

Posted by

Steve Bottjer ,

May 12, 2015 Email

Steve Bottjer

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With plenty of new faces on the TFC roster for the 2015 MLS campaign, the first two months of the season have been a time of adjustment for all of the players on Toronto FC Head Coach Greg Vanney’s squad.



Interestingly, for the team’s most consistent performer from last year, left back Justin Morrow, recent weeks have also been a time of adjustment due to a position change.



With the strong play of Canadian left back Ashtone Morgan and injuries and uneven play with the club’s right back corps, the 27 year old Morrow has switched flanks and played right fullback in Toronto’s last five league fixtures.



According to the United States International, the switch from left back to right back has been a considerable adjustment for the veteran defender.



“It’s been all right,” Morrow told RedNation regarding the positional switch. “It is a tough transition just because I have never played it before. I am getting more and more comfortable as I play there every game.”



“It might not seem like that big of difference to people that don’t know,” Morrow added. “Turning the other way to defend, where you are at in space when the ball is coming from a different direction – these are things that you need to get used to. It’s not impossible (but it is a transition).”



Asked how long it might take for playing right back to feel more natural for him, the Cleveland, Ohio native was candid in his reply.



“I don’t think it will ever feel natural, but each game that I play there I am getting more and more comfortable,” Morrow explained.



While Morrow’s initial switch to right back had in many ways been a necessity due to an injury to last year’s starting right back Mark Bloom, it has now created a situation in which arguably Toronto’s top player from last year is now regularly playing out of position.



With that in mind, in the coming weeks, the TFC gaffer will likely have to weigh the benefits of having both an in form Morgan and Morrow in the starting eleven versus having Morrow playing at his best position.



According to Morrow, there has not been a long-term determination as to which position he will be deployed at in the coming weeks and months.



“I think it is a thing where if we keep getting results and we keep doing well, then I don’t think (Greg) will change it up very much,” Morrow said. “That’s fine with me. Obviously, I prefer to play left back – I’m a natural left back and that is my position – but I’m winner and I want to win and I want this team to win. So I will do what I can.”



In addition to a positional change, Morrow, like all of his returning teammates from the 2014 campaign, has also had to adjust to new tactics and a new approach under Vanney, whose philosophy is quite different from the manner in which previous Head Coach Ryan Nelsen mapped things out.



Somewhat surprisingly, in Morrow’s estimation, the switch at the head coaching position has not been as big of an adjustment as the influx of new players on the team, including the immediate insertion of five new players into the team’s starting eleven



“It is not even so much playing for Greg – it seems like there is a good amount of new players and it being a different team,” Morrow explained. “Obviously, there are some teammates where I can draw examples from last year and say to them before a game ‘remember last year when this happened when we played this team’ and then talk about how we will have to approach a game.”



“But it is now a different situation because there are many new players and we are experiencing a lot of things as a team for the first time together,” Morrow added. “It’s definitely still a feeling out process. Having said that, it is still all about trying to develop those relationships and improving our partnerships on the field to help us win.”