There are going to be times when we need other options because of injuries or suspensions and that's when the 'could play' options play a role. Perhaps they should be indicated by brackets as a secondary role, but they should be there for when the need arises. AN obviously values these 'options' as he indicated today when he said that Wisdom can play in a variety of positions. One of the reasons we paid the reported £7m for Brady is his ability to play in a variety of different positions, which is why he acknowledged this in his interview when he said that he was happy to play wherever AN asked him to play.
Huckerby came to us as a striker, but was moved to what Worthy described as 'leftish' rather than as a winger. Yes, he could cross the ball, but he wasn't a winger as such. His role was to take on the FB and create a doubt about whether he was going wide to cross or cut in to drive at goal and score himself. Wingers are known by their crossing ability, whereas Huckerby was known more for his ability to score goals himself. Recently Redmond has added a Huckerby type role to his own game, and become a better player for it.
On a different note, I still think a Virgil van Dijk deal is a possibility as & when Celtic depart the Champions League. He will be more inclined to try the EPL in that event and maybe, just maybe, the lure of AN can fight off rival suitors. A lot of ifs,buts, and maybes I know, but who knows? They only won 1-0 at home tonight.
The fact that Southampton have gone for Stephen Caulker could help our cause. On the other hand, AN is talking about Wisdom's ability to play as a CB as well as at RB, so he may feel that we have enough at CB. It'll be interesting anyway.
To touch on a couple of points: Miquel, what on earth were the club thinking with him?? Over a million quid for two cup appearances, in which we lost both. Curious to see where he ends up next. Wisdom taking his squad spot is certainly an upgrade. Hooper can be creative in the areas of the pitch where an attacking midfielder plays, but it's very much as a striker dropping deep. He doesn't take on the defensive responsibilities of a midfielder. Our West Ham lineup seemed very much to be a run out for the second string, I'd be surprised if anyone other than Tettey and Ruddy start against Palace. I think we were watching a battle for the bench otherwise. It feels like a deal for Van Dijk has gone cold. If we were seriously interested I would have thought links to other centre backs would have surfaced.
It's interesting to see whart AN had to say about RvW, Odjidja-Ofoe and Andreu: “I thought his movement off the front was good,” said the Norwich boss. “I don’t think he is ever going to be a big, strapping centre forward who is going to bash people about, however, if we can get the ball around the middle of the park the one thing he is good at is running off defenders’ shoulders and creating angles and creating space for himself. He was unfortunate in the game, he had two or three opportunities when he could have scored, particularly the one he ran through and had the goalkeeper to beat. I thought he worked extremely hard and the biggest thing for strikers is you want to make sure they get opportunities. It is important you have variety to choose from. Not just the strikers but you look at Vadis (Odjidja) and Tony Andreu as well and perhaps people haven’t seen a lot of them. It is vital to let people see what they are capable of and certainly in the first half or even 60 minutes they both equipped themselves well.”
I think he might have meant that, Cromer, but it could also be an Archant error! In any case, he certainly seems more positive about their performance than some on here!
There was a pre-season game the year we went down against some Turkish team I think. I was there for that and RVW made some hell of a good runs in between the centre backs and the runs were simply ignored and ball passed out wide too quickly, mostly even before the half way line! Stupid! This was never going to suit RVW and with Snoddy in the team and playing 2 holding midfielders you could tell it was going to be hard for him. Especially after the penalty incident with Snodgrass. What Ricky needs right now are goals, don't care how or where they are scored from, he just needs confidence. Then there is a good chance we will see what he is actually capable of in a team that has attacking intent. I feel sorry for him, I really do.
I think it stands to reason that if someone better than Martin is available for a price we can afford, obviously we go for him. Otherwise we will have to "make do" with the Championship CB of the year...
One other thing, Jerome. You have to remember that he ended up with us because he couldn't get in the first team at Stoke when Hughes arrived. He had to drop down to the Championship to get a game. I like Jerome and he has all the traits your need as a striker in the Championship, fast, muscular and intimidating. Everything RvW isn't. You have to bear in mind that sometimes you need a different approach in the Premier League, you need players who can drift in between centre backs and make the kind of runs that can split a defence, or even help get the ball wide at the right time. I'm not saying RvW is the answer to all of that, who knows he may fail again but for people who are thinking Jerome is the complete solution I would say think again.
