This is all true, but my worry is I'm pretty sure I was saying the same when we weren't able to beat Cardiff the first time last season...
Is this an appropriate time to say, this is exactly what i was saying about grabban when you signed him, His goals last season was very misleading, I'm not saying he is a bad player, far from it, But he isn't the most deadly finisher and from what I saw last season he didn't stand out as a player to fire you back up.
I don't think either of the 2 Spainards were bought to play alongside Turner this season. Cuellar was in my view bought to cover for Turner. I don't think Cuellar & Turner are quick enough to play alongside each other. Miguel on the other I think was bought more with next season in mind than this. I think Adams was looking at Turner / Bennett being his first choice CB's with Hooiveld being bought as cover for Bennett when he got injuryed. I thought Turner and Hooiveld had got great potential as a pair, particukarly in this league and I can't understand why Martin is partnering Turner ahead of Hooiveld particularly as in my viw Martin is better a right back than Whittaker. In my mind I can only think of 3 reasons 1) Adams doesn't want to upset Martin or Whittaker by benching one of them. 2) Adams doesn't rate Hooiveld as much as he did when he bought him and now thinks Martin is a better option to play alongside Turner. 3) The club were over optimistic in assessing Hooiveld recovery from injury. In which case Hooiveld was on the bench on Saturday so should be back in the starting 11 soon. This possibility is supported by the time other players in the squad seem to be taking to recover for injury against the clubs assemsment i.e. Hooper, Howson. To be honest although our recent results have been poor this seems to be more an issue with our ability to score than defend. It was interesting that at the start of the seasons everyone was of the view that we had more than enough strikers, which we probably do. Jerome & Grabban started the season well, but have now hit a poor run of form. In my view Lafferty should now be given a go as our main striker, however maybe hi injury is worst than initially assessed.
City have recalled Cameron Morris from Oxford, but this is likely just a coincidence. I would think Loza would be ahead of him at the moment.
I agree with almost all of this supers. The one thing I would say (and I am by no means a Grabban enthusiast) is that while he is frustrating, he undeniably gets himself in very good positions and creates opportunities for himself. That, in itself, is a talent. That he has missed so many sitters tells me it's his finishing, but that he is actually getting in the right position. He's not rubbish. His goal record last season speaks for itself. He is a decent Championship striker. But he is too wasteful to be relying on when we are in a rotten patch of form. He should be (much like my opinion with Hoolahan) our impact sub who we know will be a handful.
I would imagine that's more to do with the fact he's only played 69 minutes since the end of August. He'll get more game time and experience with our U21's, particularly with the European games. I think it's quite simple why Grabban is getting a lot of negative attention from Norwich fans, he's very easy to judge. We're the dominant team in most games, and he's paid to score goals - something he's yet to do in October. Unless you're watching each and every game, all you see from Grabban is a failure to get on the scoresheet, and a couple of misses from him in a 3 minute highlights reel. In comparison, how many of Johnson's inconsequential missed passes in midfield get shown? That being said, I do think he's not quite been good enough this season, and that's not just because the goals have dried up. I said before that he might prove to be able to score regularly despite looking unconvincing through a combination of positioning and attempts, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Our strikeforce is malfunctioning as a whole though, so to lay the blame entirely with him is unfair. I don't think Adams know really how he wants the team to play, and the switching between 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 and 4-2-3-1 is making it harder for the players to settle into a style. We need a formation that gives us opportunities to unlock stubborn defences when we inevitably dominate possession. For me, 4-4-2 is not the way to go about achieving that. Jerome, Grabban and Hooper are not truly creative strikers in the scenario we're regularly facing, they're in the team as finishers. I'd rather we relied on midfield runners to be the extra presence in the box instead of a second striker, as they'll offer a lot more in the build-up phase. We've got two attacking, but rounded midfielders in Howson and Odjidja-Ofoe, so I'd like to see the former given less defensive responsibility, and the latter feature more. McGrandles was also supposedly brought in to feature in the first team, and we've seen nothing of him really. Ruddy Martin Hooiveld Turner Olsson Johnson O'Neill Redmond Howson Lafferty Jerome Would be my line-up on Friday evening, with Hooper in contention to replace Jerome if he's fit enough.
I started a thread to assess our entire squad so far to get away from the continual boring Grabban bashing. Nobody seems to have an opinion on the rest of the squad and pretty much every thread descends into yet another witch hunt , granted you and Rob offered sensible criticism but i have never seen any one particular player scapegoated for our poor form as a Norwich fan and we have had some awful strikers. Grabban hasn't scored in October ? Collectively we have scored 2 in October but you focus on that 1 stat........ It's getting ridiculous.
You did, but this is not that thread. Seeing as I've not seen enough games recently to weigh in on the finer points of the Martin versus Whittaker debate (etc), I've not commented. This thread on the other hand mentions scapegoating Grabban in the OP, so I commented about how he's easy to scapegoat. If anything I felt my second and third paragraphs were more defensive of Grabban than I've been for a while. The stats I highlighted were deliberately simplistic. True, nobody ever gets on the backs of players at Norwich. Redmond, Bassong, Morison and Doherty (to name but a few) have always enjoyed the full support of the Norwich faithful.
I thought my post about Grabban was pretty positive SN, not really criticising Grabban apart from his finishing
It must just be me then i ****ing loved the Ginger Pele Bassong was one of the stand out Dream team defenders 2 years ago with his goals and Morison was an integral part of our promotion winning side David Strihavka on the other hand i can't defend but he scored the same amount of goals as Elmander and RVW during his time a bullet header against Palace beauty it was..
Can't tell if you're joking, but Morison wasn't in our promotion team. Lambert bought him when we got in the Prem. Won't forget the goal he scored against Arsenal to draw 3-3 at the Emirates.
Stand corrected Rob maybe because we bought him in the summer after we went up in 2011 I remembered him from before we kicked off in the prem , to be fair he still got 10 goals more than Elmander Rvw Lafferty and Hooper combined.
The only person I can see being ridiculous on here as far as I can see is Grabban's bum chum who continues to stubbornly refuse to criticise anything about his lover, despite the fact the vast majority of people on here - many of whom go to a lot more games than he - have come to the conclusion that he isn't good enough. I'd rather have Simeon Jackson up front, I really would. Bournemouth certainly don't seem to be missing him too much. As for the nonsense about him being the only scapegoat at the moment - do me a favour Johnson, Redmond, Whittaker and Wes have been on the end of loads of negative comments on here, much of which unjustifiably so if you ask me. Aside from some of his passing I think Johnson has been excellent in that role all season, winning lots of the ball and even getting on the scoresheet a couple of times - unfortunately his passing has been absolutely woeful at times, embarrassingly bad, a fact that has seen people overlook all the good stuff he has done. Wes and Redmond have been similarly hot and cold, Whitts possibly a bit more cold than hot, but all of them have looked far better than Grabban in my opinion who I have to say has offered absolutely nothing for almost two months. I just don't get your love for him I'm afraid, part of me thinks you're just on a wind-up - surely not eh?
Bum chum Munky ? That made me chortle but if you read the new code of conduct from the Supermod team at the top of the page i imagine that homophobic comments like this are no longer accepted on the new look 606. Also partial nudity ie ladies nipples may not appear either so keep it clean son.
Are we still allowed gratuitous pussy shots? please log in to view this image Bah! p.s. Sorry 23 but I kind of agree with everyone else w.r.t Grabban. Whilst he was scoring it papered over the cracks of what increasingly looks like a very limited player.
You are of course correct, and I now feel absolutely dreadful that anyone reading this may think I'm a homophobic bigot. Apologies to any readers of the pink persuasion, it was never, ever, ever my intention to offend
if anything, i'd say grabban is being given a relatively easy ride at games. if redmond or whittaker do anything wrong the crowd immediately get on their back; grabban messes up and its generally ignored. not sure why. i assume because his early goals have given him some support in the bank with some fans.
to be fair, i'm not sure many of us had seen a lot of him before he signed. i thought he looked lively in pre season but you could see even then that he had already reached his technical limits as a footballer. after a couple of league games, despite his goals, i thought he would lose his place but his goals kept him in the team - its difficult to leave out a player who is netting regularly. he shouldn't be in the team at this time - he offers so little to the team - and even if he suddenly hits a purple patch again i doubt my opinion of his ability will alter, though i would of course be thankful for his goals
