Sam Morsy, the captain of the Blues, said that Town were “bang at it” and performing at their peak when they overcame Hull City 3-0 on Tuesday night at Portman Road.
Town defeated the Tigers easily thanks to goals from Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin, and Marcus Harness, moving them back to the top of the Championship until at least tonight when second-placed Leicester and third-placed Preston square off at the King Power Stadium.
Morsy claims that he and his teammates were aware that Hull, who had gone eight games without losing, wasn’t a club they could take lightly. Hull had some elite players, notably Jaden Philogene, who had been linked to the Blues in the summer.
The Town skipper commented, “They’re known as one of the strongest teams in the division going into it. “We knew they do a lot of things incredibly well as we prepared for them.
They had a terrific squad, a great possession-based style, and excellent recruiting. It’s commonly known that they outperformed us at a lot of objectives, in my opinion.
“It was always going to be a tough game, but I thought we were bang at it today, we were at a really high level, and it was a really good performance for us — 3-0, possibly could have been more, dominated every area of the pitch, so it was a really good performance.”
Morsy was happy that the Blues kept a clean sheet in addition to winning this game for Town because many of their home games this season have been goal-fests on both ends.
“Definitely, it’s important, and you could see they had a few really dangerous players, who we had to keep quiet,” he said.
We want to grow better at it because we can’t always win 4-3; we don’t want to give goals away, so I’m happy to earn the clean sheet. They didn’t seem to bother our objective too much, in my opinion.
It was “good to get the clean sheet, a really good structural performance, and I think this was us near our best really and at times we ripped them apart.”
Morsy said, “It’s wonderful because he works very hard, he’s really modest, he doesn’t whine, he doesn’t put his head down, he’s just really delighted to be here, he’s worked hard. Harness excelled in his first league start of the season.
“Maybe a surprise inclusion today; I don’t believe any of you guys [the media] expected he would play today, and he has worked hard for his chance.
“He came in, played really well, scored his goal, and now the manager has a difficult decision to make regarding his future lineup.”
Players on the outskirts at Town have frequently had to wait their turn before making an unreserved entry and contributing, as Harness and center back George Edmundson did yesterday night.
The 32-year-old said, “You need it because you’re never going to know your strongest team in August and September.
It takes time, and there is still time for players to make the starting XI, so it doesn’t happen.
The squad last season rotated a lot during the first part of the season because players were competing, and I recall there was a game, I believe it was Burton. We played them at the beginning of the season, and then when we played them again, the starting XI consisted of roughly eight different players.
It only goes to show that when a team is performing well and winning, people tend to mistake it for the team itself.
So it’s excellent that he may now assert a legitimate claim. I believe he possesses traits that no one else in the group possesses, which is excellent as well. I am thrilled that he delivered that kind of performance so he could put his hand up and say, “Look, gaffer, I’m ready to play.”
With the exception of Saturday’s tie against Huddersfield, which he missed after accruing five bookings, Morsy has been consistently present this season.
Receiving five yellow cards at such an early stage was disheartening, he remarked. “I believe that some of the judgments have been awful, but that’s a discussion for another day; I need to exercise some caution.
“I believe many people [have said something similar].” Wes Burns is currently on four, Vaz Vaclac Hladky is probably on three, and my guy who messaged me is on five in a separate league.
“They give out cards so easily now, so you do have to be careful because ultimately you don’t want to be getting 10 too early, because that would be disappointing.”
He said, “I’m happy with my performances,” in reference to his performance this season. Looking at my opponents, I believe I’ve done well thus far, although we’ve only played ten games.
“For me, it’s simply about constantly moving forward, getting better, and looking for opportunities to improve. I still believe I can develop and still believe I can perform at my best this season.
Like his manager Kieran McKenna, Morsy is only glancing at the table at this point.
He declared, “Performances and results are what we want to keep driving, keep driving the performances.”
“You won’t do well every week, but we must strive to perform well every week. We are in great shape, performing admirably, exuding a great deal of confidence, and we are basically just taking each game as it comes.
“Preston will be an extremely difficult game, presenting a totally different challenge from today. The beauty of it is that it presents a whole new challenge and requires an entirely different approach. It also has a really strong squad with excellent players and a strong management, so we will once again need to perform at the top of our game.
We’ll enjoy this one, but on Thursday, all eyes will be on Preston, and we anticipate an extremely challenging game.
Town had the greatest start of any promoted team in the Championship with 25 points after 10 games, surpassing Southampton’s 22 from the 2011–12 season.
However, according to Morsy, neither he nor his colleagues are likely to get carried away with it.
He said, “It’s nice, but it doesn’t really mean anything.” “QPR last season, when they believed they had a real chance of promotion and then nearly went demoted, is the perfect example, in my opinion. We don’t get really thrilled about it since it might change very quickly.
“But the fans have a right to be enthusiastic and enjoy it, and I actually believe that’s a good thing. But for players, it’s important to have their feet firmly planted since, in football, a kick to the teeth is never far away.
“So, to be fair, all we have to do is keep working hard, keep becoming better as a team and individually. We don’t let up and keep looking for solutions. Even after this performance, we will assess our performance to determine what went well and what needs improvement.
“This was the first occasion this season that we really put a team to the test, in my opinion. At both ends, Blackburn was a nice performance, but defensively we weren’t brilliant, so this was a really strong performance. We were almost successful against Stoke.
Morsy returned to the Egypt team last month, earning his first caps since November 2018 as a late replacement in a 1-0 victory over Ethiopia in their last Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match and then a 3-1 loss to Tunisia in a friendly match.
He said, “It was a really good bonus.” “I went there, learned a lot, and had a wonderful experience. I was disappointed not to play more, but sometimes circumstances are beyond your control.
“But it was a wonderful experience; it was wonderful to be back and meet former colleagues and staff members as well as a new set. It was good to get the recall because there are a lot of new players there and not many from when I was there five years ago.
The Town captain was unfortunate not to get his first goal for his country when a late attempt in the opening game was disallowed.
To be fair, “The ref did me!” He chuckled. The referee ruined me. The referees! I’d best hold my tongue.
Morsy is on an 11-player list of players based abroad who have been called up for Egypt’s October internationals, which include two friendlies against Algeria and Zambia at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
He claims that he will soon find out if he made the final squad: “I predict that we’ll learn on Wednesday or Thursday.”
Morsy: We did our best to fight the good fight.
11:00 on Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Sam Morsy, the captain of the Blues, said that Town were “bang at it” and performing at their peak when they overcame Hull City 3-0 on Tuesday night at Portman Road.
