Albie Morgan - diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (p63)

Personally think there's a few rewriting history about Morgan's performances last season. He's somehow gone from 'will he ever reach that level?' to 'will he ever reach that level again?'

EugenesAxe said:

Croydon said:

Personally think there's a few rewriting history about Morgan's performances last season. He's somehow gone from 'will he ever reach that level?' to 'will he ever reach that level again?'

Gaslighting is rife these days particularly on social media 😉 

You're mad. Just need to be a bit more rational.

Croydon said:

Personally think there's a few rewriting history about Morgan's performances last season. He's somehow gone from 'will he ever reach that level?' to 'will he ever reach that level again?'

The last 2 games of last season he came on for JFC early, then took his place.  He came second in the statbank marks, in both games.

I thought that was his "coming of age" at the time.  Obviously I was wrong. 

Dazzler21 said:

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

I don't think it's fair to say Morgan isn't bothered enough. From a report last December it is apparent that he lost 10 Kg during lockdown in a bid to up his mobility around the pitch.  He was also quoted as saying, "I’ve worked on quite a few things – my weight, my fitness, my tracking back and my defensive positioning. I know I’m not perfect in any of them, but I’ve come a long way".

Steve Avory speaking last May to the SLP said that Morgan has a genuine love of the game.  He always wanted the ball at his feet from the age of 8 when he joined the academy.  Avory said Morgan was a bit of a Maverick in his younger days and even encouraged it to some extent, but this came at a cost to the out of possession part of his game.  During the interview Avory made reference to disappointment.  Disappointment is unavoidable in football and unfortunately, it’s been a persistent presence in Morgan’s fledgling professional career.

Who knows if Morgan can make it.  Will something suddenly click and everything fall into place?  I don't think that is going to happen here any time soon.  I think it's time for a loan spell / move to a club where he could get regular first team football.  He has ability, but at 21 he needs to make it count. 

Karlan's penny drop happened towards the end of his Crawley loan. He was 20/21 at the start of the season alongside Taylor... Karlan had pace, but his finishing was awful to that point. 

A stint in League two in January could be just the ticket needed for Albie's penny to drop. If it doesn't occur or he doesn't get more positively consistent then sadly I see no way back for him, unless he rebuilds elsewhere.

Since 2018, he's played 67 first team games for us, assisted 9 and scored just the one. Would he have been used that much if there was no chance of him making it? Those closer to the game, with a focus on success have believed he could do it, now it's up to him to show them the same attitude he did last summer to come back fitter, faster and stronger. 

He's got to be at last chance saloon so maintaining a high level consistently will be the make or break for him.

This Karlan Grant myth is up there with the Charlton Fans forced Curbishley out nonsense that still gets trotted out. 

One of the most frustrating things about Morgan is that most can see there is something there. It is more than possible that it will all click into place at some point but I fear that it won't be for us.

Exiled_Addick said:

Dazzler21 said:

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

I don't think it's fair to say Morgan isn't bothered enough. From a report last December it is apparent that he lost 10 Kg during lockdown in a bid to up his mobility around the pitch.  He was also quoted as saying, "I’ve worked on quite a few things – my weight, my fitness, my tracking back and my defensive positioning. I know I’m not perfect in any of them, but I’ve come a long way".

Steve Avory speaking last May to the SLP said that Morgan has a genuine love of the game.  He always wanted the ball at his feet from the age of 8 when he joined the academy.  Avory said Morgan was a bit of a Maverick in his younger days and even encouraged it to some extent, but this came at a cost to the out of possession part of his game.  During the interview Avory made reference to disappointment.  Disappointment is unavoidable in football and unfortunately, it’s been a persistent presence in Morgan’s fledgling professional career.

Who knows if Morgan can make it.  Will something suddenly click and everything fall into place?  I don't think that is going to happen here any time soon.  I think it's time for a loan spell / move to a club where he could get regular first team football.  He has ability, but at 21 he needs to make it count. 

Karlan's penny drop happened towards the end of his Crawley loan. He was 20/21 at the start of the season alongside Taylor... Karlan had pace, but his finishing was awful to that point. 

A stint in League two in January could be just the ticket needed for Albie's penny to drop. If it doesn't occur or he doesn't get more positively consistent then sadly I see no way back for him, unless he rebuilds elsewhere.

Since 2018, he's played 67 first team games for us, assisted 9 and scored just the one. Would he have been used that much if there was no chance of him making it? Those closer to the game, with a focus on success have believed he could do it, now it's up to him to show them the same attitude he did last summer to come back fitter, faster and stronger. 

He's got to be at last chance saloon so maintaining a high level consistently will be the make or break for him.

This Karlan Grant myth is up there with the Charlton Fans forced Curbishley out nonsense that still gets trotted out. 

Grant had already started to score goals and was playing well for us, albeit with limited opportunities given to him by Robinson, BEFORE he went on loan to Crawley. 

Myth?

14/15
He scored 0 goals in his breakthrough season  14/15 playing 5 championship and 1 FA cup game which is fair enough.
15/16
He then scored 1 & assisted 1 in 17 championship games, supplementing this with 3 league cup games where he scored 2 and assisted 1. 
16/17
He then played 12 league one games and scored 0 and got 1 assist the next season across League 1, EFL Trophy and League Cup. 
17/18
His next season he played 22 league one games, scoring 1, assisting 1. In the cups he played 5 EFL Trophy games G2, A1, 2 FA Cup, g1, A0 and two League cup games, g0, a0
His stats as a forward were Played 69 GS 7 and GA 5. 

He was not consistent and on occasion his shooting accuracy was woeful, but we could all see he had bits. He had pace, he had power, he had some trickery something was missing though. He admitted himself going out on loan to League Two forced him to have a penny drop moment. He had to be more mature in his game, read it better. 

He joined Crawley and P15 GS9 A0. Something had changed. 

He carried that into the 18/19 season playing 42 games between L1 (28), FA Cup (1*) & the PL (13**) GS 18 (14, 0*, 4**) A5 (4,0*, 1**), ever since he has been back at championship level and done well. He is the player he described.  

Back to Albie though, I know it's different his role is very different for a start. A midfielder's job is arguably harder to hide a bad game. A striker for instance can get a lucky deflection and their bad game is forgotten.  A midfielder though, people seem to focus on everything but their goals. 

Johnnie Jackson once said something like "15 (may have been 13) goals from midfield doesn't get you in the top 3 players of the year"

If such a loan could do the same for Albie, then we could be onto a winner. I have some serious doubts he will make it with us. Of course I do. You'd be blind not to at least question it, however he hasn't been released and won't be costing us much. If Avory thinks he can still cut it and he's still being kept around the first team by those in the game... Maybe just maybe it can click for the lad. 

Yes I'm an optimist and so many of you hate optimism, but I think our own deserve that extra bit of leeway that we don't give outsiders that haven't come through the club. Albie however with this in mind must be hanging on to the last threads of opportunity. 

It's just more excuses in here though, the list for Morgan has included he doesn't start enough games, it's Bowyer's fault for what he said, it's Adkins' fault for being rubbish, it's the players around him (though I'd argue the only time he ever looked competent was when he had the likes of Cullen and Bielik making him look better).

Saturday was yet another chance that has gone by and there are very few left for him to turn it around. There's no doubting he works hard and from the post earlier sounds like he works hard in training but something just isn't right. If he has the talent he hasn't been showing it for quite some time, if it's something at the club well that isn't changing so it's pretty much at the point everyone has to move on.

Grant scored 4 goals in his final 12 games for us before going on loan. Yes 2 of those came in the EFL Trophy but he’d been on a long goal drought and after he broke that with a goal vs Peterborough he started to build momentum from there. The Crawley loan helped him but the narrative is left Charlton as a waste of space and had some kind of road to Damascus moment at Crawley that turned his entire career around. The truth is he was already starting to mature and show the early signs of what was to come before he went to Crawley. 

Exiled_Addick said:

Grant scored 4 goals in his final 12 games for us before going on loan. Yes 2 of those came in the EFL Trophy but he’d been on a long goal drought and after he broke that with a goal vs Peterborough he started to build momentum from there. The Crawley loan helped him but the narrative is left Charlton as a waste of space and had some kind of road to Damascus moment at Crawley that turned his entire career around. The truth is he was already starting to mature and show the early signs of what was to come before he went to Crawley.  

He said it himself 🤣

SantaClaus said:

I don't know whether Albie makes it with us, another club or not at all but the guy went out of his way to be nice to my son a couple of years ago and I'll always be very grateful and wish him well. Oh and that reverse pass he played to Conor Gallagher against Blackburn, not many players have that in their locker.

That's the real crux of the matter for me. It does look like there is (the makings of) a player in there somewhere but for whatever reason, Bowyer, Adkins and now apparently Jackson don't seem able to find it consistently (and both the former two did have successful periods so it isn't just "bad management" either.)

Sometimes you get a player who just "fits" a certain club - Leko at Charlton for example. Perhaps that works both ways and Morgan needs to find that right position at the right club but sadly Charlton right now does not appear to be either. 

Chunes said:

Dazzler21 said:

Chunes said:

RedRobin said:

Todds_right_hook said:

RedRobin said:

I’d swap him for Brendan Wiredu all day long, released the wrong player by the looks of things. 

What’s wiredu Done to warrant a place in a league 1 squad?

Currently the best player in league 2, Colchester fans are raving about him and fully expect him to be their POTY and snapped up by a Championship team. What’s Albie done to warrant a place in the team? Struggling against non-league opposition, Wiredu is making strides, be it in the league below but will be playing at higher level soon, where else Albie will be struggling to find a club to take him on loan in non-league. 

I think we have a buy-back clause for Wiredu so if he's that good I hope he's coming back here rather than anywhere else.

Possibly more likely since Bow moved on from what I heard regarding disagreements with his agent. 

Confirmed, we do:

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/colchester-sign-brendan-wiredu-but-addicks-insert-buy-back-clause-in-deal/

This is one the club are looking to move on either in January or the summer. The buy-back clause is a small one.

If I was JJ, I would see the Pizza Cup as a last chance to unlock Morgan's potential. I think it is worth trying even if ultimately there is a slim chance of success. What Morgan has to do is show that when the inevitable injury or suspension comes for Gilbey or Lee, he can step in. At this moment his priority has to push in front of players in front of him to do that.

I would go through the Pizza game cup last season in that game with Brighton with him (i think) and say, that is your game Albie that is what you have to bring to the next  level.

Scoham said:

I do wonder what might have been in 17/18 had Bowyer taken over earlier and played Grant up front. We’d have still lacked that physical player in midfield (Pratley/Bielik) but Grant’s pace rather than a lone Magennis would probably have improved us. Grant was never a lone striker or wide player, at least not back then and in L1,

This is the thing is it.  Everyone could see that Grant how potential in a front 2, or even as a front 1 in the right system.  We know why he didn't get a run in the first team, in the right position.  It happens.  It will probably happen to one or two of our current squad now. 

The 3 managers Morgan has had couldn't even agree with themselves, let alone each other, were his best position was. 

Maybe let’s get behind him. Lots of young players aren’t ready at his age - let’s will him
to succeed.  In my view, he’s getting a tougher ride than some other
players of far greater experience.  I am
not denying that he’s been poor but he’s had good games in the past and can be good again. 

We run the risk of over scrutinising him at the moment. We've won our last few games, he hasn't featured in them. We don't really need him in the 1st 11 at the moment.