Town chief hoping to turn Luton's new explosive winger into a 90-minute player
Morris has already improved his average minutes per game during Luton stint
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield would love winger Shayden Morris to show he can become a 90-minute player for the Hatters during his time at Kenilworth Road.
The 23-year-old arrived in Bedfordshire on transfer deadline day when Town agreed to pay an undisclosed fee to Aberdeen, continuing a career that saw him start out at Fleetwood, and then move north of the border to join the Scottish Premier League outfit, where he won the club’s first Scottish Cup in 35 years last term. During his time at the Highbury Stadium and Pittodrie, Morris played 129 matches in all competitions, but only completed the full game on 12 occasions, averaging just over 40 minutes of action per contest.
Since his debut at Barnet in the EFL Trophy, in which he came on in the second half to win and score a penalty, also having half an hour from the bench against Plymouth Argyle and Lincoln City in League One, he has started Town’s last two third tier fixtures, playing 56 minutes against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday and then 74 during Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw with Blackpool.
It means that he has averaged 65 minutes in those two appearances, already an improvement of 20 minutes on his previous efforts, and asked if they hoped he can start to become a full game player in the future, Bloomfield said: “I’d love him to be, but the evidence suggests so far that he’s not quite there. I think we saw on Saturday and Tuesday evening a drop-off in intensity, so I’m not sure his body is quite ready to go and go and go.
"He’s a very quick player who deals in intense moments and the evidence of his career so far and since he’s been here is he’s not quite the 90 minute player that we want him to be. So again, we’ll have to give him time to build himself up. Some games it might be starting and coming off, other games it might be being as a finisher and coming on. We saw against Barnet on his first appearance how electric he can be in the last half an hour, so on the balance of evidence it presents itself to what we can all see. But we believe he can become that guy and we want him to get to that place as soon as he can.”
With Morris such an explosive player who makes a huge number of sprints during a game, then his inability to last the full 90 is no real surprise given the amount of work he gets through on the right flank. Asked just how they can push the winger to go that extra mile, Bloomfield added: “I think it’s match minutes, playing as many as you can and building up that resilience to play Saturday, Tuesday. Maybe playing in Scotland as well, the number of games he had to play and having international breaks.
"I know we had one earlier in the season and we’ve got another one, but the intensity of the games in League One, how frequent they come around, it’s going to be a test for him as well. So I think it’s football, getting as much football into his legs, keeping him fit, keeping him at it, and not taking him to the point where he breaks. It’s just trying to get to that sweet spot, as with all the attacking players, especially the boys that are sprinters. I think it’s really important that we try and keep them in that intense period and that’s where they’re at their best.”