Has Morgan finally found his role?

A

Atletico_Seasider

Well-known member
I thought he did well today when he came on. He upped the tempo from deep and gave us far more direction and penetration. He was getting players to commit by carrying the ball forward out of defence and that freed up space on the outside. Maybe he has finally found his role in the team and it was one that clearly improved us today...
 
Morgan played there once before for 15/20 mins in a game we were chasing (can't remember it now) and played well then too. I do think we should play 2 holders and a no 10 in front, what we currently do has always looked wierd to me.
 
Critchknows said:
Morgan played there once before for 15/20 mins in a game we were chasing (can't remember it now) and played well then too. I do think we should play 2 holders and a no 10 in front, what we currently do has always looked wierd to me.
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It could also allow Norburn to get further forward when we are building from the back. It would be interesting to see them interchanging with Morgan going deep to build the attacks and Norburn taking the deeper role when we are defending...
 
Critchknows said:
Morgan played there once before for 15/20 mins in a game we were chasing (can't remember it now) and played well then too. I do think we should play 2 holders and a no 10 in front, what we currently do has always looked wierd to me.
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You mean a 4-2-3-1 formation I agree or 4-4-2.
 
Ideally I would do a 4231 but I don't think he will. He will continue with 352 so instead of Norburn sitting and 2 in front in CM as we do now I'd rather 2 holding cm with Dembele in front as it finished today.
 
Morgan was excellent today but he was undoubtedly helped by Oxford dropping deep which allowed him the space. Most weeks, over 90 mins he wouldn’t be afforded that luxury.
 
I've been critcal of Morgsn but he did have an impact yesterday. He's still got work to do to get a start. Oakley Boothe faded on his league debut but wasn't that bad. Hopefully Norburn will be back on Tuesday because he's by far the best player we have in the holding role.
 
Albie played very well in his cameo yesterday. He was far more mobile than other games I've watched him, wanted the ball from almost anywhere - he was behind the back line on several occasions. Drove us forward repeatedly and got our attacking creation involved, Kaddy particularly.

Has to be noted that Oxford were so deep for the last 10-15 that there was a lot of early space to run into. But he exploited it very well and was one of the biggest factors in our later domination.

So, a simple and obvious question. Can he find that drive and pace against a first half set up? Could become huge for us if he can.
 
Interesting. Whether Morgan can do that role when the game is operating normally time will tell. When he came on, Oxford had already shut up shop and it was basically attack versus defence so he didn’t have to do any defensive work.

Formation wise, I know we call it 3-5-2 but in reality it is more a 3-2-3-2 or in many cases 3–2-1-4

Who’d have thought Critch would be so cavalier? 😁
 
Morgan came on in the 79th minute and played against a side sitting back to protect a lead for quarter of an hour. If that's his role it's a very limited one! I don't think you can extrapolate too much from a short spell at the end of one game.
 
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bill40 said:
You mean a 4-2-3-1 formation I agree or 4-4-2.
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We aren't going to play with 4 at the back this season unless we have injury issues. Whatever formation we play it will have 3 at the back.
My biggest concern is if Husband gets injured.
 
He's definitely a contender for the third Midfield option between Norburn and Dougall and he's got enough about him to play a big part for us this season.
His delivery from set pieces are possibly the best we've got and he also likes to push forward with an eye for the killer pass.
 
tango94 said:
He's definitely a contender for the third Midfield option between Norburn and Dougall and he's got enough about him to play a big part for us this season.
His delivery from set pieces are possibly the best we've got and he also likes to push forward with an eye for the killer pass.
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Eye for a killer pass, I'm not seeing that yet. How many assists does he have?
 
Cuthbert said:
Not over whelmed by Norburn recently
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neither am i and i think OB had a decent game but didnt have quite the same understanding with kenny, morgan came on and did well and he has done in several other games as well. i think it suited him how we played when he came on, with some intensity and constantly on the front foot and in the face of the oxford players
 
Confidence is a massive thing.
The bravery to drive forward and take someone on, rather than stopping and making a simple sideways or backward pass.
Not losing the ball, but doing nothing with it either.
It's why players drift through games, hoping not to make a mistake - Carey for example.
Hopefully, Morgan's confidence will grow. CJ is a good example of self-belief now, after a torrid few years of safety-first.
 
NewburyOne said:
Eye for a killer pass, I'm not seeing that yet. How many assists does he have?
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Having an eye for one and delivering it might be two separate things!
In the recent efl cup game against Liverpool U21's though there were a few examples of his decisive passing ability.
 
tango94 said:
Having an eye for one and delivering it might be two separate things!
In the recent efl cup game against Liverpool U21's though there were a few examples of his decisive passing ability.
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It was a little in jest, the lad has ability but doesn't impact the game enough. That said, we also have Sonny Carey who is also struggling to find form.
 
NewburyOne said:
I've been critcal of Morgsn but he did have an impact yesterday. He's still got work to do to get a start. Oakley Boothe faded on his league debut but wasn't that bad. Hopefully Norburn will be back on Tuesday because he's by far the best player we have in the holding role.
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I felt OB had about as poor a game as you could have. Stood static for the majority of the time we had the ball.
 
gjr said:
We aren't going to play with 4 at the back this season unless we have injury issues. Whatever formation we play it will have 3 at the back.
My biggest concern is if Husband gets injured.
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Eki will have to learn to adapt
Tharme played many games last season in a 3 in this league.
Biggest concern for me would be Rhodes being injured.
 
Husband, Hamilton and Rhodes would be the worst threebto lose, everybody else has somebody that could step in quite easily.
 
I always thought Morgan looked a poor man's Norbury but actually seeing him on his own he looked pretty decent and I wonder if he needed Norburn's absence to really find his feet?
 
Are we thinking Albie could be a L1 version of Terence Trent Arnold, spraying long pinpoint passes from deep?!

That would be nice!
 
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