Obviously really pleased with the win but equally excited that Pritchard and Madders can play effectively together. Enjoy it while it lasts for the next couple of weeks!
Have only seen the highlights, but what a difference Pritchard makes to fowward movement. He seems totally focused on attack, and at pace. What a difference to our usual pedestrian outings.
Which is exactly what was needed (and has been missing ALL of last month) and led to the opening goal.
I don't remember him as mobile and taking on players like he did the other night. Madders has the directness through the centre with his passes and long shots. But he was the only one in the team so far. Great to see a player from central, doing what Wes use to do in his pomp. Plus he has the added danger that maybe Wes didn't have, which is scoring crackers from distance as one of his main traits. Defenders won't know what he will do next, which is in massive contrast to how predictable and 1 dimensional we have been all season.
Or two 'in-offs' which he did courtesy of the Brighton (?) keeper last season. Edit - thanks DD for the MDT.
Vrancic is a difficult one. I have to confess I’ve only been to one match this season and so the rest of this is based on the handful of TV games, so I could well be completely wrong on this. But if we’re trying to look at it from both angles, I’d say his stand out feature is he is always very positive in his passing - looking for the through ball, lofted ball or the risky delayed pass in the middle having drawn players in to him. So I think first and second half Vrancic is a great example of his mixed reviews - in the first half he risked too much, getting caught in possession and intercepted, but also Murphy was on a totally different wavelength (to every other player) and I thought Vrancic sent over a couple of delightful balls which Murphy should have latched onto. Similarly, Vrancic put Oliveira in a couple of great positions, but we got unlucky. By contrast, in the second half Vrancic’s passing kept pulling Wednesday away from Maddison and Pritchard, giving them both more space. He also lifted through and over a couple of passes that were great. Defensively, he’s got quite a languid running style which I always think makes him look slow and lazy. There was one point on TV where Wednesday were attacking down the right and he was just sauntering down the middle, pissing me off. However, the camera panned out and I realised he was actually tracking the Wednesday player coming through the middle and there were two defenders ready to hold Wednesday out wide. So positionally he was well placed. Just one example, but I wonder whether that sort of image means people get the wrong impression. Overall, he’s no Howson and I think he may be something of a fair weather player - he’s not going to win us matches on his own - but he is decent enough.
There's a feeling of inevitability about it, really Ed Balls mentioned at the recent AGM that in order to bring new players in, existing players will have to be sold - though maybe, if Jamal Lewis is a genuine option at LB and we get Tettey back, just maybe we don't need to change the squad radically in January? But I'm not holding my breath.
He always always tries to beat one player too many - or loses the ball by trying to be too over intricate. At least Madders and Pritch are prepared to have a pop from distance and both can make positive, driving, forward runs rather than doing constant twists and turns on the edge of the box
WhoScored had Maddison at 9.2 and Klose on 8.3 which seems about right to me. Hard on Steipermann and Pinto (both 6.8) but Murphy (5.3) was no more than a 5 for me.
My hope is that, if DF and SW feel we need some tweeks to the squad, we can offload some squad players and buy in cheap on like for like wages (Unless its Naismith, in which case a 10th of his wages) This is in theory where Webber is supposed to come into his own. So if we offloaded one/some all of; Naismith even on a free, Husband, Morris, Toffolo, Wildshutt, Josh, Martin, Franke, Wadkins. Maybe we would have enough to further evolve the squad with players more needed. Josh is the one I think makes most sense at the moment. He should be worth a bob or two still but I'm beginning to think he looks under committed and like he won't be worth what we could get for him now, he looks like his price will slide the longer we keep him. He's young and it could be a blip, but his attitude seems all wrong and I'd happily see him go. Bah!
That's pretty high for JM and Murphy only got a 4 on one f the websites I looked at. I still feel Morris might make the grade, but he'll be spending the remainder of this season at Shrewsbury. Wildschutt ditto and the jury's out on the others. An excellent read from Marin on today's MFW and I thought that this comment was particularly relevant - "An elbow in the ribs from Frank brought me out of my slumbering state – the half-time whistle had blown, at last. What had concerned me the most is that I had never met Frank before in my life – he had got his ticket via buy-back. Out of a tight but loose group of six of us, I was the only one who turned up on the evening. Unknown in nearly 20 years." http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...he-cockles-and-a-canary-disaster-was-averted/ Oh and an excellent comment from our very own General.
From Michael Bailey's column: Nail on the head, Ja, for sure http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/...om-canaries-sheffield-wednesday-win-1-5315582
Except for Naismith and Martin, I doubt any of those players are costing much or that there are players of similar quality out there. Watkins came on a free and is a useful player out wide. Mike Bailey had this to say of him: "A wider forward role suits him to the ground and it’s the position Watkins should take up from here – especially if he continues the work rate and endeavour, selfless, direct running and most crucially, what he and Pritchard share in abundance: real desire." Wildschut is also a direct and pacey player who could complement the likes of Maddison and Pritchard. IMO, the last thing we need now is more changes in the squad. Our chance this season has probably gone unless the return of Pritchard and our strikers can return to form.
