Neither, both out the door for me. Just think we need somebody stronger and far more consistent in that role alongside Dobbo and Fraser if we want a promotion push next season. That said if we are going to be shopping in Poundland to find an alternative, I would a bit reluctantly stick with Morgan, as we know you can get a tune out of him sometimes.
Albie is fine to be a backup. He is better than a lot of the dross backup midfielders that are in this league. He is just not good enough to start if you have any ambition for promotion.
100% would offer him a new contract. For us to finish in top 2 we would probably have to double our wage bill to compete with biggest spenders.
Zero guarantee we are going to get better on a free transfer. For me it’s how do we ensure we get additional 20+ points next season to finish 5th or 6th. Worrying about promotion means we are competing for automatic promotion IMO. Don’t trust recruitment to do anything expect the bare minimum.
Assists aren’t the best way to compare how creative players are. A player could set up plenty of decent chances but other players miss them.
Morgan tends to take set pieces when he plays, and some of the recent games have been mid table games where neither club has anything to play for.
There are also assists that have little to do with creativity, e.g. winning a loose ball and laying off to a player or a mis hit shot that falls to a striker who scores like Leaburn’s tap in the other day.
Good to see him get a decent return but you’d have to look into a lot more to work out which midfielders are our most creative.
Assists aren’t the best way to compare how creative players are. A player could set up plenty of decent chances but other players miss them.
Morgan tends to take set pieces when he plays, and some of the recent games have been mid table games where neither club has anything to play for.
There are also assists that have little to do with creativity, e.g. winning a loose ball and laying off to a player or a mis hit shot that falls to a striker who scores like Leaburn’s tap in the other day.
Good to see him get a decent return but you’d have to look into a lot more to work out which midfielders are our most creative.
I hate to be that guy but you can look at xA (expected assists), ie who is creating the most expected goals to get a better representation.
Assists aren’t the best way to compare how creative players are. A player could set up plenty of decent chances but other players miss them.
Morgan tends to take set pieces when he plays, and some of the recent games have been mid table games where neither club has anything to play for.
There are also assists that have little to do with creativity, e.g. winning a loose ball and laying off to a player or a mis hit shot that falls to a striker who scores like Leaburn’s tap in the other day.
Good to see him get a decent return but you’d have to look into a lot more to work out which midfielders are our most creative.
I hate to be that guy but you can look at xA (expected assists), ie who is creating the most expected goals to get a better representation.
Isn't that on its self evidence of a different problem? To get an XA there has to be an XG doesn't there?
If a winger plays the ball across the goal, think Gazza against Germany, if he touches it its 90% a goal, so 0.9XG and by default 0.9XA? No touch no XG, therefore no XA.
That's an extreme example but if the center foward was further away, which has been the case a lot this season, its the same principle. No XA through no fault of the "creator".
The point is to get a XA there has to be a shot on goal of some description so it doesn't account for no one being there or perfectly good supply being scuppered by falling over, taking a bad first touch, being beaten to the ball, an air shot or any other thing we have seen too much of this season.
The goals we don't score aren't because we don't make enough chances, per say, it's more that we cock it up before it actually counts as a chance.
That's absolutely fair but it's a lot harder to quantify.
I think there's possibly a problem in both areas - we all know how poor (Leaburn aside) our forward options have been this season but I don't think bad strikers can be the sole problem when you've got, at best, 40th and 33rd from your regular starters/contributors in the expected assist rankings. Payne is the outlier in 12th from xA per 90 because he's played far fewer minutes.
Rak-Sakhi is predominantly a goal scoring wide attacker rather than an assister. 9 times out of 10 (or whatever) he'll cut inside to have a shot, rather than go on the outside to put a cross in
If anything what those stats highlight is that Fraser, the most attacking of our midfielders, whether it's his fault or the players around him, isn't creating enough. It's interesting that Morgan actually has a higher xA per 90 than him.
On holiday and not sure if he even played but seeing as we beat the mighty MKD then I’m sure Bonne deserves a new contract too. And let’s not forget Gilbey either.
A 1-0 victory against 19th and people pop out of the woodwork desperate to keep the dross that got us midtable League One in the first place.
No thanks.
Yet very quick to criticise when we lost to 2nd place HMS buy the league?
Because that should be our competition and it showed how far we were behind.
Some people are happy being midtable League One I suppose.
Did I say I was happy?
Like you I would love an infinite transfer kitty… we don’t and never will do under Thomas now. I’m not going to play the game of “who should we get rid of and replace with 1st team players”
On holiday and not sure if he even played but seeing as we beat the mighty MKD then I’m sure Bonne deserves a new contract too. And let’s not forget Gilbey either.
You're on holiday and you choose to come on a footy forum to slag off a player that didn't play and another who isn't here?!
On holiday and not sure if he even played but seeing as we beat the mighty MKD then I’m sure Bonne deserves a new contract too. And let’s not forget Gilbey either.
You're on holiday and you choose to come on a footy forum to slag off a player that didn't play and another who isn't here?!
Yep. Don’t rate Morgan and I don’t rate Bonne. Sorry if that doesn’t suit your narrative.
On holiday and not sure if he even played but seeing as we beat the mighty MKD then I’m sure Bonne deserves a new contract too. And let’s not forget Gilbey either.
You're on holiday and you choose to come on a footy forum to slag off a player that didn't play and another who isn't here?!
Yep. Don’t rate Morgan and I don’t rate Bonne. Sorry if that doesn’t suit your narrative.
I don't rate Bonne, but I also don't come on here to whinge about players when I'm on Holiday 🤣
A 1-0 victory against 19th and people pop out of the woodwork desperate to keep the dross that got us midtable League One in the first place.
No thanks.
Yet very quick to criticise when we lost to 2nd place HMS buy the league?
Because that should be our competition and it showed how far we were behind.
Some people are happy being midtable League One I suppose.
Nobody is happy being midtable in League 1, however many of us understand that some players have room to grow and could be useful still in future.
We all know we need at least 10 new players to have a chance of competing for top of the league.
Ipswich played very well and would have troubled anyone in either L1 or the championship.
MKD were unbeaten in 7 according to Brownie.
Maybe just learn to enjoy a moment.
Dean Holden will unlikely feel the same as any of us about who he wants to keep or move on. We as fans and supporters have no power over it.
And if this were Morgan's first or second season I would give him the chance.
Fact is, every single time Morgan comes in the team the pattern goes = plays well, drops off, is very bad, gets dropped ----> comes back and plays well, drops off, is very bad, gets dropped.
I've been watching him for 3 years and it's the same story. It's boring and he doesn't show the consistency required to be a challenging for play-off/promotion player.
Comments
Hopefully we'll have better players or we need to have better players coming in, if we're serious about being promoted next season.
Said the same last year when he ended up with the most assists in our team... If Morgan is the problem in the Midfield
Its saying a lot about the rest of our "creative" players
There are also assists that have little to do with creativity, e.g. winning a loose ball and laying off to a player or a mis hit shot that falls to a striker who scores like Leaburn’s tap in the other day.
Good to see him get a decent return but you’d have to look into a lot more to work out which midfielders are our most creative.
xA leaders at CAFC:
Rak-Sakyi: 3.5
Fraser: 3.3
Blackett-Taylor: 2.8
Morgan: 2.4
Payne: 2.3
xA per 90 mins:
Payne: 0.18
Blackett-Taylor: 0.15
Morgan: 0.12
Rak-Sakyi: 0.10
Fraser: 0.09
This exposes a huge flaw in our team when you take a look at the xA leaders:
1. Bannan (SWFC): 11.6
2. Collins (BRFC): 9.5
3. Davis (ITFC): 9.4
4. Ward (PUFC): 7.6
5. Worrall (PVFC): 6.3
…
& per 90 mins:
1. Bannan: 0.35
2. Davis: 0.28
3. Worrall: 0.26
4. Collins: 0.25
5. Ward: 0.24
…
12. Payne: 0.18
…
33. Blackett-Taylor: 0.15
If a winger plays the ball across the goal, think Gazza against Germany, if he touches it its 90% a goal, so 0.9XG and by default 0.9XA? No touch no XG, therefore no XA.
That's an extreme example but if the center foward was further away, which has been the case a lot this season, its the same principle. No XA through no fault of the "creator".
The point is to get a XA there has to be a shot on goal of some description so it doesn't account for no one being there or perfectly good supply being scuppered by falling over, taking a bad first touch, being beaten to the ball, an air shot or any other thing we have seen too much of this season.
The goals we don't score aren't because we don't make enough chances, per say, it's more that we cock it up before it actually counts as a chance.
I think there's possibly a problem in both areas - we all know how poor (Leaburn aside) our forward options have been this season but I don't think bad strikers can be the sole problem when you've got, at best, 40th and 33rd from your regular starters/contributors in the expected assist rankings. Payne is the outlier in 12th from xA per 90 because he's played far fewer minutes.
If anything what those stats highlight is that Fraser, the most attacking of our midfielders, whether it's his fault or the players around him, isn't creating enough. It's interesting that Morgan actually has a higher xA per 90 than him.
No thanks.
I've championed the lad since 2018/2019 and I still think with the right coach he'll grow. He's 22. Not 27/28.
Some people are happy being midtable League One I suppose.
that’s a fantasy
We all know we need at least 10 new players to have a chance of competing for top of the league.
Ipswich played very well and would have troubled anyone in either L1 or the championship.
MKD were unbeaten in 7 according to Brownie.
Maybe just learn to enjoy a moment.
Dean Holden will unlikely feel the same as any of us about who he wants to keep or move on. We as fans and supporters have no power over it.
Fact is, every single time Morgan comes in the team the pattern goes = plays well, drops off, is very bad, gets dropped ----> comes back and plays well, drops off, is very bad, gets dropped.
I've been watching him for 3 years and it's the same story. It's boring and he doesn't show the consistency required to be a challenging for play-off/promotion player.