Morrison comes good back in Albion
A promising game by English midfielder Morrison gives Lazio win in pre-season friendly
Also on this day: July 31, 1999, Lazio Atletico Madrid 3-1. Lazio win but struggle against Colchonero reserves. Take a look at the history of the Amsterdam Tournament
The season so far
Lazio had finished 8th in 2015 -16. They had started under Stefano Pioli but he had been replaced by Simone Inzaghi after 31 matches. They had failed to get through the Champions League preliminary round, losing 1-3 to Bayer Leverkusen on aggregate and losing the Supercoppa final 0-2 to Juventus. For this season Inzaghi had been confirmed after initial choice Marcelo Bielsa had changed his mind after only a few days.
So far in the summer transfer market Lazio had signed defenders Jordan Lukaku (Oostende) and Wallace (Braga). In attack Lazio had signed Ciro Immobile (Sevilla). Lazio fans hoped other signings would follow to face a tough season ahead
Some players had left Lazio: the end of contract for Edson Braafheid, Abdoulay Konko, Stefano Mauri plus Miroslav Klose had retired. Defender Santiago Gentiletti had gone to Genoa. More were to leave over the summer.
Brighton were in the Championship (2nd tier). They had a good season in 2015-16 and finished 3rd under Chris Hughton. This season the former Tottenham legend had been confirmed and the Seagulls had Premier League ambitions (they had gone close in 2013, 2014 and 2015). Some of their better-known players were defenders Lewis Dunk, Bruno, Connor Goldson and a young Fikayo Tomori, midfielders Solly March, Anthony Knockaert and Oliver Norwood and strikers Tomer Hemed, Shane Duffy and Glenn Murray.
The match: Sunday, July 31, 2016, Falmer Stadium, Brighton
A 4 o'clock kick-off attracted about 10,000 spectators in the seaside town and about 400 Lazio fans.
The home side started strongly taking advantage of their more advanced fitness levels. After only three minutes a free kick from just outside the left vertex of the area was headed towards goal by Glenn Murray but it was slapped away by Etrit Berisha. Lazio responded with a Filip Djordjevic header.
Brighton pushed forward more and Lazio were sometimes in difficulty, also due to several mistakes by Wesley Hoedt. Lazio were less harmonious and struggled on the wings where Senad Lulic was not at decent fitness yet and Riccardo Kishna was too timid and hesitant. The liveliest for the Biancocelesti was Ravel Morrison who was always at the heart of Lazio's initiatives.
In the 27th minute it was in fact the Englishman who gave Lazio the lead. A clearance from the home side's defence went up in the air and Morrison waited for it to come down and hit a low volley past David Stockdale. Brighton 0 Lazio 1.
The game continued at a good pace but without many goal scoring chances. Lazio seemed content to practice defending and Djordjevic was a bit isolated up front. It was however a physical and competitive game, what you want from a summer friendly.
In the second half Brighton made less changes than Lazio, who by the 64th minute had already made five. The fact that Brighton's season was about to start meant they had already shuffled things around in previous friendlies.
A curious fact occurred in the 61st minute when Brighton suddenly changed from their classic blue and white shirts into black ones. The traditional ones maybe were too similar to Lazio's but why so late in the game? A new merchandising tactic?
Brighton tried for an equaliser but apart from a few corners and goal scrambles were rarely really dangerous. Lazio's team lost shape with a total of eleven changes. They had a few counterattacks but always wasted the last pass. Final score Brighton 0 Lazio 1.
A win in England is always positive but Lazio took optimism in particular from Ravel Morrison's performance. He had been busy, attacking and defending and looked generally keen and interested. It could be a false dawn of course as the previous summer he had looked good only to fade during the season.
Lazio had been solid and now waited for Lucas Biglia, Federico Marchetti, Marco Parolo and Ciro Immobile to join the team and hopefully some more summer signings. Lazio's only worry was Djordjevic going off with an ankle injury.
Who played for Brighton
Stockdale, Rosenior, Saltor (80' White), Dunk, Bong, Knockaert (80' Manu), Stephens, Kayal, Murphy, Hemed (59' Baldock)
Substitutes: Maenpaa, Skalak, Holla, Ince, Hunt, Adekugbe
Manager: Hughton
Who played for Lazio
Berisha (52' Vargic), Basta (64' Patric, 80' Germoni), de Vrij (64' Mauricio), Hoedt (80' Prce), Radu (64' Lukaku), Milinkovic-Savic, Onazi (80' Murgia), Morrison (64' Lombardi), Kishna (64' Palombi), Djordjevic (52' Cataldi), Lulic (80' Oikonomidis)
Manager: S. Inzaghi
Referee: Davies
Goals: 27' Morrison
What happened next
Lazio then signed defender Bastos (Rostov), midfielder Moritz Leitner (Borussia Dortmund) and then, on the last day of the transfer market, midfielder Luis Alberto (Liverpool).
In August they said goodbye to Eddy Onazi (Trabzonspor), Antonio Candreva (Inter), Mauricio (Spartak Moscow) and Etrit Berisha (Atalanta).
Unfortunately, Morrison's performance in Brighton was rarely repeated and in January he left (QPR on loan) along with a disappointing Kishna (Lille) and Leitner (Augusta).
Lazio had a good season and finished 5th (Europa League). They won a league derby after four years (3-1) and eliminated Roma in the Coppa Italia semi-final too (4-3 on aggregate) but then lost the final 0-2 to Juventus. Top scorer was Ciro Immobile with 26 goals (23 in league).
Brighton had a memorable season. They were promoted to the Premier League in 2nd place behind Newcastle. Their top scorer was Glenn Murray with 23 league goals. Brighton have been in the top flight ever since and in 2022-23 even qualified for Europa League.
Lazio 2016-17
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored |
Serie A | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 74 |
Coppa Italia | 5 | 3 | - | 2 | 10 |
Total | 43 | 24 | 7 | 12 | 84 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Felipe Anderson | 41 | 36 | 5 |
Immobile | 41 | 36 | 5 |
Milinkovic-Savic | 39 | 34 | 5 |
Parolo | 38 | 34 | 4 |
Lulic | 35 | 31 | 4 |
Top five goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
Immobile | 26 | 23 | 3 |
Keita Balde | 16 | 16 | - |
Milinkovic-Savic | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Felipe Anderson | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Parolo | 5 | 5 | - |
Biglia | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Let’s talk about: Ravel Morrison
Ravel Morrison was born in Wythenshawe (Manchester), on February 2, 1993. Wythenshawe was a "garden city" project from the 1920's onwards and became one of the largest housing estates in Britain. Marcus Rashford is also from this area of Greater Manchester.
At 16 he entered the Manchester United youth sector and was soon predicted to go on to great things. He was a rare talent and received praise from the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Sir Alex Ferguson.
In 2010 he signed his first professional contract and made his debut on October 26 in a League Cup game against Wolves. He played a few minutes and that would remain his only appearance as Manchester United won the title.
The following season he again only played in the League Cup with two appearances and in January was loaned to West Ham United in the Championship. He only played one league game under Sam Allardyce but the Hammers got promoted.
In 2012 he joined Birmingham City in the Championship. In the Midlands capital he played more often and, under manager Lee Clark, played 27 league games with 3 goals and 2 in the domestic cups with 1 goal. The Blues finished 12th.
In 2013 he returned to the Irons in East London in the Premiership. Still under manager Allardyce he played 16 league games with 3 goals (Everton, Tottenham, Norwich) and 5 in the domestic cups with 2 goals (Cheltenham Town, Cardiff City). In February however he was loaned to QPR in the Championship. Meanwhile the Claret and Blues finished 13th.
In Sheperd’s Bush Morrison found manager Harry Redknapp and played 15 league matches plus 2 in the playoffs and scored 6 goals. The Hoops were promoted to the Premier League.
Morrison however remained in the Championship and after playing one game for West Ham in September he crossed the Severn bridge to join Cardiff City. He only lasted four months in South -Wales under three different coaches (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Danny Gabbidon and then Russell Slade). Morrison played 7 league games for the Bluebirds before returning to West Ham.
In 2015-6 he went for the foreign experience and joined Lazio. In Rome he was coached first by Stefano Pioli and then from April 10 by Simone Inzaghi. In his first year despite a promising pre-season he only played 4 league games, 1 in Champions League, 2 in the Europa League and the Italian Supercoppa.
In 2016-17 Inzaghi stayed on and Morrison again performed well in the summer friendlies only to disappear during the season. He did not play at all and in January returned to Loftus Road and QPR in the Championship. With the Royals, under manager David Oldfield, he played 5 league games and QPR finished 18th.
In 2017 he went for an even more exotic foreign adventure and joined Atlas in Mexico's top flight. He played 18 league games for "Zorro" plus 2 in the playoffs with 3 goals plus 5 in the Mexican Cup with 1 goal. At the end of the season he left Guadalajara and returned to Europe.
In 2018 he was back at Lazio but again under Inzaghi he remained on the margins and in January moved to Österlund in Sweden. He played 6 games in the Swedish top division plus 3 in the Swedish Cup with 1 goal. Österlund finished 12th.
In 2019 Morrison was back in England, in South Yorkshire to be precise. He joined Sheffield United in the Premier League. Under manager Chris Wilder he played just 1 league game and 3 in the domestic cups before going north to Middlesbrough in January. Meanwhile the Blades had a good season and finished 9th.
At Middlesbrough, in the Championship, he only played 3 league games under Jonathan Woodgate and the Smoggies finished 17th.
In 2020-21 he was abroad again this time in Holland. He joined ADO Den Haag in the Eredivisie but played 4 just league games for the "Ooievaar" (The Stork) and 1 in the Dutch Cup and in January was back in England. Meanwhile ADO Den Haag were relegated.
Back in the Championship he joined Derby County and after many years played regularly. The manager was Everton and Man. U. legend Wayne Rooney and Ravel played 36 league games with 4 goals (Coventry, Barnsley x2, Blackburn Rovers), plus 2 in the domestic cups with 1 goal (Salford City). The Rams had a difficult season with a 21-point deduction (for entering administration and financial irregularities) and were relegated to League 1.
He then signed for DC United but after the first year he was left out of the squad but allowed to train. Morrison is currently out of a contract.
At International level he represented England at U16 (1 game, 1 goal), U17 (3 games), U18 (1 game), U21 (4 games, 2 goals).
In 2020 he used his Jamaican citizenship to make his debut for the "Reggae Boyz". So far, he has earned 18 caps and scored 2 goals (Honduras, Suriname).
Morrison is a midfielder. He is 1.75 and 71 kilos. He can play in various midfield roles. He is extremely talented, fast and strong. Despite his obvious talent and skills, he has not yet fulfilled his potential and has disappointed those who predicted a bright future for him. He has had a few flashes, performing well at Birmingham City, QPR (first spell) and Derby County but nowhere near what his potential at one point promised.
At Lazio we can say he was a failure. The fans were desperately hoping for a sort of mini Gascoigne but he never came remotely close, only showing some signs of hope in some pre-season friendlies but then never delivering when it mattered. It was a gamble that did not pay off. He appeared in 8 games for Lazio in total.
Lazio Career
Season | Appearances | Serie A | Champions League | Europa League | Super Coppa |
2015-16 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Sources
Комментарии