'Animal' - Crawley Town boss Rob Elliot praises Canadian international after impressive first start for Reds
New signing Liam Fraser was described as an ‘animal’ by his manager after Crawley Town drew 1-1 with Wigan Athletic last night.
The away team took the lead through a Dale Taylor header late in the first half, before Charlie Barker replied three minutes later with a fantastic strike from the edge of the box.
The Reds held on for the rest of the game, with the Latics threatening at times for a winner.
A large reason for this result was down to Liam Fraser, who started his first game for the Reds last night. He played in the middle of the three in midfield, and was an absolute rock defensively, halting Wigan’s progress offensively whilst being composed on the ball.
When asked about the Canadian, Reds manager Rob Elliot said: “I don't know how to say this, he's an animal really. Physically and mentally he's a monster.
“He came in, he wanted to play within the first day, so we had to calm him down a little bit. I think it's going to take him a while to get the concepts and stuff, because that's something that we've developed over a few months and years.
He's obviously coming in, but he's took it on straight away. He's an international, he's a top footballer, so he's intelligent. He's shown some real technical ability. I think he's added to our repertoire in terms of the longer passing, and I think the more he settles, the better he'll be.”
Crawley had a tough blow before the game, with Bradley Ibrahim being suspended after accumulating ten yellow cards, which meant Fraser could not use his attacking skills as much, but still played a very tough role which Elliot thought he excelled in. He said: “What I like about Liam is I think he can add to us in an attacking sense. Obviously with Brad [Ibrahim] being missing at the moment, he's probably dropped back into the number four role to help us out, which is obviously probably the toughest one to play.
“I thought he did exceptionally well, and I thought physically he'd give us a bit of a bite in the tackle and the running. He's a monster in terms of how he's running. I'm really pleased with him.
“He's a really level-headed lad, he's really firm. He's here to keep the club up, he's here to do well, and he's here to help us. I love the buy-in from him straight away, and I think he's improved the squad. Hopefully we'll see him keep improving us and keep getting better.”