couldn't, or couldn't be arsed. Neither is good. 

 

Legend and an absolute beast at his best but think times caught up with him now. His body must be feeling the years by now, particularly when he went about 3 years playing almost every game for club and country with barely any break.

 

He should have enough to get through this season but we really ought to be thinking about either parting ways, or a one-year extension with the understanding that'll be a bit-part and pastoral role next term. After all we've got a lot of young players now, someone's got to teach them how to get off a drink-driving charge, or hide affairs from the missus 

Are you remembering something I'm not, or did you read Garth Crooks' fantastic team of the week analysis? Pretty sure that was Joselu?

[Simoken]

27 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

couldn't, or couldn't be arsed. Neither is good. 

Captain of the team, couldnt be arsed to run... come on now.

Edited 3 October 2018 by Simoken

[ealingfox]

12 minutes ago, shen said:

Are you remembering something I'm not, or did you read Garth Crooks' fantastic team of the week analysis? Pretty sure that was Joselu?

 

Yeah whatevs, the one where Maguire bailed us out. I've just watched it back and he runs after both of them with little success after getting turned in their half. Seems he couldn't even sprint half the length of the pitch in that passage of play.

[Babylon]

35 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Was pretty concerned at the way he ran after Perez when he went through at the weekend, specifically that he barely ran at all, in a way that suggested he either couldn't, or couldn't be arsed. Neither is good. 

 

Legend and an absolute beast at his best but think times caught up with him now. His body must be feeling the years by now, particularly when he went about 3 years playing almost every game for club and country with barely any break.

 

He should have enough to get through this season but we really ought to be thinking about either parting ways, or a one-year extension with the understanding that'll be a bit-part and pastoral role next term. After all we've got a lot of young players now, someone's got to teach them how to get off a drink-driving charge, or hide affairs from the missus 

This is what frustrates me, that chance on here was all made to be about Morgan in the match thread. That whole problem started because Ricardo vacated the right hand side of the pitch, you can see him just above the play button in the pic. Then you had their man wandering free and not being picked up by a CM. This was happening constantly first half and Wes and Maguire were getting drawn out to try and close them down, as happened here again. Wes sprinted out to cover him in their half so he couldn't turn and play it out to the left where they had free men.

 

Then you have Maguire and Ndidi ending up tracking the same man, rather than taking one each. Wes full on sprinted from their half to the edge of our D to try and get back, yes by the end he was cooked, he couldn't run. But we all know we need to protect these centre backs and we weren't doing it, I was pulling my hair out in the match thread as nobody was picking up their men between the lines.

 

Wes didn't cover himself in glory, there are plenty of things he could have done differently and better. At his age he's not going to be able to sprint around the pitch. But it wasn't just about him.