When this season started, my prediction was that we'd finish somewhere between 6th and 10th, with the unknown quantity of the 8 new players and 4 youth players returning from loans. They would all need a period of adjustment, part of which happened in pre-season. The injuries suffered by Vrancic, Hanley and Lewis and then McLean further complicated this. The win over Preston and the draws at Brum and Ipswich were good results, IMO, but compromised by narrow defeats against West Brom and Sheffield United. The loss to Leeds was far from narrow, but it's interesting that 10 of their 11 players were the same as last season. Where we go from here remains to be seen, but we have the players to improve and if we can get a run of good results that 6-10 bracket is still possible. Boro at home will be a test, but Reading, QPR and Wigan are a good chance for potential points. After those 4 games we'll have a better idea of our chances. There are still 120 points available.
Eadie and Akinbye made their debuts against Inter I believe, so same period you are talking about RER.
Eadie's debut was against Vitesse Arnhem apparently and Akinbiyi came on as a sub against Bayern Munich, but you're right that both could have been included in my example. Actually it makes the case for youth development even more strongly. Thanks for that.
From today's offering by PD - 'DF’s faith in Maddison was rewarded last season, with the head coach instrumental in the England Under 21 midfielder’s club-record sale to Leicester City. “Maybe 14 months ago the question was, ‘Do we send him out on loan?’ Maybe get a loan fee from a League One club of £100,000 or whatever,” said Farke. “We sold a brilliant player for an unbelievable amount of money. “The same with Josh or Jacob Murphy. It is important we invest that not only in salaries for experienced players but in the infrastructure so our academy can produce more of these players. “That doesn’t help so much in the short term but it will in the mid to longer term.” To quote a certain person who regularly posts on here - #wemustbepatient http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/canaries-aarons-tipped-for-big-things-1-5679238
Carryiing on from my previous post, Stewart raises some VERY interesting topics and I'm sure many will disagree with his views on how long to give DF - http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...-off-judgement-on-daniel-farke/#comment-29805 I've copied some of the more relevant points - 'We’ve been able to get players like Trybull, Leitner, Pukki, Hernandez and Rhodes within our limited budget because they haven’t been pulling up trees at their old clubs. They’ve responded to Daniel Farke – indeed, to a man they’ve said how Farke’s plans for the team and their personal role were central to their decision to come to Norwich. Some of our players would probably adapt to, and appeal to, another manager: Hanley, perhaps, and/or Marshall and McLean. But many would not. Then there’s the youth development which has to be pivotal to our short and medium-term future. Players now contributing to the first team – Jamal Lewis, Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Louis Thompson, Todd Cantwell – all heap praise on Farke for his direction of their careers. Farke’s predecessors didn’t see, or perhaps just weren’t interested to see, their potential (they didn’t even appreciate it in James Maddison). Edit – I think the comment re youth development reinforces what you were saying earlier RER, in that they won’t always be players who’ve come through our own youth scheme, but players identified as having POTENTIAL at other clubs. I’m delighted to see youth being given it’s chance and by the time we get to the end of this month, I predict we’ll have quite a few more ‘points in the bag!!’
Lewis makes his case very well, JMF. I'd even say that often one of our principal weakness as a club is the impatience of some of our fans, but perhaps that's a spin-off from having one of the most passionate fan bases in the country. You in see it at CR, but it's most evident at away games. They want success and they want it now. The new club structure is set up to build sustainable success over a period of years. Lewis makes a good point about the players recruited. With AN, we went up by signing aging players like Dorrans and Jarvis, which worked short term but failed long-term. He talked about building a dynasty, but he never came close to doing so because he wouldn't take the risk of playing young players. His failure to see Maddison's potential was indicative. DF played him from the start. Would AN have played Lewis, Godfrey or Aarons? No. DF did in our last two games and Aarons has now been called up to the England U19s. Like Lewis, but two years younger, he has been fast-tracked into the first team and hit the ground running. Our defence at Ipswich had 2 players aged 20 and one aged 18. When did that last happen? This is why I'm willing to give DF time this season. Yes, the results need to improve, but it's the long term development we should be aiming for.
He spent circa £8 m on Pritchard yet it was weeks or months before the little wizard got a game. Yet ineffective donkey Naismith had no issues getting selected
Great post Rick Is that the same Naismith who scored a hat-trick on Saturday (against the team near the bottom of the SPL!!!)???
He may well have got one for Everton v Chelsea and then Hearts v St Mirren - but NCFC were obviously piggy in the middle where he just fired blanks - when he could be arsed to even do that!
Just bumping this thread to remind us all of a different time and mindset not so long ago. Harsh on Scowey, sorry - especially with that last line (apologies for flagging - three points apart now sounds hilarious but back then no-one argued!) An extraordinary change.
I remember thinking that Scowey's prediction was probably reasonable at the time. What a transformation in both teams since then!
What's incredible about that thread is that before the season only one of us saw any kind of trouble brewing... after just two games (August 12th) the predictions are far less optimistic.
It was a startling collapse though. You got 60 points last season. Without wishing to rub salt in the wound, how could any of you have predicted you’d gather fewer points than we have this season if you combine your last two seasons?
