I personally don’t think he’s got it. I hope I’m massively proved wrong and he becomes a mainstay and plays for us in the Premier League. But I just don’t see it.
It will be interesting to see how he does today. Played from the off, pressumably, can he take the game by the scruff of the neck?
Yes he’s young but the likes of Parker were doing that at his age. If he wants to be a top player with us then today is a big moment in staking his claim.
I don’t think many are saying he has the sort of potential Parker did, an England international.
However Morgan at least has the potential to be a key player for us in a League 1 promotion season and become a good Championship player. The likes of Cousins and Fox have spent their careers in the second tier and Morgan could go on to make a bigger impact at that level than either of them.
The academy is there to produce first team players for us, not just the next Parker, Shelvey or Gomez. Morgan has enough about him to do that.
What do you base that assessment on, Sco?
When I think back to Cousins, he came into the side and looked so comfortable playing at this level, whereas Morgan is still struggling to consistently make the grade. Case and point, Cousins made his debut, two months later won the Football League Young Player of the Month and went on to play 47 times that season. He was undroppable.
Morgan can see a pass and play a pass, but as you know, football is a much bigger game than that, and I'm not sure he has showed the general level of footballing ability that Cousins did.
Players develop at different rates. Cousins was your solid all rounder but was limited technically, it’s not surprising he became consistent at a younger age than a creative midfielder.
I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, it’s down to the player, but Morgan is only 21 and the issues of the last few years don’t make a good environment for players to develop in. He could really push on given time now that we’re a club moving forward under an ambitious owner.
If we let him go he’s exactly the type of player who would be picked up by a well run smaller club and improve with games. We could regret not giving him more of a chance.
Is he really any less talented than young midfielders at clubs like Lincoln who have done well, or play good football like MK Dons and Crewe?
The question with Albie is what is his best position. He hasn’t really played attacking mid under Bowyer or Adkins. He is very tidy with the ball and is excellent at placing a pass out wide to the wingers/fullbacks but he hasn’t really shown the creativity or goal scoring ability that you would want in an attacking mid. On the other hand, he has all of the passing, effort and movement you want from a box to box central mid but until he improves his defensive positioning, he probably will best served as a reserve/occasional starter on a club with promotion ambitions
It’s very easy to take a youngster at face value. Let’s not forget Karlan Grant who literally no one rated until he hit 21!
I personally think he’s going to a be cracking player, championship standard for me he will be by the time he’s 23. Next season is his season, it would of been this season had Thomas not came in and helped us pack the squad out. Admittedly he could of done with a proper loan but he’s still managed some minutes.
Bit of ITK here. One thing we’ve not seen yet is his ferocious shot, I know a couple people that played with him through the ranks as a youngster and they swear by it that his shot is his best attribute.
Speak for yourself on not rating Grant - some of us have always had patience with our youngsters.
The question with Albie is what is his best position. He hasn’t really played attacking mid under Bowyer or Adkins. He is very tidy with the ball and is excellent at placing a pass out wide to the wingers/fullbacks but he hasn’t really shown the creativity or goal scoring ability that you would want in an attacking mid. On the other hand, he has all of the passing, effort and movement you want from a box to box central mid but until he improves his defensive positioning, he probably will best served as a reserve/occasional starter on a club with promotion ambitions
Exactly why I think he could really push his career forward if he can have a Parker-esque change of mentality and add that defensive steel to his game. Not saying it’s easy, but Parker added that in to his game in the space of a short loan to Norwich so Albie could too.
The question with Albie is what is his best position. He hasn’t really played attacking mid under Bowyer or Adkins. He is very tidy with the ball and is excellent at placing a pass out wide to the wingers/fullbacks but he hasn’t really shown the creativity or goal scoring ability that you would want in an attacking mid. On the other hand, he has all of the passing, effort and movement you want from a box to box central mid but until he improves his defensive positioning, he probably will best served as a reserve/occasional starter on a club with promotion ambitions
Exactly why I think he could really push his career forward if he can have a Parker-esque change of mentality and add that defensive steel to his game. Not saying it’s easy, but Parker added that in to his game in the space of a short loan to Norwich so Albie could too.
But we were a PL side at the time, and Norwich in what is now the Championship, so one division down
If we were in the Championship next season, I could see the logic of loaning Morgan for half a season to a L1 side, but as we're in L1, surely that's the correct place for him to improve his game?
The question with Albie is what is his best position. He hasn’t really played attacking mid under Bowyer or Adkins. He is very tidy with the ball and is excellent at placing a pass out wide to the wingers/fullbacks but he hasn’t really shown the creativity or goal scoring ability that you would want in an attacking mid. On the other hand, he has all of the passing, effort and movement you want from a box to box central mid but until he improves his defensive positioning, he probably will best served as a reserve/occasional starter on a club with promotion ambitions
Exactly why I think he could really push his career forward if he can have a Parker-esque change of mentality and add that defensive steel to his game. Not saying it’s easy, but Parker added that in to his game in the space of a short loan to Norwich so Albie could too.
But we were a PL side at the time, and Norwich in what is now the Championship, so one division down
If we were in the Championship next season, I could see the logic of loaning Morgan for half a season to a L1 side, but as we're in L1, surely that's the correct place for him to improve his game?
The game has changed a lot since Parker returned from Norwich. If Albie tried some of the crunching tackles Parker added to his game back then, he'd risk getting sent off every game. Albie has always just needed a good run of games. Continually dropping a lad for numerous games, just because they fail to do one thing as instructed, during a given game, shatters their confidence. I've no doubt that if we'd played him more often this season, we'd have easily got the extra few goals that we needed.
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I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, it’s down to the player, but Morgan is only 21 and the issues of the last few years don’t make a good environment for players to develop in. He could really push on given time now that we’re a club moving forward under an ambitious owner.
If we let him go he’s exactly the type of player who would be picked up by a well run smaller club and improve with games. We could regret not giving him more of a chance.
Is he really any less talented than young midfielders at clubs like Lincoln who have done well, or play good football like MK Dons and Crewe?
If we were in the Championship next season, I could see the logic of loaning Morgan for half a season to a L1 side, but as we're in L1, surely that's the correct place for him to improve his game?
If Albie tried some of the crunching tackles Parker added to his game back then, he'd risk getting sent off every game.
Albie has always just needed a good run of games. Continually dropping a lad for numerous games, just because they fail to do one thing as instructed, during a given game, shatters their confidence.
I've no doubt that if we'd played him more often this season, we'd have easily got the extra few goals that we needed.