Post by Jayrannasaurus on Oct 17, 2013 11:18:25 GMT
www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/16/ravel-morrison-wilfried-zaha-under-21-bust-up
Ravel Morrison and Wilfried Zaha shake hands over Under-21s bust-up
Ravel Morrison and Wilfried Zaha clashed during the England Under-21 game with Lithuania after the Manchester United forward queried why his West Ham United counterpart was not passing to him.
Zaha had demanded the ball from Morrison, who scored twice, at various times during Tuesday's 5-0 win at Portman Road and so asked him to explain why he had ignored his pleas. There followed a scuffle in which Morrison, who has appeared to find a renewed focus following several off-field incidents when a United player, grabbed Zaha.
Yet after the European Championship qualifier the pair shook hands near the team coach and joked about the bust-up, with it being understood there is no continuing ill-feeling between them.
Gareth Southgate, the new under-21 manager, admitted that he faces a challenge to ensure there is no repeat from any of his players and that he can build unity. "It's my job to bring them together as a group, which is going to be a test. We spoke about being a team before the game. We know the potential of the group of individuals.
"The key now is how we come together as a team and that will take time because there is a lot of focus on individuals. Sometimes there is pressure on individuals and one or two of those had a point to prove and did that very well."
Nathan Redmond, the Norwich City winger who separated Zaha and Morrison, said: "It was just a bit of a disagreement, nothing else. We got back in the changing room and sorted it out. You get that with teams everywhere, there is just a bit more of spotlight on this incident because it was for England. We sorted it out behind the scenes."
Redmond hinted at the root of the problem Zaha had with Morrison: "Rav's a class player, sometimes he just has to move the ball a little bit quicker. Sometimes you do get a little bit frustrated with him but you just have to let Rav be Rav because of the things he is capable of."
Morrison was sold to West Ham by United in January 2012 after Sir Alex Ferguson decided he would not fulfil his potential while still living in Manchester. The previous year he received a referral order for witness intimidation and shortly after joining West Ham he was fined £7,000 by the Football Association for making a homophobic comment on social networking site Twitter.
While the latest episode involving Zaha cannot be compared with those incidents, the 20-year-old, who was the outstanding performer in the game against Lithuania, will be keen not to become embroiled in further controversy.
"I'm very happy with the performance," Morrison told West Ham TV. "I thought the team performance was good and I thought my performance was good too." Of what was only his second appearance for the under-21s, he said: "I've found it great. I've come in and the lads have treated me well and I've got on with everybody. It's a lot different when you're older, everything has been more calm."
On Saturday Manchester City, are at Upton Park for the late kick-off. "I'm very excited because I used to play for Manchester United but I never played against their first team so I'm really looking forward to it. Of course we can cause a shock. We're a great team and we should have had a lot of goals this season but for some reason we haven't."
West Ham did win their last league game 3-0 against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and Morrison said: "Against Tottenham we managed to get the goals which have been missing which was pleasing. The defence has been solid so if we carry on doing what we're doing we can cause an upset."
Ravel Morrison and Wilfried Zaha shake hands over Under-21s bust-up
Ravel Morrison and Wilfried Zaha clashed during the England Under-21 game with Lithuania after the Manchester United forward queried why his West Ham United counterpart was not passing to him.
Zaha had demanded the ball from Morrison, who scored twice, at various times during Tuesday's 5-0 win at Portman Road and so asked him to explain why he had ignored his pleas. There followed a scuffle in which Morrison, who has appeared to find a renewed focus following several off-field incidents when a United player, grabbed Zaha.
Yet after the European Championship qualifier the pair shook hands near the team coach and joked about the bust-up, with it being understood there is no continuing ill-feeling between them.
Gareth Southgate, the new under-21 manager, admitted that he faces a challenge to ensure there is no repeat from any of his players and that he can build unity. "It's my job to bring them together as a group, which is going to be a test. We spoke about being a team before the game. We know the potential of the group of individuals.
"The key now is how we come together as a team and that will take time because there is a lot of focus on individuals. Sometimes there is pressure on individuals and one or two of those had a point to prove and did that very well."
Nathan Redmond, the Norwich City winger who separated Zaha and Morrison, said: "It was just a bit of a disagreement, nothing else. We got back in the changing room and sorted it out. You get that with teams everywhere, there is just a bit more of spotlight on this incident because it was for England. We sorted it out behind the scenes."
Redmond hinted at the root of the problem Zaha had with Morrison: "Rav's a class player, sometimes he just has to move the ball a little bit quicker. Sometimes you do get a little bit frustrated with him but you just have to let Rav be Rav because of the things he is capable of."
Morrison was sold to West Ham by United in January 2012 after Sir Alex Ferguson decided he would not fulfil his potential while still living in Manchester. The previous year he received a referral order for witness intimidation and shortly after joining West Ham he was fined £7,000 by the Football Association for making a homophobic comment on social networking site Twitter.
While the latest episode involving Zaha cannot be compared with those incidents, the 20-year-old, who was the outstanding performer in the game against Lithuania, will be keen not to become embroiled in further controversy.
"I'm very happy with the performance," Morrison told West Ham TV. "I thought the team performance was good and I thought my performance was good too." Of what was only his second appearance for the under-21s, he said: "I've found it great. I've come in and the lads have treated me well and I've got on with everybody. It's a lot different when you're older, everything has been more calm."
On Saturday Manchester City, are at Upton Park for the late kick-off. "I'm very excited because I used to play for Manchester United but I never played against their first team so I'm really looking forward to it. Of course we can cause a shock. We're a great team and we should have had a lot of goals this season but for some reason we haven't."
West Ham did win their last league game 3-0 against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and Morrison said: "Against Tottenham we managed to get the goals which have been missing which was pleasing. The defence has been solid so if we carry on doing what we're doing we can cause an upset."
I thought he simply stopped posting??