Nathan Jones has hailed Joe Morrell’s performance in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Millwall, but revealed what the Welsh international needs to improve his defensive game to become a top Championship player.
After signing for £250,000 from Bristol City in the summer, the deep lying midfielder has only managed 10 appearances, after a heel injury and a few little niggles.
But returned to the starting line-up to face Millwall for his first league start since December 8 and he impressed with an 86.5 per cent rate of passing accuracy.
“Joe does what he does well, he can control the game and give you that security in possession, other stuff he needs to work on so he becomes a top Championship player,” said boss Jones.
“In that role you need to be defensively excellent, Joe is better in possession than he is out, same as other players are better out of possession than they are in, and it’s just that work to get them up to the level.
“Someone like N’golo Kante for example, is outstanding at both and that’s why he’s playing for Chelsea and he’s a World Cup winner
“So, that’s the benchmark and (Claude) Makele and people like that, who can do that role, so we’ve got to find ones that have a bit of both and we develop those.
“So, he’s never going to be be the finished article, but that’s the work we need to do.”
Having not played an hour for so long, Morrell was substituted in the 64th minute against Millwall, after which Town conceded a late equaliser to Millwall in the 96th minute, to detracted from an otherwise promising display.
Jones said: of the 24-year-old: “What he’s here for he does give us. He played very, very well and he’s a great character, he’s kept himself right on tip top form in terms of conditioning, he’s had a few injuries which have curtailed his rhythm, but we brought him here to do certain things and he’s doing them.”
