Ashtone Morgan

[Keegan]

Did Henry not play RB in the away match against Mexico in 2016 too? He gave up an awful penalty for sure and I remember he seemed to be in a RB spot when he did.  Similar to the Honduras away match where he was sleeping on the cross for  the winner. Also he most definitely was at RB vs the USA in 2016 when he came on and gave up the foul that led to the winner.

I like Doneil.. when he’s on he’s a monster and without a doubt the most talented cB in the pool. But he’s clearly a liability.. the fact we can list games he’s played and pick out crucial mistakes  just proves it. If a striker scores 3 goals in 5 matches he’s a stud.. if a defender is at fault for 3 in 5 he’s a dud.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Keegan

[Kent]

4 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Did Henry not play RB in the away match against Mexico in 2016 too? He gave up an awful penalty for sure and I remember he seemed to be in a RB spot when he did.  Similar to the Honduras away match where he was sleeping on the cross for  the winner. Also he most definitely was at RB vs the USA in 2016 when he came on and gave up the foul that led to the winner.

I like Doneil.. when he’s on he’s a monster and without a doubt the most talented RB in the pool. But he’s clearly a liability.. the fact we can list games he’s played and pick out crucial mistakes  just proves it. If a striker scores 3 goals in 5 matches he’s a stud.. if a defender is at fault for 3 in 5 he’s a dud.

It’s possible there are mistakes on transfermarkt. I was thinking he played at right back in the 3-1 friendly win against Jamaica in Toronto.

[Club Linesman]

On 2018-04-04 at 10:24 AM, BradMack said:

Just a side note, it really seems like the level TFC has gotten to has caused everyone to grow as players. Osorio has improved a ton and it looks like Morgan has as well. I guess training every week with the quality in that squad has some clear benefits. Just wish we could see some of the other Canadians play some minutes so we could see how much improved they are.

That is no doubt true but one has to hope going forward that guys like Osorio and Morgan get regular minutes so that the gains in training can be put into action during games.  Morgan who was forgotten came in and played very well against tough competition.  Osorio has been a boss and Delgado is getting rightly subbed out.  Let’s just hope the pt continues for both and others like Ricketts get some time.

[Keegan]

Forgot that Morgan has already played in this stage of the Champions League.  He looked solid and didn’t stand out last night.. was worried he would be exposed but never happened.  He looks a lot more composed than when he would get his limited chances the past few years. 

[gator]

6 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Forgot that Morgan has already played in this stage of the Champions League.  He looked solid and didn’t stand out last night.. was worried he would be exposed but never happened.  He looks a lot more composed than when he would get his limited chances the past few years. 

Agree! I was also concerned he might struggle at The Azteca just because of his lack of playing time in the last few seasons, once again he came through the match quite well, Osorio and Ash did a very good job shutting down their attack on our left side! The only really questionable play I can think of was the header that drew the wonder save from Bono, Morgan seemed to be unaware of the CA player!

[zeelaw]

Does Ashtone have the strangest career in recent CMNT memory? 

He's basically dormant on TFC's for what like 5-6 years and now he's playing CCL semi-finals and possibly a final now? 

I was so happy to see he scored his first TFC goal last year, thinking he would be gone.

Congrats to him!

[badname22]

12 hours ago, zeelaw1555362314 said:

Does Ashtone have the strangest career in recent CMNT memory? 

He's basically dormant on TFC's for what like 5-6 years and now he's playing CCL semi-finals and possibly a final now? 

I was so happy to see he scored his first TFC goal last year, thinking he would be gone.

Congrats to him!

Editt: I read this so very wrong, my bad

Edited April 12, 2018 by badname22

[Keegan]

6 minutes ago, badname22 said:

It was his second. his first was last year NYCFC

That’s literally what he said 

[Obinna]

Obviously losing the final must be painful, but Morgan should hold his head high. He was a big part of TFC's push this Champions League campaign.

He gained some very important experience playing in Mexico and now we have another player in our pool who is battle tested for getting results away in CONCACAF. 

With De Jong (32) in his final years, and Adekugbe (23) still green and unexperienced, Morgan (27) has shown he has the potential to help bridge that gap at LB for us.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Obinna

[mtroads]

He looked really tired in the second half. They just kept attacking his side. He did well to keep them outside, but kept him from really getting forward.

Great to see him get lots of playing time after the last couple years. Hopefully, he can keep getting minutes for the rest of the season. Sounds like Morrow's not quite ready yet.

[gator]

Morgan was great in this tournament to my surprise considering how little he played the last few years, when he first came in I expected mistakes due to this lack of playing time, by the end of this tournament I had no worries about his play, in fact he was so solid I knew the speedy Mexican wingers would not get by him! He also contributed his fair share offensively scoring a massive goal and his hustle to draw a corner last night set up TFC's 1st, to me he is probably the best choice at LB for the MNT currently, of course we don't play for half a year and things could change! Well done to Ashton, I hope he gets a fair chance to continue to play for his club!

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, gator said:

 to me he is probably the best choice at LB for the MNT currently,

Carl Robinson disagrees with you - he says its Alphonso Davies

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, gator said:

Morgan was great in this tournament to my surprise considering how little he played the last few years, when he first came in I expected mistakes due to this lack of playing time, by the end of this tournament I had no worries about his play, in fact he was so solid I knew the speedy Mexican wingers would not get by him! He also contributed his fair share offensively scoring a massive goal and his hustle to draw a corner last night set up TFC's 1st, to me he is probably the best choice at LB for the MNT currently, of course we don't play for half a year and things could change! Well done to Ashton, I hope he gets a fair chance to continue to play for his club!

I was also pleasently surprised to see Morgan come back and play solid, with very few mistakes and some contribution to the build up play.

That sequence to score at home against BMO was incredible and he was at the center of it all. Switching play across field with his right foot? I didn't know he had a right foot!

So why did he look so good? Training. Training with top players day-in and day-out.

I have said this before in many threads now: we sometimes underestimate the value of biding your time in a top side. 

Too often I feel we rush to say player xyz is not playing and needs to move on in search of game time, even if it means taking a step down to a lower club in the league, or possibly dropping to a lower league all together, rather than staying and competing for your spot with a bettee team.

I am not sure we see the same Morgan (or Chapman) if they had given up and moved out of Toronto for more playing time.

Not that it was by choice, but Edwards is now in Montreal and many people (myself included) thought he'd see the field more and thus develop more quickly.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming years.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Obinna

[Gian-Luca]

36 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Not that it was by choice, but Edwards is now in Montreal and many people (myself included) thought he'd see the field more and thus develop more quickly.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming years.

Still early days for Edwards in Montreal, and as I say, you never know when a player might get a Morgan-like run of good games after a period of inactivity. The disappointing thing in Montreal this year from a national team perspective so far is that it looked like they were going to blow away Toronto & Vancouver in terms of giving minutes to Canadians, but in the past few games they have actually been trailing the other Cdn MLS teams in that respect - and they are not even winning those games either, so the lack of Canucks hasn't been worthwhile from that perspective.

[Obinna]

6 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Still early days for Edwards in Montreal, and as I say, you never know when a player might get a Morgan-like run of good games after a period of inactivity. The disappointing thing in Montreal this year from a national team perspective so far is that it looked like they were going to blow away Toronto & Vancouver in terms of giving minutes to Canadians, but in the past few games they have actually been trailing the other Cdn MLS teams in that respect - and they are not even winning those games either, so the lack of Canucks hasn't been worthwhile from that perspective.

Agreed, but it is also early days for Montreal too. Only Piette has retained his spot, but things can change. Perhaps Petrasso, Edwards, and Jackson-Hamel all find their way back into the team. Fingers crossed.

LBG has played more minutes already than I had expected him to at this stage. That is positive.

The teams that play, and go deep, in cup competitions will likely end up giving more total minutes to Canadians out od necessity. That team so far has been Toronto FC.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Obinna

[Rheo]

Sportsnet article

https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/toronto-fc-ashtone-morgan-earning-playing-time-through-consistent-play/

[toontownman]

Hope he lands on his feet after camp poutine.

So where next? On trial with Whitecaps? MLS, CPL (would be a hell of a pickup for Halifax to replace langwa)? The playtime in CPL would be great. 

[JDub]

1 hour ago, toontownman said:

Hope he lands on his feet after camp poutine.

So where next? On trial with Whitecaps? MLS, CPL (would be a hell of a pickup for Halifax to replace langwa)? The playtime in CPL would be great. 

Game time vs salary. CPL would be great for game minutes but lower salary. MLS would make him more money but less minutes.  Argument could be a year in the CPL could springboard into a bigger contract.  I just hope wherever he lands he isn't rotting on a bench. 

[Bison44]

i dont know, dropping down to springboard back up...isnt he almost 29??  He's been a passable back up with TFC for awhile.  With the expansion teams coming in fast and furious, they need some MLS vets on the rosters,  I hope he stays in MLS for a bit longer.  Who knows he might even find someone to pay him the 130g he made last season.  

[BCM]

9 hours ago, Bison44 said:

i dont know, dropping down to springboard back up...isnt he almost 29??  He's been a passable back up with TFC for awhile.  With the expansion teams coming in fast and furious, they need some MLS vets on the rosters,  I hope he stays in MLS for a bit longer.  Who knows he might even find someone to pay him the 130g he made last season.  

Agree, he's more likely to get stuck in the lower level. My guess is he won't take a chance holding out/trialing for an MLS contract (although iir he's a league-wide domestic) if TFC is not interested in re-signing him at a lower salary and will sign with a USL team -- but happy to be proven wrong.

Edited January 5, 2020 by BCM

[narduch]

7 hours ago, Bison44 said:

i dont know, dropping down to springboard back up...isnt he almost 29??  He's been a passable back up with TFC for awhile.  With the expansion teams coming in fast and furious, they need some MLS vets on the rosters,  I hope he stays in MLS for a bit longer.  Who knows he might even find someone to pay him the 130g he made last season.  

Not many players make the jump back up from USL after dropping down from MLS. 

And the book is still out on CPL as a good springboard. 

My money is still on him re-signing with TFC eventually 

[VinceA]

It would be an insanely lower salary. He was like on 138k or something he wouldn't make half of that in the CPL.

[Blackdude]

RSL for him.Didn't stay unattached long.

[Corazon]

Love the increased presence of quality Canadian players on US based MLS teams this upcoming season.  Hopefully most will be playing regularly.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Corazon

[Obinna]

Great news for Morgan! Without looking at their depth chart, I am guessing this is a club where he should be able to compete for a starting role at LB.