Just read this article and once again I see it makes us favourites out of Swansea, Koo Pee Arr and NCFC to go down!! I think the 3 promoted teams are quite strong, but it only needs a couple of injuries to key players to disrupt your season. http://freshairfootball.co.uk/2012/07/second-season-syndrome/ Yes, Koo Pee Arr have bought some reasonable players whose best years are behind them, but the transfer window doesn't close for another 5 weeks, so we have plenty time for CH to make some astute signings and apart from another defender (top priority) and a defensive midfielder, I'd be quite happy to go with who we've got
it would be interesting to know whether they'd have said we were favourites to go down next season had lambert stayed too. i suggest that we would, which begs the question, why are we expected to go down by so many? there is literally no logic behind this. not that i care...
Let em talk, makes me feel safer. These people don't go to games, they don't know football, they read stats and play computer games.
TBH any one of 10 teams could be in the mix for the drop - it will be a very exciting and probably very nervous season ....
I can understand part of their thinking butI don't see the significance of Laudrop in their prognosis. He is starting fresh at a new club as is CH. However, CH has managed in the Prem, successfully, already. Coaching at Getafe is not the same as managing at Swansea. Hughes hasn't exactly been at QPR for seasons either. But he does have Prem experience as well.
I think it is quite a sensible article. We are the top tip from pundits and bookmakers to go down - why? Is it because they don't like us or is it because that on paper we have the weakest squad? Is it because we have a new manager with an entirely different approach to last one and the squad was assembled by the previous manager to fit in with his approach to the game? Is it because we couldn't keep a clean sheet for love nor money but so far have released our best experienced CB and our cover for left back and only brought in a defender who has never played in England and will take time to adjust to the pace? The most sensible point in the article was that the fight for survival starts from the first game - 3 weeks away. Get off to a bad start and it will be an uphill struggle and at the moment we have major problems in defence. Our best central defender pairing have probably not played 20 Premiership games between them and after that you are down to Ward and Barnett unless you slot in Martin which leaves you with no cover at right back. We already have no cover for Tierney unless you count Lappin who is not up to playing that position in this league. God help us if we pick up a couple of injuries in the pre-season games or the first league game. I know some people will argue that CH has still got 5 weeks to buy players but in my opinion we need them quick and we need defenders not yet more midfielders. I don't see how we can get away with playing one defensive line up in the pre-season games and then try and slot in a couple of new signings afterwards. Without being unduly pessimistic I think there are many obvious reasons why many people outside Norwich, and many of us inside, fear that it is going to be a long hard season.
I am quite concerned about our defensive side of the game considering it was stronger last season and still only kept a staggering 2 clean sheets (IIRC). We need a CB, RB, LB cover and a DM. Awful lot of defensive players with only 3 weeks until the season begins...
We actually kept three clean sheets last season - all at home, so you can see why we're a soft target for the doom-mongers - the fact we conceded three in our first pre-season kick-about won't inspire those gloomies either. It's probaly most fans considered opinion that the defence does need strengthening and we must trust in CH that he has this in hand - we're strong in midfield in an attacking sense but we do need a De Jong style player who sits in front of the defence to break up attacks and help out the lads at the back. Up front we're ok so the priority is to fill in the defensive need and get in a defensive midfielder - once that happens we should all feel more confident but it still won't stop the "pundits" having us nailed on for the drop .
Why does anyone take some anonymous person's blog seriously in the first place? Suppose I revealed to you that Fresh Air Football is actually written by me! You quite rightly wouldn't give it any credence at all. OK, you can treat is as though a sheet of paper had blown in through your window with that written on it, rather like Moses coming down with the tablets of stone. But least Moses thought he knew where the tablets of stone came from.
Please explain what there is in the article which is not factual, accurate or sensible? As long as his article follows that criteria it does not matter who wrote it even if you don't like or agree with his conclusion.
With respect 1950, I did not say anything about the content of the article. As I said, if you want to treat it purely as a set of assertions, that's fine. But then I don't see any point in reacting to it. My own view of the article is that it is completely unoriginal, utterly predictable, and almost totally lacking in insight! At least you know that that is MY view of it -- and as such can treat it with the contempt it deserves!
I venture to suggest that had Tierney not been out for so long we'd have stood a better chance of keeping clean sheets. Think we need to do something there we're scoring all over the shop but we've got to plug the leaky back as well.
in how many matches did we manage to play all our first choice defenders? did we manage it in ANY games?
I take your point that it's a factually correct article. However, it's a little misleading- it doesn't give any assessment of Hughton's career as a manager against Laudrup's, for example. There are simply too many variables it ignores. For example- Hughton has managed (properly), two clubs- Newcastle and Birmingham City. He has a stunning record in stabilising the ship and getting the best out of players. He's a man manager of the best sort- the one who controlled Joey Barton, Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll! Maybe that's exactly what Norwich need after a slightly disrupted summer? By contrast, Laudrup was a fantastic player (beyond fantastic...) and has been praised for keeping up a team that was predicted to go down in Spain because of a diabolical financial situation and having lost a load of first team players, but actually was very poor at Spartak Moscow. Now Swansea is a very well-run club and don't really bear comparison to either of those teams. Ultimately, it's pretty obvious that we haven't a clue how it will go! So this guy is speculating, and doing it pretty narrowly. As for the your mention of Whitbread, I'm afraid I entirely disagree . I think most outsiders wouldn't really consider that at all- they take far more account of the fact that we haven't made any big name signings and we don't have the "reputation" of West Ham. That's really all there is to it- people don't read that closely and they certainly don't bet that carefully. Apart from anything else, I am 100% positive that Whitbread was far from our best defender. He put his body on the line at times and was strong in the air, but too often his passing put us in dangerous positions and he was far too slow on the ball, taking too many touches. Admittedly, he was capable of holding onto it, but only to put others in pressure situations when he passed to them. Far too often, when he got the ball, my heart went into my mouth and I wondered whether he was going to put us under pressure. Both Ryan Bennett and Ayala seem, to me, to be twice the footballers. Moreover, I have the utmost faith that whatever contract he was demanding was simply far too much considering his skill level. What benefits he did bring to the squad were far outweighed by the disruption caused by his injuries too. It is absolutely no surprise to me that he has had to step down to the Championship to the only side able to afford his wages, though I think they've made a good signing. I would have been happy with Whitbread as cover, but no more and certainly not on high wages. But that's just my view . Otherwise, I quite agree that we haven't exactly done anything to encourage people that our defence will be much better, though Hughton has a decent record in that department.
I think you are being too kind to him Rob. "Speculating" usually requires a degree of imagination, whereas this anonymous guy is simply rehashing the tired mantras and orthodoxies you see being parroted (or should I say "re-tweeted") by all and sundry in lieu of genuine knowledge, understanding and insight. He hasn't even bothered to enquire whether second season syndrome exists in anything but the minds of people like himself. I realise I am getting more tetchy as the day goes on. Must be the heat.
To be fair Rob I didn't say Zac was our best defender - I said he was our best experienced Centre Back. Whilst I do not belong to the ' hate Ward ' brigade I do think that Whitbread was a safer pair of hands than Ward or Barnett. I agree that it is a nothing article setting out clearly and simply the position, as he sees it, of the 3 clubs facing second season syndrome and I really found it difficult to understand why anybody should be upset about anything contained in the article or think that he was suggesting that we were going to be relegated. A lot of people, including me, think we will unless CH can pull 2 or 3 large rabbits out of the hat - but that is another story!!
I see what you mean- you did say "experienced" ! In response to your opinion that we need two or three quality signings to have a chance of staying up- the way I see it is this: - Last year's squad came 12th in the league - We have lost only Lambert and Naughton from last year's squad Ergo, the clear logic is that, as long as Whittaker is decent (I will reserve judgment on him until the season starts) and Hughton is capable of getting them to play like a team, there is absolutely no sense to claim that the only way we will stay up is if we make 2 or 3 decent signings. I honestly think that you will rue that statement when you see that we have exactly the same squad that played last year! I accept that several teams below us have strengthened, but nothing to be frightened of. Also: - We have strengthened our midfield with Butterfield who looks very good - We look like having a fully fit strike force (touch wood) and Vaughan still has time to show the class we know he has - Tierney is returning to fitness - Ayala and Bennett could forge a partnership now that neither of them are injured Finally, and most importantly, there are still six weeks of transfer window in which to sign, perhaps, another defender, winger and defensive midfielder. I should re-iterate that there is no need for any of these to be "large rabbits out of the hat"- just solid players that aren't too expensive and will do a job would be perfect. I think fans are too focused on the fact that a big name signing will make a difference- actually, they invariably don't because football is a team game and that comes first. I sense that you are one of those naturally cautious fans, though, and I think that's sensible! Especially after years of following Norwich... I would just ask you, for your own sanity, to withhold judgment on our new signings (including Hughton) until at least match week 4!!
Just cause we ain't spent loads of money we are obviously favs to go down Load of old tosh, we who go every week know that our squad is good enough to compete on the mini league of 12-15 teams under the big boys even if Mr Hewtun buys no one new. Good start / bad start don't matter what does is points on board at end We have Grant Holt only a mug would bet against a side he captains If we don't survive it's not the end of the world we can go beat 1p5wich and Leeds again
I appreciate what you say Rob but the article, and the basis for this thread, is second season syndrome - teams that do well in their first season in the Premiership but fall away badly in the second. If you believe that can happen, and records show that it does, then where we finished last year is, to some extent, irrelevent. When I referred to ' large rabbits out of the hat ' I was referring to the sort of players Lambert used to find. Big talent - low cost. A couple of defenders like Tierney, Martin, Bennett or Ayala would be very handy. Big names, big egos, big wages - no thanks. I would rather face relegation than go down that route. I don't think our opinions are that far apart - except that I accept the existence of ' second season syndrome ' and you possibly don't.
