It may be early days, but so far Lewis Morgan has failed to make much of an impression at Sunderland.
Morgan has made four appearances in Sunderland’s last five matches. He’s yet to score a goal or even bag an assist, but he has shown occasional flashes of positivity during his outings.
Jack Ross told the Celtic youngster he would have to fight to get into the team. It’s clear the Black Cats manager meant it too, as he’s dropped the loan star to the bench for the last three matches.
Unfortunately, in those games, Morgan hasn’t shown anywhere near enough to merit being called back into the starting line-up.
In the 4-2 win at home to Gillingham yesterday, Morgan was an unused substitute. His game-time, even at this early stage, has gradually decreased since signing in January.
Of course, it’s vitally important to remember it’s still extremely early. Morgan has 15 more games between now and the end of the season to put things right. But he’s also at Sunderland to be gaining first-team football consistently.
A slow start so far
In what’s been a slow start to life in the North East, Morgan has to find a way to be a star of the show. It’s the only way he’ll be able to make Brendan Rodgers sit up and take notice of him.
But, with Aiden McGeady and Chris Maguire ahead of him, it’s not looking too great early on.
Many of us would’ve thought that Morgan could’ve made an immediate impact. That, if we’re being truthful, just hasn’t been the case.
With Maguire assisting goals regularly and McGeady having netted in three of his last five – they’re both in the ascendancy. It’s down to Morgan to fight hard and show he can outperform either of them.
But there’s no denying this has been a disappointing spell so far for the Celtic youngster. There’s been no big performance as of yet in his first five matches.
And if he wants to come back and fight for a place in the Celtic squad, it’s going to take a lot more than some cameos in League One.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
