Is he actually our best forward? Would he have been in the position and converted all those squandered chances that Jerome and Grabban have missed? Has he ever really been that good for Norwich? Did the Scottish league make him look better because it is a very low standard? Did he want a move away after we were relegated? Has he got fat and lost his apetite for the game? Will he finish our highest goalscorer? Will he ever get an England call up? Should we have loaned him and kept Winkel? Has he had a single shot in the 2 games he played? When we kept him during the transfer window i was delighted and fully expected him to destroy this division unfortunately the signs are ominous so far in my opinion. I really hope to be proven wrong about him.
Is he actually our best forward? imo yes Would he have been in the position and converted all those squandered chances that Jerome and Grabban have missed? all of them? no. some of them? yes Has he ever really been that good for Norwich? he hasn't been at his best here, no Did the Scottish league make him look better because it is a very low standard? he's a very good striker, regardless of standard Did he want a move away after we were relegated? yes Has he got fat and lost his apetite for the game? he's just big boned Will he finish our highest goalscorer? doubtful as he still seems some way off full fitness Will he ever get an England call up? probably not Should we have loaned him and kept Winkel? could have kept one or the other imo Has he had a single shot in the 2 games he played? he's only played one competitive game since early april and he looked about 20% fit as he's returning from a long lay off hope that helps
Thanks Supers sensible replies but he played in the league cup and a full 90 mins for the U21s if that is considered competitive.
imo hooper is by quite a big margin our most talented finisher. grabban is a live wire but his selfishness and profligacy are already doing my head in whilst jerome is a handful but despite his goal scoring exploits to date wasn't bought as a finisher. but hooper's miles off full fitness so until he gets sharp again its a pointless argument. grabban has (somehow) bagged 6 goals and jerome 5 - i think we'll all be happy if they keep delivering the goals in the meantime but it'd be better if some of the midfield brought some goals to the table. i certainly wouldn't play both grabban and jerome in the same team - i think adams' attempts to shoehorn both into the side, and therefore disrupt hoolahan's form has been hugely detrimental to recent performances.
Ten posts in one, that's excellent work my friend! So: Is he actually our best forward? I think so, yes Would he have been in the position and converted all those squandered chances that Jerome and Grabban have missed? I too think he would have converted some of them Has he ever really been that good for Norwich? Not yet, but I'm still hopeful Did the Scottish league make him look better because it is a very low standard? Not in my opinion Did he want a move away after we were relegated? Almost certainly yes Has he got fat and lost his apetite for the game? I think he needs to work a little on his fitness, did look sluggish the other night Will he finish our highest goalscorer? If he gets games he will score Will he ever get an England call up? Not as it looks at present Should we have loaned him and kept Winkel? No Has he had a single shot in the 2 games he played? Not a fair question due to lack of game time I was really excited when he joined because I'd watched him a lot at Celtic and was impressed. I knew nothing about RVW (still don't really) I'm still hopeful he'll do the business
As crazy as it may sound someone suggested getting a quality loan forward in. If Hoops is still unfit and can't even be named as a sub then we have 2 strikers as Loza is not ready yet. If we could loan a real quality striker and rest Grabban and Jerome we would be covering our arses. They both start every game and will get burnt out wt this rate.
Saints have this marvellous live youtube feed and a few of us watched it on Monday ,points are counted and a table is compiled but yes it is a way of introducing players without too much risk. Hooper was awful no fight no movement bad touch just dreadful Bassong showed class against trainees. Saints do have have a good academy but we were outclassed.
i wouldn't be against a loan forward coming in. i think it would be a good move to be honest. though as i said earlier, i wouldn't play grabban and jerome together as a two. didn't know about the feed - maybe something our club should look into doing. i wouldn't look too deeply into performances at that level - and certainly not for hooper - it really is about getting some fitness under his belt. i was very surprised he made the tream for shrewsbury - i'd heard he might not feature until november so perversely he might be well ahead of schedule despite looking so unfit. and there's definitely no shame in losing to saints - some real class in their development side.
We have still got Lafferty who can play as a striker if we get desperate, so we've got options. What out-of-favour Premier League strikers are available anyway? Sagbo's just joined Wolves I think, and that's about the quality we'd be likely to get. Not convinced it'd be a great step up. Rather than bring someone else in, I'd rather we played 4-2-3-1 and made use of the options we have. We've got Jerome, Grabban and eventually Hooper who can play the central role, and Lafferty can be used wide to provide the height we'd lack with Hooper or Grabban up front. With Wes coming inside, you'd hope he'd be more involved so we create more. On Hooper, I still think that when match-fit he's our best striker, but on recent showings that's quite a way off. Doubt he'll be ready to start for over a month.
Completely agree with DH here. Jerome and Grabban don't look to be an ideal pair in the 4-4-2 (though it's early days), but they are much better together in the 4-2-3-1, which can blend into a very attacking 4-3-3 when attacking with Wes pulling the strings. The width can be provided by the FBs overlapping to good effect.
Hooper is a bit like a poor man's Rooney - he can conjure up something out of nothing. He would have been ideal, when fit, to have played against Charlton because he doesn't need the defenders to make a glaring mistake to score. My principal issue with Hooper is he seems to take ages to get fit - when he got injured last year it was the same thing, he just does not get match sharp anywhere near quick enough.
