Clinton - The great Pretender?

Listening to the analysis after the game, Liam Brady's comment about Clinton Morrison really struck a chord with me.
He said that Morrison always looks like he's chasing a ball, making an effort etc but he doesn't.
I've always thought that Morrison spent more time complaining to officials or other players due to his own inabilities.
He throws all the right shapes on the pitch, the anquished look, the forlorn look and gives the more 'sinned against that sinning' look.
Although Morrison scored a couple of goals for us in the last campaign my abiding memories of him are being caught offside, falling on his ass, giving away countless frees for backing into his marker and generally whinging.
Clinton talks a great fight.................but is he just 'the great pretender'???

Doyle is the classier player and is the future for us. Morrisson is now a squad member in my view and is back up to Doyle.

I'd agree with everything in the original post.

Morrison got some great goals against the Swiss but in essence he's all huff and puff.
He can't do the very basics of a good centre forward, ie hold the ball up and lay it off for oncoming midfielders or knock it out to the wingers.Invariably he ends up on his ass or he gives away a free.
Brady's point was good.Morrision always seems to be chasing after the ball when really he should be anticpating passes and getting on the ball first time.
Before it was a choice between him and Doc to partner Keane but now with the emergence of Doyle, Elliot and Murphy it should be time to say adios to Clints.

i like him and like his passion , i sincerely hope doyle overtakes him as clinton is a limited player and hopefully doyle isnt , but i certainly think clinto's career with us is far from over , he will always be in the frame and has an eye for goal. there will be no adios to clinto as far as i am concerned , he will always be an option on our bench

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hold the ball up and lay it off for oncoming midfielders or knock it out to the wingers

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Well Morrison did it superbly well against France in Paris.
Any one of 10 players performances could have been dissected and slaughtered. He was selected in games gone by because he was the best on offer after Robbie. Now he isn't 2nd best, that doesn't mean he's totally shíte. He's adequate for the squad and adequate as a sub should injuries happen.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Well Morrison did it superbly well against France in Paris.
Any one of 10 players performances could have been dissected and slaughtered. He was selected in games gone by because he was the best on offer after Robbie. Now he isn't 2nd best, that doesn't mean he's totally shíte. He's adequate for the squad and adequate as a sub should injuries happen.

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I remember clearly the momentum of that game shifting as soon as Morrisson went off. It was probably his best performance in an Irish jersey...he held up the ball well, won headers and generally made a nuisance of himself.
Having said that, Doyle can do all the things Morrisson is supposed to do, only better. And he doesn't fall on his arse as much :)

Morrisons record is 9 goals in 35 internationals which isn't too bad however i do not know what his competitive record is. Brady was correct about Morrison & could see seen perfectly in the last 2 home internationals under Kerr - he spends so much time bitching to the ref about non-fouls that he doesn't get the ones he actaully fouled - bit of the crying wolf about him.

While his past record may have been ok his last year or so he has been very poor & now barely entitled to a squad place.

He is a one trick pony - kick the ball into the corner & he will chase & hold up on a good day. On a bad day he will fall over claiming a foul.

Yeah I feel just cause Doyle should get the nod over Morrisson this is no reason to discard Morrisson totally, he still has a role as back up to Doyle in my view.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Well Morrison did it superbly well against France in Paris.
Any one of 10 players performances could have been dissected and slaughtered. He was selected in games gone by because he was the best on offer after Robbie. Now he isn't 2nd best, that doesn't mean he's totally shíte. He's adequate for the squad and adequate as a sub should injuries happen.

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Sure, he's done it in a few games but the majority of the time he's woeful and way out of his depth.
An average/good championship striker at best.Flopped in the Premiership and defintely not international quality.

its having the likes of that mercenary who decided he was Irish when England didnt pick him(as if!) that makes the "nstional" team a source of great anger for me.

That team does not represent me.

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Originally Posted by Pablo

its having the likes of that mercenary who decided he was Irish when England didnt pick him(as if!) that makes the "nstional" team a source of great anger for me.
That team does not represent me.

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Mercenary sh'te again. Why don't you go elsewhere with your resentful angst. I couldn't care less

Think that sums him up alright...

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Originally Posted by Pablo

its having the likes of that mercenary who decided he was Irish when England didnt pick him(as if!) that makes the "nstional" team a source of great anger for me.

That team does not represent me.

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In fairness, Morrison is probably the only 1 of the 20 odd players called up against Holland that would have chose another country over Ireland (even world champions Italy had 1 in Camoranesi). It's certainly a lot different than the Charlton days. I don't think we'll ever see so many foreigners in our team again due to the fact that international "wages" in comparison to club wages is pretty tiny these days and premiership players earn more than enough. So, if you stopped supporting the team under Charlton you can come back to us now! ;)

I don't like Morrison as a player. He's a poor mans Drogba and I can't stand Drogba's style of play.

Clinton is not our greatest player and we can probably start to dispense with him. However he was chosen at a time when we had v slim pickings with strikers. All we had for a while was Robbie, the Doc (obviously not a striker) and Connolly (a failure at international level).

I think this is how we should use the Granny rule. Irish born players (including people like Kilbane and Breen) should be Pot A. If we can get the right number of players of an acceptable class from this pot then great. If not, we should dip into Pot B. At present we should be using Pot B for a Centre back and a defensive midfielder but not for someone like McSheffrey who we dont need.

I think there is hope in these areas (e.g McShane, McCarthy in defense and Garvan, Miller and Douglas in midfield) but for a variety of reasons I dont think they are going to be of help in this campaign. So we should try to get some 2nd Generation players of the quality of Zat Knight ( I know he's not eligible) to fill in. Once the others come through we can dump them!

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Originally Posted by cavan_fan

Clinton is not our greatest player and we can probably start to dispense with him. However he was chosen at a time when we had v slim pickings with strikers. All we had for a while was Robbie, the Doc (obviously not a striker) and Connolly (a failure at international level).

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We also had Niall Quinn then. Connolly's international goal scoring record is about 1 in 4 matches (considering he was a sub in quite a few of them, thats not that bad)...which is better than Doyle and Elliott (his record), and about equal with Morrison (Not the best point against Doyle and Elliott, because they have about 10 caps between them, but it is true). Doherty is a pretty good defender, and if we are streched, he can play forward if he has to, but its not his natural position. Morrison is a pretty good player, who has scored goals at all levels of football, no need to drop him, but he shouldnt start

I think the problem with Clinton is that he doesn't fully grasp the idea of football ie to put the ball in the back of the oppositions net as often as possible.
When he gets the ball his first thought is to hit the ground and look for a free instead of looking for a free player or the goal.
Doyle is a far better alternative. Hope the squad is never as depleted as it was on wednesday night and that we never see Clinton starting again.

Morisson is a poor footballer with no trace of a footballing brain.He loses the ball far to easily and vanishes up his hole when things get tough.He didn't want to play for Ireland and should never have been picked

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I don't like Morrison as a player. He's a poor mans Drogba and I can't stand Drogba's style of play.

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Exactly.

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Originally Posted by DotTV

Sure, he's done it in a few games but the majority of the time he's woeful and way out of his depth.
An average/good championship striker at best.Flopped in the Premiership and defintely not international quality.

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I don't dissagree. He was 2nd best after Robbie, since Quinn retired. Because he was second best doesn't mean I think the world of him or that he is quality. Far from it.

He's a moaner, looking for frees but no more or less than Robbie does.

What gets me is now he's 4th maybe 5th so feckin what, whats the urge to dump all this antipathy on him. Most of ye didn't blink an eye when he was the only partner available for Robbie and selected. Happy enough that his limited talent was there rather than the Doc. and with the odd important goal.
Now there's a queue of young strikers, better prospects, and it's okay feck off you were always a brainless shíte.
As Giles says "football is a cruel game" :)

Don't be bring Connolly into this debate. He is useless & always will be. Wigan spent 3m on him but never played him in the Premiership as preferred midfielders in attack instead of him. BTW Connolly only scored against minnows & friendlies.