Morrison last night

[Syteanric 1]

Strolling after losing the ball (him losing it and not attempting to win it back led to the 2nd goal)making no effort up front and arguing with Holt for a lot of the game... At the end he didn''t applaud the fans like the rest of the players but sulked off down the tunnel...Anyone else notice this? I think he should have been subbed off last night as it was clear he didn''t want to be out there... would like to have seen Jackson given a go and would still like to on Saturday.Has Morrison got one eye on January and playing half ar*e so as to avoid injury?

[shefcanary 2,385]

Agreed - needs a rest! ;)

[Gingerpele 0]

I hope he was just tired. If not a very lazy performance from him, felt all second half he was just strolling around, not really sure what he should be doing. Something that maybe i''m exaggerating at one point, a cross came into the box, fairly near Morison, but Grant Holt ran about 10 yards to get on the end of it, and at another stage, Morison was 10/15 yards away from a lose ball (or maybe a defender in possession), but didn''t chase it, and Holt came running from 30 yards away.

Maybe Holt and Jackson upfront to start with on Saturday? Bring Morison back in against QPR, unless Holt and Jackson impress (Or just Holt on his own)

[curly_whirly_tipz 0]

I don''t beleive Morison has an eye on January transfers, however maybe he was a little off pace yesterday. My main concern would be the arguments on/off pitch as Lambert''s philosophy has always been about team spirit and that is something that must be maintained imo. However I am sure if there is any tension Lambert will be quick to ensure it does not effect the team.

[ZLF 271]

I did not get that impression at all; although I hear 5live gave him some stick;  to be fair his body language since he started in August with suitabel levels of complaints.

 

However, once again, I thought he outperformed Holt - better link up play and better efforts on goal - its just neither had any service or looked good enough against better players/defenders who marked them out of the game, and prepared to give as good as they got.   They are our two best fit strikers, both far superior to Jackson, so I was happy for them to stay on.   Vaughan back with some pace may threaten that though.

 

Either could have been subbed - but without changing the midfield changing the strikers would have been pointless! 

[Gingerpele 0]

Morison had a better game than Holt? Really? Morison put in one good cross, had one good shot, and thats about all I can remember him doing... I''m not trying to have a go at him, he''s been great this season, but if he had a better game than Holt yesterday, must have been Holts worst performance ever.

[Syteanric 1]

interesting views on here. but to me it seems like he just didnt give a hoot.One of the posts above is correct with a couple of chances, a header he just watched and a chance at the near post that Holt had to get round Gallas to win.It really looked like he just couldnt be bothered....

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

Steve Morison has his head up his arse, he thinks he is better then he actually is. Holt is twice the player.

[ZLF 271]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]Morison had a better game than Holt? Really? Morison put in one good cross, had one good shot, and thats about all I can remember him doing... I''m not trying to have a go at him, he''s been great this season, but if he had a better game than Holt yesterday, must have been Holts worst performance ever.[/quote]

 

Neither were good,  I just thought Morison was marginally more effective than holt (scores prob 5.5 & 5.3 out of 10 - that marginal),  but yes I thought morison offered the team more.

Holt gave loads of energy as usual (a lot more than morison) but offered less to the team in terms of using the ball defending and looking like scoring - just my view.   Not holts worst game ever at all (not what I said or suggested)  but for both of them a million miles from their best, and as I said mainly down a real lack of service.  

[Gingerpele 0]

I just think we never really looked like scoring, only had a couple of good attacks and they seemed to be all about Hoolahan and Surman, so neither striker provided anything in that department apart from one shot each, Morison''s probably slightly better (unless of course the header I think Holt won, was actually Morison, was up the other end of the pitch), and I would just then rate Holt''s work rate and hassling over anything Morison tried to do.

And I didn''t say you said it was Holt''s worst game, I just think that Morison did so little, if he was better than Holt, Holt must have been pretty terrible, obviously we''ve seen it differently, but I was actually quite annoyed at Morison, and seriously hope its a rest he needs because he''s worn out and he wasn''t just putting in no effort for no reason...

[kick it off 1,948]

Funny how things change. I said exactly this after Wolves and was absolutely ripped to shreds on here for having an opinion.

[bringbackandyhughes 0]

Morrison needs dropping to remind him that we are all about team spirit and that nobody is bigger than the team.

He has always given me the impression that he is only in it for himself. His body language is terrible and I''m convinced he would be happy if he scored yet the team lost. He has a similar attitude to Damian Francis did in our last prem campaign.

Purely from watching a lot of our games I get the impression him and Holt are not best of buddies and whilst Morrison may have more raw ability I would have Holty and his team ethic attitude any day of the week over the sulky Morrison.

If someone bid 5 million for him in Jan I would bite their hand off and bring in Rhodes as a replacement.

Quite Frankly he either needs to buy into what we are all about or f@ck off as one rotten apple could ruin everything we are trying to achieve.

[Making Plans 936]

Well the body langauge between Holt & Morison says that they don''t get on terribly well

[Gingerpele 0]

I thought Morison was brilliant against Wolves...

And why does nearly everyone say every hates people having an opinion? There is more moaning about not being allowed an opinion, than people actually saying you can''t have an opinion. Someone disagreeing with you, isn''t saying your not allowed an opinion, it means they think your wrong and there right, which is what everyone does with their opinion, my opinion is right, for me, it may be wrong for everyone else, but for me its what I believe. :P

[bringbackandyhughes 0]

Forgot to say he was petulant at Wolves when he deliberately stood on Johnson near the end of the game which should have resulted in a red card and yesterday in the first half he deliberately tripped Gallas as he made a run in the box for one of their free kicks which was a clear pen if Oliver or his assistant had have opened their eyes.

[SwindonCanary 455]

I also felt he should have been substituted, it was one of his poorer games, I''ve no idea why, but I hope our management team sort it out.

[Howson is now! 0]

I got quite frustrated with someone last night that kept shouting things like "C''MON MORISON, HOLT''S DOING ALL YOUR F****** WORK!" and "TRACK BACK MORISON! GET F****** BACK!"

I''m sorry but that''s not Morison''s game and it never has been. Holt can often make other strikers look bad because his work rate is immense but what''s the point in having two strikers that run all over the shop and aren''t in position. If Holt wants the freedom to do all of the work he does then someone (Morison) has to keep the shape somehow. How often have we seen Holt picking the ball up on the byline and looking to cross in but we don''t have anyone in there because... He should be in there?

I think that''s why Morison and Holt do work so well together. The reliance is no longer on Holt to keep the shape and "be up top" because that''s what Moz is there for. There''s also very few people that put in as much effort as Holt. That''s one of the many reasons we all love him so.

Oh and in response to the cries of "GET BACK," we''ve already got ten men behind the ball, do you actually want any sort of outlet or to just punt it away hopelessly every time for it to come straight back again as nobody is up the field?

I think last night was just very frustrating for both of them as they got very little service and it happens sometimes. I''m sure they''re fine about it now and will work through it over the next two days and be raring to go again come Saturday.

Moz could probably do with a rest soon though because he''s had some brutal lone striker appearances before Holt came back in the side.

[Mello Yello 2,279]

[quote user="lincoln canary"]Steve Morison has his head up his arse, he thinks he is better then he actually is. Holt is twice the player.[/quote]

[Mello Yello 2,279]

[quote user="Mello Yello"][quote user="lincoln canary"]Steve Morison has his head up his arse, he thinks he is better then he actually is. Holt is twice the player.[/quote][/quote]

I agree.....

[Canary Poirot 1]

I thought Morison had a bit of a shocker last night to be honest. Absolutely nothing came off for him. He had a good shot in the first 30 seconds and then it was all down hill from there. Holt looked better throughout. More energy and won a lot of balls against the big Spurs defender Kabul.

Sadly however neither of them looked like scoring in a million years last night. But that''s because they thrive on balls in the box, and we didn''t produce a single quality ball all night. Drury doesn''t have the legs of Tierney to get forward quickly enough, and De Lat looked well off the pace. Crofts also produced some shocking crosses in the first half when some quality could''ve produced a goal from a half chance. To be fair to Crofts though he isn''t an out and out winger, and Drury is not a wingback, and nor is De Lat. So maybe the failure of our strikers last night should be put down to tactical error by Lambert, as Morison and Holt really would''ve benefitted from Pilks and Bennet being on for longer.

As an aside, I also thought we overplayed the ball far too much at times. Quicker more incisive play in the Spurs half might''ve created more chances. But we seemed intent on playing lots of unneccesary flicks farts and fannies to no avail. And when we tried it in our own half, Fox put Martin under immense pressure leading to Bale going clean through in the first half.

But hey, we were playing a far far better team than us. So we did okay, but were a bit below what we could''ve produced.

[marvin the martian 0]

All of a sudden everyone has an NVQ in body language. Presumably Chris Waddle was useless too then. Didn''t anyone hear Iwan after the game ? He said that Holt will chase a paper bag across the pitch but Morison will only go for the ball if he thinks it''s worth it, or he will actually get to it. Iwan didn''t have a big problem with it and I trust his opinion rather than all the people on here who seem to know him ( and his attitude )  

[whoareyou? 0]

Were it not for Morison this season, we would be much nearer the bottom of the League. Shouldn''t we be supporting out  players rather than slagging them off as being lazy and useless? Last night, very few players played to the standards they have shown so far this season.

[smooth 114]

The front had no service or very little supporting runs beyond them by the midfield when they dropped in deep. Both battled well and actually nodded the ball, chested the ball down to our midfielders but they could find a pass to assist in our attacks. I have said it before, these two are probably the best strike partenrship in the premiership with good quality put into the box. If you don''t put in good quality then you are not playing to their strengths. Crofts, Hoolahan, De Laet and Benno regularly supplied poor crosses, the first half down the right offered so many opportunities.

 

I do believe that it isn''t the best partnership, but its the best we have upfront and I agree with the comment above that I believe both are better than S. Jackson, but we could do with another option even with Vaughan returning in January. We are pretty much bare bones in that department and altho they don''t really work alongside each other that well, they will both score goals and give centre halves problems if we supply them with the opportunity to do so.

 

Yes I do think Morison didn''t run around chasing it all, but I agree you can''t run everything down. You also are not going to work your guts off to get the ball only for the midfield to then waste possession immediately. We did that frequently in the second half.

 

Morison has played non stop since the summer, he reportedly had a cold prior to the Wolves game and even with his good showing I doubt has any serious suitors at this stage. To me that arguement is completely null and void. I don''t think any of our starting players have warranted interest that would see them move in this transfer window. Yes they can, including Morison, have suitors but right now we have a striker who has scored goals in a team playing a 4-5-1 and the 4-4-2 alongside Holt. Play to their strengths and they will score, otherwise play Jacko for a change of pace and then I hope in January we look at a striker to come in, to compete with the lean numbers we have for our striking berths.

[Mister Chops 7]

Everyone''s entitled to a bad game now and again.As has been noted, if Morison tracked back like Holt then who would receive the outlet ball to set up the counter?Finally, if you must have an individual scapegoat for the fact we were massively outplayed as a team by a quality Premiership side who kept the ball so easily it wasn''t funny, then at least please spell his name correctly.

[Cappsy 0]

to be fair most of the comments have been structured criticism rather than slagging off Morison. he was very poor and people are outlining the negatives, are we not allowed to that? he is a frustrating player but we all want him to do well.

[hogesar 9,618]

Not a great game from Morison but let''s not pretend it''s all his fault and he needs dropping.Completely different player to Holt and one of the main benefits of having Holt in your team is he will do alot of the running and tracking back up front. This leaves us to have an outlet in Morison. He doesn''t run around constantly nor does he close everything down but he''s got his goals because he is a very good striker.Holt does fantastically well at living off scraps and pulling things out of no-where. Morison on the other hand relies on good service, either to feet or in the air. He got nothing. A striker that relies on service is going to look poor when there is no service to him. Holt probably looked to have had a better game purely because he dropped deep to collect the ball and try to do things with it. They can''t both do that though, or we''d have nobody upfront, see?There''s a reason Morison done alot more running and closing down earlier on in the season - it''s because he was on his own upfront and therefore he had to. He now thankfully has a fantastic striker alongside him who seems more than happy to take that burden off him.If he''d have had one decent ball played through to him and he''d have scored, no one would be complaining about him!

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="hogesar"]If he''d have had one decent ball played through to him and he''d have scored, no one would be complaining about him![/quote]Until he celebrated on his own, obviously.

[Nuff Said 5,089]

Despite his name (never!), bringbackandyhughes is right - Morison has twice made very sly fouls in our box which *could* have resulted in penalties AND red cards. He MUST cut this out.

[TIL 1010 4,722]

I just love all these body language experts as i wonder what they would have made of Super Ted MacDougall.Now there was a lazy so and so if ever i saw one.

[Boyo 0]

Morison is just one of those players who will always be ''lazy''.  He wont chase lost causes and he will look fed up every time he loses the ball but thats just the way he is.  I think its unfair to compare him to Holt because of that.  They are complete opposites.  They both werent very good last night but Holt gets praised more because he looked like he tried harder but to me that shouldn''t be the case because Holt and Morison are two completely different players.  Holt has 7 goals, Morison has 6, thats only one goal different so lets get off his back.

 

It was always going to be hard for the strikers because we played so deep but we still tried to play the ball out of defence and losing it which meant Holt and Morison had no service.  If we lumped it out more times they would have had more to feed on and I think we would have done better.  Its one game where both strikers played badly but Holt gets more praise because he is Holt, the man who would chase a plastic bag across the pitch.  If we had lost 5-1 and Morison had scored I doubt there would be this widespread criticism.