West Brom boss Roy Hodgson praises James Morrison for ‘mucking in’
Thursday 24th November 2011, 4:05PM GMT.
West Brom boss Roy Hodgson today praised midfield man James Morrison for mucking in to help the Baggies tighten up their defending.
The Scotland international has been restored to his preferred central midfield role in recent weeks after starting the season switching between a wide role and the substitutes’ bench.
And head coach Hodgson has paid tribute to Morrison’s efforts to help the team defensively.
The Baggies boss said: “He plays in that role for Scotland and I’ve been happy with him. I think he’s a hard worker and has worked very hard on the defensive side of his game.
“I’ve been quite impressed that, for a technically gifted player, with a reputation as a ball player, passer and goalscorer, he has worked very hard on the defensive side of his game to become an all-rounder.
“He’s a central midfield player but he’s like a lot of central midfield players who are mobile and technically gifted so they can play wide.
“But I have no doubt if you ask him or Graham Dorrans where they prefer to play, they would say in the centre because that’s where they’ve grown up playing.
“They have also learned, luckily for their team and manager, to play in another position, which gives an extra string to their bow as well. It gives them a bit more of a chance of getting into the team every week.
“If you’ve only got one position then you had better make sure you play fantastically well all the time because, when you lose your place, there is nowhere else for you to go.”
Morrison is competing with Dorrans, Youssouf Mulumbu, Paul Scharner, Chris Brunt, Jerome Thomas and Zoltan Gera for places in midfield.
But the head coach stressed the former Middlesbrough man has a key role to play.
Hodgson said: “He hasn’t missed many games during my time here. He might have missed out a couple of times this season but I regard him as a regular.
“I thought his performance on Saturday, alongside Mulumbu, was very good.”
UK Sport
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