Back in training - and we've missed him this season!!! http://www.canaries.co.uk/news/arti...-norwich-city-return-to-training-1429381.aspx Also Turner & Jonas returned in 3-2 win for City U21's as over age players over Charlton in behind doors game, playing 45 mins
Not sure he's gonna make a difference, 5th choice winger probably a shoe in for a bench space until the end of the season. Hughton didn't seem to like him last year and with redmond and guttierez in the mix I can't see it suddenly changing.
According to Who scored he's our best player this year after a very good game against Everton. let's play him at RWB and introduce some Pace and a good right footed cross on that wing.
http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/168 I'm obviously not serious about him being our best player this year its just a statistical anomaly. However i am serious about his playing wing back, he's played there once before and his defence is always pretty solid. I agree he's not good enough to rely on on the wing, would rather play Redmond and Murphy if were looking for fast, but he does have a good right foot on him and decent pace. His attacking abilities are defiantly comparable with Olsson, probably better. Granted changing a players position takes time and probably should wait for the summer but with some good coaching on defensive positioning I reckon it could have a big effect on our play. potential freeing us up to play a Hull or Liverpool like formation which 5 at the back and play focused through the middle. Surely that would make you happy carrabuh?
He can play any position if he's good enough. He's not got the imagination however. Mind you, a lack of imagination seems all the rage at Carrow Rd at the moment. When I say play through the middle I don't mean hit it long which is what would happen. I want more in the midfield, not the defence.
Hopefully it'll give Snodgrass a bit of a push for more consistency. He got dropped a couple of time last season, with Bennett coming in, in his place, and it seemed to do the trick.
Playing an extra centre back and no wingers would give more space for creativity in the middle of the pitch. Granted currently we would just punt it long.
I'd disagree with that concept, to be creative you need options. If you have no wingers I don't see how a condensed midfield gives you the space your referring to. I think creativity mostly stems through the option of players and a freedom of movement. I don't mind players moving wide to create space, what I object to with the whole winger thing is the set positions and the distance final ball comes from.
True and the wing backs provide non-inverted wide support when attacking. I'm not saying it's a great system more it's worth looking at. I do think we need a right sided equivalent of Olsson what ever system we play.
Much as I like Ollsson, idealistically, I prefer the defence to stay back and pass the ball across and just interact with the midfield in front of them. All the wing backs seem to do is hit long crosses, they should support of course but too often they are the ones playing the final ball, let the players who have trained to do it set up the chances.
That's the problem with inverted wingers. The wingers will largely cut in and it falls to the wing backs to play conventional crosses or get to the touch line and pull the ball back.
I've been learning about formations in my coaching classes and wing backs, or full backs in the system we use are mostly there to present an option if the midfield are in danger of loosing the ball on the flanks as a way out, if you like. Wing backs should rarely cross halfway unless it's a counter attacking movement and the opposing teams players are out of position (see Paul lambert and Villa). Then the best way to exploit this is to overlap and ether cross the ball in or use the winger to cut inside. The centre backs and defensive midfielder should move to cover the wingback if the ball is lost or the attack breaks down.
We do not play counter attacking football, we rely on a set shape. We struggle with playing teams that have pace and counter attack.
We can't pass well enough to put good counter attacks together. We tend to break then Johnson or Snodgrass will play it behind the man and the whole thing will slow down and let the opposition settle.
Technically we do not use "wingbacks" in the systems we play, which tends to be a flat 4-4-2 at home, so you have a full back and winger on each wing. Or a 4-2-3-1, where you still have fullbacks, 2 defensive/attacking midfielders and then 3 in midfield with Redmond and Snodgrass playing as wingers. If you played 3 at the back wingbacks have a more prominent role to play. When played at the right speed it's a good formation, look at Dortmund for a very good example of this. Especially Marco Reus. Awesome player and Lewandowski as the Striker.
If you cannot pass then counter attack is a good way to play, it doesn't need full on accuracy, the areas to hit are bigger, you can rely on speed instead of skill which is a heck of a lot cheaper to buy and you don't leave yourself open if you give the ball away. Don't get me wrong its not how I want us to play, but it would at least be something. We (as I think Rob may have said) have no attacking identity whatsoever, be it possession, counter, direct or long ball. It is just a mish mash of nonsense based on an emphasis of being defensive and physical using easy options which do not require the movement of players.
To counter you need to let the other team press you deep and then spring out on the wings and midfield before the other team can get their defensive shape back. Set pieces are a great opportunity for this as the centre backs are up the pitch. We are no good at this as the shape is wrong and we are very predictable in possession. The ball goes wide way to early allowing the other team to get their shape back I seriously pull my hair out watching us toil on the wings when we are barely out of our own half. Grrrrr. Carrabuh is correct when we bought forwards in over the summer we clearly did not think how they would fit in for the systems we play.
