He also supports the striker(s) a lot better. I feel much more comfortable with one striker with Pilks playing as he'll attack the box if Snodgrass has the ball on the other side.
I wonder if this is why CH spoke about possibly bringing in another wide player? I like Redmond, but he needs to build his game considerably to reach PL level. He's improving, but he's not there yet.
My half term report: "On track to achieve the target set by the board at the start of the season, namely a top 10 finish. We are currently in 14th place and 5 points off 10th despite having played for half the season severely handicapped by injuries. We have been unable to field our strongest eleven in the vast majority of games. The injuries have also made it impossible to rotate/rest key players (Fer in particular), and placed an unfair burden on young Redmond and the ever-willing Elmander. We may well see another wide player brought in in January to alleviate that problem." OTBC.
Those five games first mentioned were my initial thoughts, City took just TWO points from 15. Lots of points lost there. Surely we can get more from the return games. Can City do the double at home after those 'bonus' away wins? It's certainly been a mixed bag of results and performances. Losing to 10-man Hull, Snoddy's saved penalty to Villa, chances while on top against Chelsea, Cardiff and Man U stand out as points lost. Injuries, team line-ups, substitutions, tactics, etc will have had a bearing too. Realistically, we must get at least 19 points before our last four games. Didn't City get 19 points from the second half of last season?
IMO, CH hasn't got a particular 'strongest eleven', Surgeryman, as it depends on the opposition, whether it's home or away, and so on. Hoolahan was brought in against United to link Hooper and the midfield with through balls and more creative play, but also to give Elmander a rest. It seems to me that City have good squad depth at every position so that there isn't a chosen 11 as such, but opportunities for rotation and tactical choices. This has been more limited because of the injuries and the crunch of games over Christmas has made matters worse. My guess would be that CH would prefer the Tettey-Howson-Fer midfield that was working so well before Tettey's injury. With Howson out now, Johnson and Hoolahan have got their chance but this has been at the expence of intuitive passing play and understanding being built up over games. Similarly, the injuries to the wide players and RvW and Hooper as well, which has disrupted instinctive understanding being built up through game-time together. That's my view of it anyway.
If I had to pick an XI (disregarding any current injuries or other fixtures) to play a one-off, hypothetical, cup final tomorrow against mystery opposition, it would be this: Ruddy R.Martin, R.Bennett, Bassong, Olsson Tettey Snodgrass, Howson, Fer, Pilkington Hooper
I'd agree with that JK, but it's tight between RvW and Hooper for me. We haven't seen the best of RvW yet.
Gotta be Hooper at the moment. He's shown he can hit the back of the net in effectively any situation.
In Hooper-related news, I just found out he is represented by 'Beratung durch Familienangehörigen': http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/beratung-durch-familienangehoerigen/details/berater_1207.html Some very illustrious company within that list of contracted players!
I agree Rick, I think a fully fit RvW is more of a complete attacking footballer whereas Hooper is a goal-hanging predator!
Some seriously talented players in that list! Including a lot of highly rated youngsters I'd love to see at Carrow Road!
Agreed, except that I would currently have Turner in place of Ryan Bennett. But I also agree with Rick that CH thinks (quite rightly) in terms of strongest team for particular opponents (and home/away) so rather than "strongest first choice eleven" I should have said "full-strength squad from which to select".
Incidentally, it amuses me that people go on about our tough-looking end to the season while at the same time we are told (sometimes by the same people) that we only survived last season because our opponents were already "on the beach"!
Also all the other teams have to play them too. I agree, hopefully one of those 4 will have the foot of the gas for some reason on other
Due to my trip to Australia I am in the unique position of only seeing the the first couple of games and the last 2. Has there been much improvement - IMO sadly not. Issues that I put down to players settling in - Redmond hanging onto the ball too long for example - are still there and whilst we now do seem to look more likely to score we are struggling without Tettey. He can do the holding job on his own - Johnson can't- and that causes the rest of the midfield to fall too deep. How long is Tettey out for? Overall no sign of great improvement but there again we are roughly where I expected to be at the turn of the year so no great worries on that score. CH is not a bad Manager and deserves praise for what he achieved last year. If you expected us to push on from there and improve further then I can understand you disappointment and desire to see him go. I aren't his greatest fan but I will remain in the ' keep him' camp until I can think of someone who would do a better job and who is available. As I have said before - for every Lambert there are several Grants, Gunns and Roeders.
That's really good news -- though last season he (Tettey) didn't manage to recapture his pre-injury form when he came back. Pilks in contrast just seems to pick up where he left off.
Nobody has jumped on me yet for saying we are on course to meet the target for the season of a top 10 finish. I guess you all think it is just too ridiculous to warrant a reply.
