The Boro Breakdown Podcast

The Lowdown: Aidan Morris

Welcome to Boro, Aidan Morris! Jonny and Dana take a deep dive into Boro's latest signing. With thanks to: Grant Miller (Massive Report), Ben Schreiber (Upper 90 Club Podcast), Ethan and more Columbus Crew fans for their valuable insight.

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Duration:: 30m
Broadcast on:: 28 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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We all belong outside we're drawn to nature whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean We doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes nature makes all of our lives well better Despite all this we often go about our busy lives removed from it But the outdoors is closer than we realize with all trails You can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on trail navigation Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails I Support could is flamingus down the edge of the a flaming for Craig Higness piggy piggy it's the treasure Hello and welcome to the bottom right down podcast the law down on Boris Newman Fielder Edin Morris Edin has joined us from Columbus crew on a rumored fee of four million dollars with a salon clause included with that We just have no idea what that salon clause is he's joining us on a four-year deal and the background on me He is 22 years old he grew up in Fort Lauderdale in Florida He's a USA international 5 senior caps He started out at Western FC a youth base side in Florida and then 2017 moved to the Columbus crew Academy Went through the ranks played one season of college football and then signed the Columbus crew as a homegrown player in January 2020 But what does my character think of him? He said he suits our style of play strong. He likes to get on the ball and play with both feet He's at a good age already had taste for success and has a good amount of experience and we're excited to work with him Well, let's not get our opinion yet. Let's listen and to Grant Miller from the master report about Boris Newman So yeah, thank you for having me on here. My name is Grant Miller. I'm a contributing writer for MassiveReport.com a website that covers the Columbus crew Abe is one of our fan favorites here in Columbus. He's been with the club since 2020. He was signed out of our youth Academy Played and started in our cup final championship in that 2020 season at the age of 18 The original midfield starter had to miss that game for COVID The crew won three nothing and a huge upset win in the MLS cup championship that Aidan played phenomenally in and is one of the biggest moments in club history He unfortunately missed the 2021 season. He tore his ACL in the early stages of the continental competition that year So that was a bit of a setback, but you would never know that he dealt with that knee injury From the way he's been playing He's an incredibly aggressive player He's great at winning the ball. He was near the top of the league and tackles one last year really high up on interceptions defensively just wins the ball plays very aggressive and that's kind of been his real strength since he was even like a young player, but his game really flourished in the past year and a half the crew got a new head coach and Wilford Nancey one of the up-and-coming kind of MLS coaches here in the States and one of the main things he said when he first got this job was he had to kind of teach Aidan Not he didn't have to run so much kind of the MO with Aidan was he was gonna touch every blade of grass on the field over the 90 minutes So Wilford's been very instrumental in getting him to be a little bit more cerebral and kind of focus his energy Properly over the course of 90 minutes. He still plays very aggressively He's still gonna get in there and try to win the ball but his game has matured a lot his passive progressive passing into the attacking third has been really great and then pinging like long diagonals to change the kind of attack it is really Started to improve and it's something that I think a lot of people were very surprised and impressed by and then he will Kind of bang one in from outside the box there's been some real highlight level goals the past couple years that he's he's been able to produce so he's he's a very Exciting and easy player to root for as you watch his game Because he plays so hard and he he really does Kind of find a way to Influence games even when maybe he's not having his best moments He's had a great season so far for the crew Part of a team that led us to the continental championship Here in North America. Unfortunately, we're not able to win the tournament But they would not have gotten as far without a guy like Aidan Things to improve on he's still very young. He's only 22 sometimes maybe his You know touch in and around Kind of the attacking third in terms of progressing the ball and dribbling it can be areas of improvement He's had a couple yellow cards that were questionable. He plays so aggressively, but there's nothing Glaring about him that you say oh that he's not gonna produce in this situation or this will be something he struggles in he he really does find a way to make the right decisions more often than not and you'll have a ton of New Middlesbrough fans here at Columbus because he he like I said at the start of it He's a real fan favorite and someone that we're really proud of here in Columbus. So Thanks for having me on And you know we'll talk about him a little bit. We're all really excited for the next step in his career So thank you very much for that grand so dinner We've signed a fan favorite someone who is aggressive and defensively really strong I mean his twitch could be improving the final third, but I don't think he's that type of player but he's our third official sign in of the summer look alien and It was the first in the door Berg's August 2nd and now Ed and Morrison the potty could be some more to come over the next week or two But what do you think of Ed and Morris? Well before I get into that He's also a player that loves chicken parmesan pasta because I was reading a biography on the Columbus Grew website And that's what his favorite food is so he's basically halfway to absolutely Loving palm was of course. He's already been asked to have one. It's just the standard procedure for Borafans It's just a need to say that chicken palm and chicken palm oil is it's different than the setting of their tomato base with the cheese for The the change in vegetable sauce I don't know where he's gonna I don't want it didn't want to stop you in your tracks there But you've got to find me on a technicality so fair player fair player sometimes things need to be corrected But yeah, yeah back on to the football and not on to food I quite like the way the Ed and Morris plays the chant that Columbus crew fans have for him is he's here He's there. He's every fucking where Ed and Morris. He's in the top 7% in the MLS for tackles and get this because I am gonna Throw a bunch of stats at you Just to delve into this a little bit deeper. He's in the top 6% For tackles one within that the top 15% for tackles one in the defensive third the top 5% for tackles one in the middle third And finally the top 7% for tackles one in the final third So he is a very aggressive player. He's somebody that on the first pass out from the Opposition's goalkeeper He will try to win the ball back straight away And I have seen some good clips of him in regards to count pressing as well So that's definitely something to look out for in terms of his defensive and off the ball output I think he's quite strong in that regard In regards to the way that Columbus crew play first Yeah, I actually really enjoyed watching them when I was looking at bits of Ed and Morris's game because they play pretty similar to Bora on a basic standpoint and that they like to build out from the back and they like to pass through the thirds Oni LA Galaxy attempted more passes per 90 than their 558 so it's no surprise really that Morris Was averaging 66 passes per 90 in 2023 his average pass completion was 92% oni whose crew team at darlington nugby had higher by the way darlington nugby Very good player as well in his alright. So he's got a very good midfield partner beside him there to bring it to Middlesbrough Something that we saw fall down last season was that first pass from Cenidien to Dan Balasa in particular I think he got a little bit stuck because he's a player that probably wants a lot more time on the ball than he's probably allowed With Ed and Morris you somebody that can drop deep he can link player he can initiate these High angles to basically beat the press. It's not something that I'm expecting him to be like to absolutely nail in the championship because remember this is a completely different league He's a young player. It's a completely different country The style of player might be similar in regards to columbus crew in Middlesbrough But the speed of the leagues will be different But in terms of being a link player and trying to beat the press he's somebody that always wants the ball He's always shifting around trying to find those pockets of space so that he can receive a pass He's also a william ball carrier oni rickie pweig of la la galaxy the x-pass alone a player average more carries per 90 than him last Season you might think in regards to going back to the past completion rate being 92 percent that he only passes backwards I think he is a good recycle of the of the ball He was averaging six progressive passes per 90 last season which was above the league average But still maybe something he can improve on and add to and also within that I likened him in in a piece that I wrote about him to josh colan and Johnny you obviously know of josh colan being a former and like player But somebody that is a good recycle of possession and when needed he can lift that ball through break the lines with his passing And sometimes I think you just need somebody that can control the midfield somebody that can keep things ticking I think it's a very under-appreciated craft and with idmorris. I don't expect him to be a standout player for us I think he will be a solid player that can potentially have a few Maybe eight out of ten performances, but for the most part I think he will be like that solid seven out of ten player and just to finish on my absolute ramble He's in the top five percent for touches per 90 in the 2023 MLS calendar 76.9 in the top five percent for passes received 55.8 in the top six percent for passes attempted 66.35 And in the outside in the top seven percent for titles in the top four percent for carries as well. So he's an aggressive player somebody that wants to Receive the ball a lot somebody that is very involved very busy Very good at trying to break up that player Love is a big switch as well. That's something that I noticed of him and Yeah, be interested to get your take on idmorris johnny Yeah, it's a really interesting move isn't it? I think for four million pound a formerly new Your pound year or dollars Pairs loss whatever it is I think the four million dollars I think it's a really interesting fee and I think you can definitely sell him on For a bigger fee in the future if he adapts well into the league and you know for a 22 year old Silent for your dealer you're going to get him at a year at a time where you probably hopefully trying to sell him that Is more expensive part of his career? Um, so we should be able to hopefully is there's a business standpoint if he progresses well We don't want to lose our best players of course But if they can find much too long a term it does really well those four years you could get a bit of cash for him I think in terms of play it was really interesting for me because He reminds me of different parts of boa players that i've played the boa in the last last 18 months Um as in white well like the more give and go why is he kind of remind me of Alex about a little bit He also reminded me from the way he was able to break up play There was elements of him hacking where he's able to just just Find that through a ball through and that big switch as well by Dan ballassar as well So he's a little bit Of different players and you know when we're looking at players like this Um, we look at the time that they have on the ball Is the intensity there in the league and when we look at the MLS as well. It's not necessarily a bad league It's just a case of There is more travel involved. There is you know a different climate the press that might might not be as strong There's different parts of the environment which impacts the game what you see And you know the quality is getting better and better in the MLS And I remember watching the day back in documentary and going kind of like remember the pictures and I remember the quality you'd see on that It is a completely different environment. No, the MLS the standard's getting a lot better the last four or five years where the investments being there and You seem to the league to develop in this stand to bring up these really good players from the us and You'll only ever see more and more of that coming up from it from the USA But in terms of a player wise, I'm not particularly concerned um by any means of how if he was to Find it quite difficult to transition to the league But overall I quite like him. I definitely prefer him as a deeper player though. I think I would not like to see him as neat I think he's more of a six I like to see him just break up the player and one thing I would like to see more of it It's just a bit of arrogance and just a bit of like a bit and not like It's not a necessary a bad thing was like I'm the guy here I will break things up a little bit like how Samos does Ferp switch a little bit like you mentioned there Josh Cullen He did remind me of Josh Cullen as well Um Josh Cullen is a bit more of a busier player and probably won't be as progressive with the player But he had a more as probably will be in its suits. I was style a lot more and then what we're doing But he's gonna get older. He's gonna get stronger. He's still a young player Um, I think he will get better Um, and I think he will hopefully fingers crossed be a good sign on for us In terms of excitement levels we'll probably come on to it in just a moment And I feel like everyone wants to hear that but I think we should get another opinion dinner from another Columbus crew fan And we spoke to, uh, the upper 90 club podcast as well to get some review a little bit more insight on in Adam Morris Hey burrow fans This has been with the upper 90 club podcast a Columbus crew podcast And i'm here to talk to you a little bit about aden morris your new player acquisition I mean basically he's here. He's there. He's every f***er. It's aden morris Uh, he's a six eight hybrid. He's usually best when he's paired with somebody in the middle He currently is paired with uh Darlington nagbee, which is one of the best players in the league and has been for the past like 10 years Um, he's pretty much been under his tutelage the entire time studying tape Uh, and it's shown the guy's phenomenal Like I said, he's he plays best when he's paired with somebody so you guys play a four two three one or a three two five In transition we play like a three four three, but he always plays in like a two like, you know hybrid six eight role um, he can press up, but mostly he's just there to um Champion the middle of the the pitch. He has five caps from the national team Um, he wasn't selected for this upcoming copa america, but he was selected for the olympic squad in paris But since you guys poached him from us He had uh, he had to like bow out of the uh paris olympics his current season Through uh, fought mob. He averages a 7.7, which is the highest on our team And I would argue that we're one of the best teams and have have been since the past couple years in mls So it being the one of the best players on the best team Is it's a huge loss for us So as far as my thoughts go, um Here's the deal You took my child and I will find you guys burrow I'm flying to t side airport and i'm taking back my son On all honesty, he's the most amazing hardest working player on the team that i've seen since I started watching the team back in 96 Which is when we started Um, he covers the most ground typically in a game. He's always the guy that covers the most ground. He never stops running Um, I would say my favorite part of his His play isn't necessarily Um His you know hard working getting stuck in in the middle Um, he has a great eye for that crossfield ball. So if he gets the ball and we break the press He's able to usually see that crossfield ball into the channels or out wide to start the attack It's it's brilliant. It's awesome. Um As far as any weakness goes, I would probably Point out that if it's just him sitting back in front of um, a centerback pairing That's not exactly where he shines. He usually plays better when there's, you know, somebody close Um that he can play off of to create space going through the middle Um We we play out of the back pretty much exclusively So he's constantly moving around the the center and when that doesn't happen and it's just him It's hard for him to find space, but in all honesty if if you're just playing You know, one six in front of two centerbacks and you're trying to break the press Good luck. That's not really how that works But again, um, i'll be following you guys a lot of the crew fans will be following Uh burrow moving forward just because you got our, you know, one of our home groans one of our own Um, you got a you got a great deal and i'm excited to see where he goes And I honestly think the championship will be a wonderful place for him. It's a very physical league. He's a very physical player um And he should slot he should slot right in and i'm really excited for you guys And uh, hopefully i can get over and uh, see a game but until then Tip of the hat we'll be seeing you. Cheers Thank you very much for that Ben saw dinner where where did he fit then? Uh, we've had he's a six He's an eight. Yes, we've kind of made the assumption and we've got the a really good um Bit of analysis from the calmer's crew fans and you know, we have to the best plan We've got some fans coming from got to tell you side out part to bring him back Um, but where do you think he fits? That's an interesting question because I think I wouldn't be surprised at the beginning of the season if he takes a place on the bench Just whilst he gets Acclimatised to england. So I think we will start with house and in happening at the beginning I mean he is stylistically the more similar to hidden hackney in regards to a couple of metrics He's alike in terms of passes attempted pass completion progressive passes There's not a big difference in successful take-ons and touches in the attacking third But the key difference is morris's defensive starts He excels in in tackling making more in 2023 than any of bores midfield this last season and in hackley's case The season before because I did have to take the data from the previous season because obviously last season fair nackney was absolutely shagged by injuries so yet the you know, there's similarities between him and hackney. I think Oh, it's it's an interesting one because I'm thinking he'll probably partner house and But he can't leave out hackney. So I'm going to be really interested in in seeing how That kind of blends what I take from it is that dan barless as middle sprit does a numbered Yeah, well he is linked to have moved away to to turkey of all place. I mean who he does actually represent Internationally, I mean bottom raised in like new castle but now political turkey quite funny in it Um, but I think with that for me I would prefer him with hackney I think and the reason why I say that I think hackney is a much better player And this isn't a disrespect to it anymore. So at all. I just think it's a really big hidden happening strength Hayne hackney is very good at progressing the ball with his feet and dribbling through And trying to create chances through his dribbling more so than his passes where I think with air and morris He's very busy defensively, but I think also he's probably better with that diag pass like we've seen in the clips Um break up the player trying to start something So if he is able to tackle someone he's able to start the the attack from there rather than hey Hackney can do it from possession. So for me that dual hackney and morris I think would be really good And you know it is that longer to replace with the house when we've been looking for it for the last couple of seasons It hasn't really came back and housing's got better and better Um in games where you shouldn't really be Um, but I do think it's time that we need to start playing these new players are coming into the to the squads In trying to have that longer term replacement. That's 22 year old. We might not see the best of him this year But I think next year is that year where hopefully he starts to come really good for us But we might surprise us as well. And the point that you were saying there then that it could be a six or seven And I think a big compliment for air and morris this year is that people don't talk about him Because that is just a consistent player week and week out and you have no qualms about it I think that's what exactly what we need from air and morris this year Appreciate it. We'll have a lot of fans from the u.s Um Watching him and trying to tell his story on in in the net said spot thing for us If we just keep it nice and quiet let him play let him adapt Um and let him play in that field and I think he will get caught a couple of times or in his early times Just as he's getting used to use use the league because it's intense. It's relentless Um over a longer period and I think that he will adapt fairly quickly just looking that is Is corona here like it's current like videos and the tip that we've seen Through why scope, but I don't know what your thoughts are in terms of him adapting or anything like that Yeah, well, I think that will take time For him to adapt. I would not be surprised if there's clamor for him to start both from bora fans and from The the on looking uh columbus crew fans and mls watches. I think Be patient with him. I would say he himself has acknowledged the difference between the mls and the championship and he's even menion that the speed will probably be quicker He's called this move a leap of faith. So this is him venturing outside of his comfort zone Big fan of him doing that and essentially challenging himself to progress his career I think that's uh admirable and what basically every footballer should do But my worry would be that he gets stuck between two roles between that six being that holding player and Kind of screening in front of the defense and popping those balls in behind Either of the top or along the floor, you know those progressive passes and being a box-to-box player I think a lot of the time of course you can have players that do it all and that's fantastic. Well, I think I am Thinking about bora players that have followed that I think of maybe being caught between the two And we haven't really seen the best of them So that that's probably where my concern lies and of course whether he can translate his game over to English football, but that that's kind of a given isn't it when you have players like this it's can they? Adapt and can they're really sure what they're capable of in a completely different league and in a completely different country Yeah, and what I would say on this as well and was we just just before we move into that the final message from Ethan It was a football the football of yours. Yes, and um, it was a Columbus crew found it as well. Um, it's like we have got A lot of players who are very good At creating now. I think but you look at Finna's as Ryan McGree here and Hackney Aaron Morris Like a laugh creates his own chances through his press and getting in behind but I don't like him doing that Um, you know, he have his eye at jaunce with his was at times when he can get the ball at in behind And he beat his mind when he could get the ball off the floor and get the ball off the floor You've got um luke elin who had a lot of assists last year, but I still think we need another right back There's Ryan Giles being linked again So then we think of all of these layers and you're trying to think of how you can become a really creative and fun team It does have the ingredients to do that. Um, defensively Could do a bit of work, but there's I think sometimes, you know, when we're looking at borrowing how we've played over the last couple of years It can be really exciting for us and we always want and you definitely want in teams you need different layers You need different abilities. You need A player who can create something that we're not thinking all those ingredients slowly starting to come together for boring I think it's quite a fun squad To look at I think if you're anyone who's like a neutral him for his team right now could potentially on paper look really fun But then as we Come towards the end and we we will come to our five out of five rate in just a moment Let's have a look quick look at what Ethan mentioned said all over Towards and what does it say? It says well, he says that I like to think of him as a wrecking ball defensive midfielder who loves a tackle Reads the game at high level rarely misses Will win the ball and quickly give it off to a more creative player solid and trustworthy as a defensive player Runs all over the pitch and is constantly winning fouls from purely frustrating other midfield players A young engine who runs for days and we have been lucky to have him To have had him in our midfield at the times that he does miss his tackles. It leaves us quite exposed That's probably because of the high press that he does in issue He may misjudge a dual high up the pitch which leads to a nasty counter Also loves to sit around 30 yards and can smash it in if he has space By the way, disclaimer on that don't expect it Because unless you're finna's ass You shouldn't really expect it to be honest, but it's it's good. I think you know any Columnist crew fans watching this Big thank you because they've really helped us with this lockdown And I think they've been really good at giving borrow fans a picture of what they can expect from Ed Morrison Yeah, hopefully they can watch a few borrow games next season if that tickles their fancy I think I think they'd enjoy it I think they would enjoy the way that we've played over under Michael Carrick and it's very like them It's very like the one was true. Like I really enjoyed watching Columbus crew when I was really deep diving on Ed Morris I think they play some fantastic football and Under their manager Wilfred Nancy, I think Very very good manager. Let me just check if that's his name Yeah, it was they were mentioned earlier in one of the clips But I feel like our Columbus friends would give this a five out of five And it would be the the best side of them. You've got people want to fly over to bring them back But how would you rank on the side, not a five D? I think I'm being a little bit more lenient this year with my ratings I mean, it's a rating and I'm not gonna overthink it. I'll probably go with a 3.5 Because I think he can really plug the gap of what borough have maybe been missing in midfield in terms of that connectivity between building out from the back But obviously there's massive question might so over whether he will actually adapt to the league But in terms of his play style, I think he can be he does have fan favorite Potential because he's one of those chairs that never never gives up Nothing is ever a lost cause with Ed Morris a very good energy and uh, yeah, I think borough fans will absolutely love that so Yeah, 3.5 for me for ed Morris. What about you? You know, I was actually saying 3.5 but it brought on me not bad 3.5 for me I had no idea about that Johnny. I don't have access to you. I know I'd just to just let you know You know, we have a few miles away. Um, but the Yeah, but the 3.5 potential it has potential doesn't it a move and that's all you want from a move in general Sometimes I think you want someone who can come in and really start to grow as a player And I think we'll have that you've seen his development Over the last considered yes, there was an ACL injury which some players don't come back from and it looks like he's recovered really well And and kicked on so I think that is just a real big credit to him and hopefully fingers crossed he can Developing further and we can if we were to sell him a movie four years time You're you're talking at a fee of while we this guy can't perform million dollars and he's gone for 14 40 who knows these days football is going nuts. Um, but for right now D. Thank you so much for joining me to listen to the viewers. Thank you so much for watching and listening to the to the video Don't forget to give this video faster Don't forget to give this podcast a five star rating Give the video a thumbs up and don't get subscribed to the board breakdown channel and big thank you as well To the offerings that come with crew and all the fans there because it really helps out massively With this video, but that's it It's been the board breakdown podcast and that was all you're adding Morris chatter in a pause of the board breakdown [BLANK_AUDIO]