M_Afro

The current Norwich run has the feeling of one of those long losing streaks that we went on when Dean was in charge. This could get messy for him! I hope he manages to do enough to hold onto his job and give it a crack next season. It was always a risky move for him but it could be the last PL job he has if he’s not careful. They look like a team that has given up!

It feels like he has conceded a lot of penalties since he joined the club. Does anybody know the actual amount he’s conceded and how that compares to other PL defenders in the same timeframe? 

41 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Decision making and consistency is also factored into the price - he made the wrong choice there and was punished for it. That'll happen at that price point. 

He didn’t make the wrong decision. He tried to foul him but he just failed to execute. 

As many have already said it has to be either Ollie or Ings. For me that would always be Ollie because he suits our system way better than Ings. 

You then have to play Buendia. He is the best player we have at linking the play. He also has a few more gears to go yet (hopefully) but I’m sure he is suffering from trying to adapt to new surroundings and also not being part of a settled unit. 

The final position is still up for grabs. Nobody has really put their hand up. It’s all a bit unbalanced too as we seem to love signing right sided players over left sided ones. Hopefully, in time, Carney will make the position his but for now I would play Bailey or Traore.

2 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Or more accurately, one of the best strikers in world football playing against a decent but not great full back. Or a 97.5m striker playing against a 15m full back. 

That is true but I’m not expecting Targett to take him on at skills school. A £1m full back could have successfully fouled Lukaku there. The value of the player does not mean that they are infallible to a good old fashioned team free kick. Targett was just way too passive as he often is. 

Mings and Konsa are both way too passive at times for PL centre backs but they are both better than our current full backs in my opinion. The Cash penalty give away was the biggest mistake by a defender yesterday that led directly to a goal, followed closely by Targett’s inability to deal with Lukaku for the third. The Cash one was particularly annoying due to the timing of it and the fact that it was just so easily avoided.

None of our defenders are close to being perfect but I still think that Mings is probably the best of them. Konsa has the highest ceiling though but he needs to find more aggression in his game to move ahead of Mings. The full backs are what they are and will need replacing if we are to continue progressing.

Absolutely awful for their third. It was like watching an 18 year old centre forward playing against an under 12 left back. If he couldn’t win the ball there, he had to bring him down! Failed miserably at both.

We have managed to create a team full of similar level players now. We have some lower third prem players of which Targett is one. We have some middle third players and probably only one upper third player. The next couple of years we need to focus on bringing in some upper third players whilst hopefully developing some of our existing players to also get to that level too. We need to be patient.

Cash and Targett are both ok. They have good and poor elements to their game. They are being asked to play an important role in the team and both are doing their best. Neither are good enough for a top 6 team yet and I suspect neither of them ever will be. They do a job for us now and will probably be replaced by this time next year. In the meantime they will continue to be ok.

7 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

No way should we be helping those feckers.

Much rather loan him back to Saints

They are our best hope of a decent transfer fee and they can afford to match his wages. They are also desperate. I only care about what’s best for us. 

If his reported salary is correct we have got a problem. I always thought he was an odd signing but if he is in £120k/wk, we are stuck with him. I just don’t see how he fits in other than being first reserve for Ollie. We can’t afford to be paying our first reserve that much! If Newcastle come calling in Jan, I would offload him at the first opportunity. A very odd signing, that looks odder with every passing week.

6 hours ago, villaslash said:

Don’t shoot the messenger. Saw this posted earlier today in the BBC transfer rumours.

BBC transfer rumours

Aston Villa have made an offer for Liverpool and England defender Joe Gomez, 24. (CalcioMercato)

 

I think this is exactly the type of signing that Gerrard will be after. He will be looking at top young prospects like Nathan Patterson at Rangers or players that he thinks are an immediate upgrade on what we have. Obviously Gomez would fall into the second category, although not sure who he would replace. 
All of the links that we have seen to Kent and the like are total nonsense in my view. He would not fit into either of the above categories. It’s just lazy journalists firing out click bait.

Even SG alluded to the fact that we were light at both sides for full backs. Both of the fullbacks have been good under SG but both need competition. Cash is a good player who has been in good form recently but taking form away, I would still rank Martinez, Mings, Konsa, Luiz, SJM, Watkins, Buendia, Bailey ahead of him in terms of quality. Maybe even JJ too.

The ref’s should also be miked and be forced to talk through their decision making process like they do in rugby. It would bring greater accountability 

The VAR official should be made to explain why he didn’t get the ref to check the Kane tackle but did the Robertson one. Both red cards but Kane’s was the worse of the two in my opinion. I also hate the way that all ref’s toe the party line and stick up for each other. It’s nonsense. They are totally untouchable 

Kane’s was worse than that. Ridiculous VAR. Utter garbage 

I would love Son to be at Villa

I genuinely don’t know the rules anymore. VAR has actually made it even more complicated than it was before!

I think this one could be a frustrating draw. Would not be surprised if it’s 0-0. We are due some luck against these though so hopefully we’ll stuff them!

Anybody still a little unsure about SG should watch today’s press conference. The guy is such a class act. He is business personified. I love him. I am so excited to see where he can take us. 

I love a boring 0-2. UTV. Stevie G is da man.

Norwich are quite hard to beat at home. Their problem has been scoring. Their home defensive record is pretty good for a team who are bottom. I suspect that this will be a tight match. The first goal could be very important. I am going 0-1. Buendia to score against his old club.

It’s interesting that Gerrard decided to announce that Emi will be starting tomorrow. It’s rare that a manager does that. Is he trying to influence the way Norwich set up I wonder. No doubt he has his reasons.

1 hour ago, jimmygreaves said:

He has been good, but I feel McGinn and the cameos from Sanson have been better. I'd even have Ramsey ahead of him in the 8 (?) role. All three are better in progressive possession in my opinion.

I agree. We need to sign a Dougie/Marv hybrid to play at the base and then 2 of SJM, Sanson or JJ as eights. Happy for Marv and Doug to fight for their place in the team though.

1 minute ago, hippo said:

My point was today we hardly layed a glove on Liverpool.

Sure mitigating circumstances , young manager, new to managing in the pl ..5 games in.

But my point remians.

 

When Dean was in charge we barely laid a glove on Southampton. In fact, for 45 minutes we managed to make them look like Brazil! To have transitioned from that to the disciplined, hard working performance today in such a short space of time is an absolute miracle.

Get on the bus mate. It’s warm in here.