Birmingham City boss Lee Clark is holding back on-loan West Ham United midfielder Ravel Morrison.

Clark insists that Manchester United reject Morrison is his own man and, with the extra knowledge he has now picked up, he believes he will soon be ready to flourish.

"He's done excellent and my opinion of him hasn't changed," said Clark.

"He's a top player. I just felt that we had to go with different personnel in recent games. Ravel is a hugely talented footballer. What we need to teach him to do, and he's wanted to learn, is about when we haven't got the ball.

"If you're a midfield player, and I can speak from personal experience, it's not just about what you do with the ball.

"Those days are gone when you're just a ball-playing midfielder. Modern-day midfielders have to be good at everything and that's protecting your back four and being good without the ball as well. He's a magician with the ball and we just need to teach him the other side.

"It's just a bit of fine-tuning, but he's going to play a big part for us."