Hoolahan's game isn't dependant on pace but creative guile. So the fact he's getting older, for me, is not a concern at all. Similar to Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea a decade ago, I can actually see him getting better. I think he's still got a big part to play in the next two or three seasons for Norwich.
I don't mean to pick on you Northampton, I know a lot of posters agree with you, but I'm afraid I don't. Our defence is way stronger than when we were promoted under Lambert. We need a back up LB and some sort of a CB seems to be desirable, but we really don't "need defenders more than anything" IMO. We had the strongest defence in the Championship under Neil. For me, the priority has to be sorting out our misshapen forward line. There are big question marks over each of our strikers and I hope that Neil has some idea what to do about it, because we were relegated due to our poor attack, not our defence. We simply have not been able to replace Holt and until we can find a striker that will score 12+ goals plus another capable of scoring 8+ or so I really think it will be hair-raising (possibly Jerome and Hooper/Grabban, but I'm unconvinced). The answer may be more creativity from the wings, with additions like Brady, rather than a new striker. I don't know. By contrast, our defence is easily strong enough compared to our fellow relegation battlers. Yes, we WILL get the odd thrashing and defenders will make mistakes, but we honestly can't expect to have two Kompanys at the back.
True, especially as at least one forward needs to leave before another can come in. We have been linked to at least 3 defenders, though: Ambrose and van Dijk of Celtic and Yedlin from Spurs. Brady is also half a defender as well.
I'm also not that worried about our defence. I think Turner may leave, though, so he would need to be replaced by a quality CB. Given that Whittaker can play at LB and we also have Toffolo, then Brady would be sufficient cover there. I'm not sure that Yedlin, a converted RW, would be much better than Elliot Bennett as a third, pacey RB. The central midfield is amply covered now with the addition of Dorrans and Mulumbu and Brady (or Clucas) would provide another option on the left, as would Dorrans. Given that Grabban and Lafferty can both play wide as well as up front, there seems to be enough options there. That could change if Liverpool offered silly money for Redmond, in which case someone like Dyer might come in. That leaves the attack. I think Jerome will do well again this season, but I'd be very concerned if he was injured. Grabban is unproven in the PL, especially as the lone striker and focus of the attack. Hooper is also a question mark in that role, although he's very good with a partner. RvW can play the lone striker role, but would he suit AN's approach? Lafferty is yet another question, so there is room for concern about the forward line.
No problems with that, but the defence was never Lambert's main area he was the type of manager who'd go out to win games 4-3, the defence is slightly stronger but what we have is far from sufficient in my opinion. We're a premiership team now it's a bit naive to assume that what we have can contain some of the attacks we'll face this season. Our defence was atrocious too, that season we conceded 62 goals.
Turner lost the plot a bit last season, was a good player under Hughton but we need an upgrade and not someone who is going to sit on the bench, Ryan Bennett might get more of a chance next season, we definitely need a centre back though I'm not convinced with Martin in that position sometimes.
I agree about Turner, Northampton, and that any replacement should be quality and preferably left-sided or comfortable playing on the left, as van Dijk is.
Van Dijk would be a brilliant signing though the stories gone a bit cold, I've read rumours there are some big clubs looking at him.
See the part I disagree on (although I appreciate is a matter of opinion) is that "the defence is slightly stronger". I honestly think it is much, much stronger. Under Lambert in the Championship we conceded 1.26 goals a game and scored 1.8 goals a game. Under Neil that compares with 0.87 goals a game conceded and 1.91 goals a game scored... Personally, I think conceding nearly 33% less frequently is really significant, with no less focus on us scoring goals. Don't get me wrong, Van dijk (or similar) would be fantastic and I would have no objection at all, but I'd rather see us attempt to address the problems we had under Hughton if the option is there. And I think that's been reflected in our transfer policy so far. Because our squad is a bit of a mess at the moment, with the only clearly coherent unit being the defence.
I agree with your comparison between Lambert's and AN's defensive performance, Rob, and I'd say that the defence has been strengthened further, though indirectly, with the addition of Mulumbu in midfield. IMO, the CM now offers a sound choice of options from very defensive with 2 DMs against big clubs, especially away, balanced with 1 CM and 1 DM or attacking with 2 CMs pushing forward. It's also well protected against injuries, which is especially important in the PL. Signing Brady or similar would help to balance the flanks, both in defence and attack. The critical area is then that at AM and up front. Although Howson, Odjidja-Ofoe and Dorrans can all play there as well, none could be called specialist number 10s as Wes and (I hope) Andreu can. There are already options that Hughton didn't have but AN will need to decide if that is enough for the PL. IMO Jerome will succeed up front this season as he is playing in his best position with good support. Hopefully Grabban will make the step up and contribute as well and Hooper offers another option, but it's hard to see how AN sees the future of him, Lafferty and RvW. Some uncertainty, perhaps, but I wouldn't call it a bit of a mess really.
You're analysing a different league though, to a degree it might be significant but we're facing higher calibre opposition this time round, teams like Man City are not going to be as generous as Derby when you make mistakes at the back.
I used the stats from Lambert's season in the Championship . Given the similarity between our style under Lambert in both leagues, I think it's fair to extrapolate. I.e. if we are to assume that Neil will continue with the same style
People have writing Wes off since we got out of the Champ under Lambert, myself included - continues to prove us wrong. Couldn't have better motivation with the euros... I fancy this to be the swansong... Over to you Wesley...
Well, the attack looked healthy enough tonight. Hitchin 0 - 10 City. Andreu hat-trick, Jerome got a brace, as did O'Neil, and Hooper, Wes and Whittaker were the other scorers. Jerome was sharp in the first half, but Andreu was the star of the show in the second half as he scored a hat trick and assisted Hooper's goal as well. Hooper played on his own up front and did well with an assist for Andreu's first goal and then scoring one himself. Early days against lowly opposition, but some very good signs coming through.
26 year old left back contracted till end of next season. Value on transfermarkt 1.7m euro. Apparently can play left or right further forward too?
Great, thanks, this looks feasible. From the article, he was on loan at Genoa last season. Us and Watford supposedly interested. Lens, his previous club, obviously have a sell-on clause with Valladolid meaning part of the fee we might pay will go to them. Bergdich is not currently training with the team, so a speedy exit is preferable so he can get a decent pre-season. Genoa finished sixth in Serie A last season, so that's a pretty good standard. Transfermarkt says he was on loan for the second half of the season, was on the bench quite a bit but mostly played LM or LW. Being mostly on the bench doesn't sound great, but he was competing for the same position with Diego Perotti, who has got a couple of caps for Argentina (and, incidentally, Watford bid and Genoa accepted £7m for him but Perotti turned down the move). Overall then Bergdich seems to have done reasonably well on loan, without setting the world alight. The Watford link might just be journalists jumping to conclusions because of Perotti.
I know because Neil is yet to manage us in the Premiership, what I'm saying is forecasting a Premiership season using Championship data is pretty irrelevant because we're facing a totally different challenge this time round. Not disrespecting the Championship it's a close league but we know the Premiership and most of us remember how unforgiving it can be, one plus point we have players with Premiership experience but we need to have a stronger squad that compete.
