Not anything to do with stats but another reason to like Morgan is he showed great loyalty in staying with us when we dropped down to Lg1. Seem to remember at the time that he was concerned that being in Lg1 would risk his national team chances but he still stayed
Good point GoSaint! He's proving to be a vital member of the team. Can't be long before he gets some national recognition.
I am and always have been excited about Morgan as a player .He was always the one who you felt would translate his talent to the top flight with little effort.Sadly I have to say stats do a lot less for me many times stats often flatter to deceive.
He is quality, however Nigel should keep him behind every day for shooting practise. I said this a lot last season; if he could shoot he would be heading towards world class and the complete midfielder. Take the Fulham match. He intercepts the ball 10 seconds into the game mid way into their half, strides forward 5 yards with time and space and then slices one ten yards wide.
Fran. Behave. I have been a fan from day one. He is a class act, and playing where he does is just coming into his prime. He is going to be awesome, and his loyalty will be tested further.
Many of us could see that Morgan was destined for the top when we originally signed him as 'one for the future'. When we consider how effective he has been so far this season and the great article about Lallana it makes me feel so positive about our team. I also admire them both for their loyalty shown to the club despite our low points. After all, loyalty is a word that is not that common in football nowadays. Thanks Morgan and Adam!
With all of these incredible two-way midfielders running all over the pitch, I'm not surprised Saints are at the top of the table. I hope we lead the league in distance run, tackles and interceptions all season.
I agree with the point about practicing finishing. Lala could do with the same. But there's plenty of positives to take here. Now if we could just stop our defence switching off we'd be a real handful for anyone.
It's not just down to the defence. Midfielders have to play their part as well. I thought we were good at this in the lower leagues...midfielders tracking back when needed. This is an area that needs working on if the defence can't cope...especially if we have a precious lead.
Ok negative spin on this. If Morgan's playing this well and from these stats the best holding midfielder in Europe and we are still shipping goals then when he has an off day we are totally screwed.
Yeah not even sure why I posted that feeling very hungover just want a couch day and the wife's dragging to tescos so feeling grumpy. #willtrytocheerup
Half of our problem there I think is that we often play too deep and thus opponents have room to play.
Or we don't hold our shape too well in midfield with people drifting a little (Adam) and this we are easier to breakdown. Against Fulham we did sit back at times but in the other games we seemed to be chasing te ball higher up the pitch.
Schneiderlin is an outstanding footballer and still vastly underrated outside the club - long may it stay that way!
If you don't want to go to Tesco's with your wife...leave her at home. Bet she doesn't want to go either.
Schneiderlin intercepts passes in part because teams do not care if he intercepts passes. He covers a lot of distance because opposing teams are quite happy to have him run all over the field chasing balls, as opposed to being able to stroll leisurely about the pitch. Our midfield, including Schneiderlin, has been largely ineffective. It's not all their fault of course. But these gaudy stats being put up are not indicative of Schneiderlin being an excellent player so much as the fact that our tactics are not working.
