Not sure about that Supers. Toivonen is expected to play up front alongside Ibrahimovic for Sweden tonight (ko 18.15). His favoured role seems to be as a second striker ('shadow striker' as it's called in Sweden), but he can also play 'in the hole' or even on the LW. More versatile than Hooper and cheaper as well (Fulham put in a cheeky bid of £2m).
let's wait until they've kicked a ball, but certainly the focus is on attacking players, exciting times
What I like is that fact that we are buying first team players from the likes of PSV and Sporting rather than the lower leagues and other teams cast offs.
SkySports has described it as a 'swoop' in traditional fashion, but in this case are we seeing the new 'attacking' Canaries?
he might very well be playing up front this evening (against the faroes) but as far as i'm aware, he doesn't play up front very often. he is utilised in a deeper position or sometimes drifts wide left. we still want hooper - we won't suddenly change our minds in the second week of june. lots of time has been invested into the hooper deal and it is still ongoing. toivonen is not 'instead' of hooper. it may be that we don't secure hooper in the end, but we are still trying to sign him and have been since january.
it's always been a myth. what he's been doing, as any decent manager does when inheriting a team, is trying to address the squads major weaknesses first - these frailties were defensive. he's made us a much stronger unit defensively, worked hard on making sure the players know how to operate defensively as a unit (something lambert had completely ignored) and now he'll go about addressing the striking and creativity issues which were partly reduced because he addressed the defence, but would have needed work anyway this season if we want to improve. it's not rocket science - it's pretty basic stuff - yet it amazed me how many fans were sucked in by this myth.
Exactly. I've been trying to tell carrabuh for weeks that he is way wide of the mark when he grumbles on about CH looking for "tall rangy wingers" so we can get the ball wide and put long crosses in from the corners! I've always said that CH will be looking for a Snoddy equivalent for the left side of midfield, someone who likes to come inside and link with the central attackers, leaving the full backs to provide more orthodox wing play. Toivonen is exactly the sort of player I was expecting. If he agrees terms and joins us I will be cockahoop, but of course he may have other ideas given rumoured interest from elsewhere too.
As one who has supported CH even at the blackest points, it amazes me how some people jump to conclusions.
toivonen is a beast in the air, so be careful what you say about 'crosses'! he'd be a big plus at set pieces. the point is, we'll be far more fluid going forward with more technical players in advanced areas, but we still need to retain our threat from set pieces (which is a big strong point for us) - why dismiss this as something to get rid of? style of play is all very well but we want to have strengths in different styles.
Is this like all those jumping to the conclusion that we will suddenly be vastly more positive and attacking next season? Lets see some football before we start proclaiming him a inspired attacking manager! People didn't jump to conclusions, it was more of a 4 month grind! Sounds like a good potential signing but is anyone else slightly concerned that we would be buying another player with a slightly chequered recent injury past? "According to Dutch football magazine Voetbal International Norwich have made a deal with PSV Eindhoven to buy Ola Toivonen. Both clubs have supposedly agreed to a 5.5 million euro deal for the Swedish International player, which is around 4.8 million pounds. The 26 year old Swede has one year left on his contract with PSV and was injured most of the 2012-13 season. Toivonen joined PSV in 2009 coming over from Mälmo FF. " Bah!
BBC now reporting Norwich City agree a £4.7m deal with PSV Eindhoven to sign Sweden forward Nils Ola Toivonen, reports Voetbal International. The decision is now believed to be with Toivonen, who is currently with Sweden for their World Cup qualifier with the Faroe Islands on Tuesday evening, over whether he wants to join the Canaries or hold out for another move. Toivonen, 26, has made over 120 appearances for PSV, scoring more than 50 goals. He has 33 caps for Sweden.
That was the only major injury he seems to have had in the last 7 seasons, so that may not be so important. I'm sure it'll be taken into consideration before spending £4-5m!
according to one website, that's the only serious injury he's ever had (ankle injury i think), and it ruled him out for about 4 months, so not most of the season. don't think it's anything to worry about. as for the 'style of play' thing - what exactly do people want? if you think we'll suddenly start playing like barcelona then you'll be bitterly disappointed. likewise, our style will naturally improve with more technical players involved. this 'style of play' thing really grinds with me. you have to go through the right stages to become a better side defensively, just as you have to go through certain stages to become a good attacking force. hughton is not a negative manager, nor is he an attack-minded god - he is somewhere in the middle and those in the middle tend to be more successful as they get the balance right.
We seem to be at cross (sorry!) purposes here superman. I'm not at all advocating a no-crossing-from-wide approach. What I'm saying is that CH is not interested in orthodox wide men (aka "wingers"). Yes, keep crosses from wide in the armoury, provided in particular by the full backs (as per Leighton Baines), or as contributed on occasion by the wide midfield player (as currently from our right by Snoddy). What I'm saying is that CH is looking for someone who can play a more consistent Snoddy-type game on the left than Pilkington does. The set piece strength is a different point altogether and I cetainly have never questioned the value of it. If Toivonen will increase that too, all the better.
As for attacking football, like Supers, I think we'll see better balance between defending and attacking with a stronger attack available. Not all out attack, but a focus on 'total football' with more goals scored and fewer conceded.
it's a balancing act. hughton got it slightly squiffy last year, just as lambert had the year before. hughton had clearly tried to amend lambert's deficiencies defensively but went too far the other way. it was quite obvious (or at least i thought it was) what he was trying to do, but it looks equally obvious that he knows how to correct it by bringing in more suitable attacking players. i must have mentioned it a million times last season but it was a year of transition and this may be (to a degree) as well, and its just a case of remaining patient until the balance is found.
will be watching the Sweden- Faroe Isles game on Firstrow this evening now. definitely a very interesting piece of news and looks to be a excellent acquisition, should the deal go through. getting excited for the first time in this window. how many more times will this happen.
