Michael Morrison has been hailed as a genius signing, made just a week into Gary Rowett’s tenure as Birmingham City manager.
Initially a loan signing, the 27 year old joined in October and made 10 appearances before being signed permanently by the club. Since then, except for a light period of absence with an injury, he made further 11 appearances as Birmingham earned 10th place.
So just how influential was Morrison to Birmingham? of course it is an easy answer, he was massively important in installing confidence at the back and that spread right throughout the team.
So lets move ahead of that and look at where he might stand against one of last seasons inform centre-halves, Christophe Berra of Ipswich Town.
First and foremost, it needs to be mentioned that Berra made 47 appearances (4189 minutes), whilst Morrison made 21 (1821 mins).
The following figures are averages per game,
Tackles – Berra 1.7; Morrison 1.4
Interceptions – 2.7; 2
Fouls – 1.2; 0.4
Clearances – 11.4; 5.8
Blocks – 1.2; 0.8
I think it is fair to say from the stats above, that Morrison can certainly hold his own with one of the best defenders in the league when it comes to getting a solid amount of clear tackles in per game.
Again with interceptions, as an average he is not far off the Ipswich man. This stat is always a good indication of a switched on defender who reads the game well.
In the fouls department Morrison really does well. So many dead ball situations not only put the team under pressure but often result in goals for the opposition. It is certainly good reading to see Morrison does not given too many fouls away, given the position he plays.
On the clearances note, this could be a reflection on how many more games Berra played and that he simply faced more crosses. But honestly looking at the evidence it maybe suggests that in terms of being right up there with the best of them, he isn’t getting the same amount of crosses away.
And finally, we see that in terms of blocks, Morrison is near enough getting in the way of a goal every other game. Given that Blues are quite deep and compact, it may be the case that the midfielder’s are also getting the blocks in.
In summary, it is very clear how important Morrison is to the team and just how vital he will be in building the team over the next few years. Birmingham are aiming upwards and on this evidence they have a defender that will be well matched for that ambition.
What do you think of Morrison and how he will measure up against some of the better defenders in the league?
Source – WhoScored.com
