I agree with a lot that you have said, but don't forget turner started poorly last year but got better and better, maybe due to match fitness perhaps. That being said I do think R Martin and Bassong could be a great partnership I think their styles as centre backs would compliment each other well. I also agree about Tettey a fully in form and fit tettey does offer us a lot, and it could be at the expense of johnson that he is included.
Turner is still well behind the others in terms of match fitness. He played part of the game against Braga, and then the final two friendlies. I would think there were two reason for his being preferred to Ryan Bennett, first getting him proper game time, and second his height defending set pieces (given Everton had Fellaini, Jagielka and Distin to aim at I thought we did pretty well on that front). When Turner is fit he is certainly better than Russ IMO, which everybody else has been saying too up until today (Russ being viewed by everybody as 4th choice at CB). Turner needs game time, so he should play.
Redmond Pulled in to the middle very well, i could see him moving off the wing later in his career like wes did and playing as and attacking midfield player or ever a second striker like Walcott has don at arsenal
He has played behind a central striker at Birmingham. He's versatile but with a lot to learn whichever position he is playing. Great prospect.
I've said before he will be fantastic and frustrating in equal parts this season. He's very rough around the edges but there are few better ways of learning than playing in the Premier league. the more he plays the better he will be.
I thought Howson was pretty good to be honest, especially when he was moved forward. Doesn't deserve to be dropped
"When he was moved forward"? Do you mean when Tettey replaced Hoolahan? If so, that was pretty late in the game. Prior to that, it is surely misleading to talk about his "being" moved forward, or "kept" back by anyone apart from himself (or Everton). He got forward when he felt able. I felt myself that he could have advanced further with the ball in midfield on several occasions, for example when he tried those balls over the top; they were played from too far back. But the Everton midfield generally closed down very quickly.
I think we can expect quite a bit of experimentation in the early games. A lot of players have come in, and CH is open minded about what they can do. In his interview when Fer signed, CH said quite explicitly that he was excited at the prospect of finding out what Fer was capable of. In other words, CH knows perfectly well that Fer can play as a DM, that he sees Yaya Toure as his role model, etc. etc. But he is interested in finding out how he gets on in a more advanced role. So I don't think we should read too much into Fer playing more CAM than DM at the moment. If you start with fixed ideas about best position for a given player, you would say we currently have three capable DMs (Johnson, Tettey, Fer) and two players vying for the CAM spot (Hoolahan, Howson). Maybe that is how it will pan out when CH has had a good look at them, maybe not.
Yep, but while late, it was still for over twenty minutes including injury time, which is close to a quarter of the match... And for those last twenty minutes, I felt he looked more comfortable. Perhaps it was partly because Fellaini had tired, but Howson coped much better than Hoolahan. So while I agree with your second part, he certainly was a bit too keen to blast the ball over for RvW to run onto, and he probably could have got forward more, I suspect that wasn't really in his mandate. I think the Everton midfield was absolutely brilliant, and thought Howson (until Tettey came on) was the only one who came remotely close to coping with them and for that reason was our best midfielder and deserves to keep his place. In so many ways this was like Fulham last season - their midfield tore us apart too with Dembele having a stormer. This time round, we were able to cope with the pressure and have a sting of our own. Shows how far we've come. My team for next week would be: Ruddy Whittaker Martin Bassong Olsson Fer Tettey Snodgrass Howson Redmond RvW With: - Johnson to replace maybe Fer if he is tiring from the new pace; - Garrido to replace Redmond, with Olsson moving forward; - Bennett to replace Snodders if the latter isn't fully match fit; and - Butterfield to replace Howson to give him another chance to break into the first team, all as options to come on depending on the result.
True, but I'm also conscious that Hughton will have learnt his lesson from last season's opening few matches - too much experimenting doesn't allow for rhythm. I'm no manager, but I also think keeping the players how performed best on the pitch is a good message too - you play well, you won't get dropped. Howson showed what, on form, he can do towards the end of last season. He was our best CM yesterday and on that basis should be our continuity in midfield. I'm all for heavy experimenting when you've just lost 5-0 to Fulham, not so keen when an injury-ridden squad has scrapped a good draw against a top seven (with several top four players) side. In fact, I'd be loath to drop Garrido, Turner and Johnson despite my post above for the same reason. I'm happy for him to experiment in games, though. Move Fer forward when we are losing to see if we can change the game, etc.
Baffled, from north Norfolk! If Tettey is fit enough to come on as sub for the last 20 minutes, why is he not fit enough to start alongside BJ in the holding role. Howson, in my mind, has never been and will never be a good defensive midfielder and the difference in our play when he moved upfield when Wes came off was noticeable immediately. We mentioned this zillions of times last season but still Hughton perseveres with it? I don't see why?
I agree - the experimenting can be done in the cup games. I also don't think Redmond should start if Snods is fit again. Bring him on as an impact sub as the opposition tires. Bennett played well enough to keep his place, especially considering his tracking back abilities (something Redmond needs to work on, say starting in the cup). So I would go with the following against Hull: Ruddy Whittaker Martin Bassong Olsson Fer Tettey Bennett Howson Snodgrass RvW Subs: Bunn, Turner, Garrido, Johnson, Redmond, Hoolahan, Hooper, Becchio
I'am going to predict Redmond will end up player of the season for us. Vary rarely has a norwich City player got me so excited, he is going to be MASSIVE for us this season. He is going to end up on my favourite player list alongside the likes of Rule Fox. As to the game, i thought we done ok, and to score two goals in the first game of the season is amazing for us. We were dominated to an extent in possesion as has been said, but we had some big big players missing. Onwards and upwards i think.
I would take a draw against Everton they're easily one of the toughest fixtures in the league, I always find them an intense and dynamic team, it's a great starting fixture though, an a good baptism of fire for the likes of RVW and Redmond etc. Problem wise we still need someone to link up the Midfield and Attack I'm looking forward to Fer's inclusion but still think we need further options, my number one problem was when we scored we went at them once again only to drop the tempo and look a bit casual, Everton just looked a lot more hungry.
Ruel Fox, an Ipswich lad, but from the wrong side of town, a Whitton lad (that's JWM's territory), you'd never get a Chantry lad playing for you lot!
