Good Article

Just read this article on Newsnow and would have to agree with him, makes some really good points that both Norwich and NUFc are a team of players Not Super Stars:

Two questions.

One, which team is the biggest surprise package of this autumn?

Two, name half a dozen of their starting XI?

And, no, the answer isn’t Norwich. Though I strongly suspect 90% of Premiership punters living outside Norfolk would struggle with question two.

The answer – to my mind – is Newcastle United, who after last night’s 3-1`win at The Britannia Stadium strode into third place on the back of now 13 games unbeaten in the Premier League. That, in itself, is the longest run of games without a top flight defeat they have enjoyed in 61 years.

They entertain Everton this weekend; on current form, it would be a reasonable bet to see them extend that run to 14 games unbeaten in front of a slightly disbelieving Toon Army.

On my frequent visits to Tyneside this autumn, that is certainly my impression – that no-one was quite expecting Alan Pardew’s Black and White Army to be where they are; in fact, quite the reverse on the back of Andy Carroll’s big money exit to Liverpool over the summer and the whole Joey Barton circus leaving town.

And hands up now – I had Newcastle down to struggle this year; from a distant vantage point, they looked the basket case as the fans and Barton lined up in one corner and the less-than-loved chairman-owner plus his ‘puppet’ manager stood in the other.

But given we are now ten games into the season, Newcastle’s position in the league table is no fluke; they are where they are for a reason.
The question is, what is that reason?

And I think part of the answer lies in the second question – name six first team players.

I’m no anorak when it comes to Premiership players; perhaps I’m not the best one to quiz. Steven Taylor, I’d get; Shola Ameobi is another – though he was on the bench last night; Leon Best. Norwich once fancied Ryan Taylor.

Jonas Gutierrez? Danny Guthrie? Gabriel Obertan?

They don’t roll off the tongue in the way that a Given, a Barton, a Speed or a Nolan did.

And go back over the last decade or so and Newcastle have always had their ‘stars’; big name players who were the whole Premiership part.

Barton, of course, was the classic example. He was, by many an account, Newcastle’s best player last season. His Twitter following almost matched his weekly wage bill.

But even Barton failed to inspire a run of games like the one that United are currently on; nor inspire the kind of formidable defensive record that Pardew’s men currently boast.

What if the answer lies in the suggestion that Newcastle are more of a team than they have ever been of late because there are no Bartons or Givens in the mix? That there are no stand-out ‘stars’ around whom the world revolves.

Alan Shearer would be another; Gazza, Beardsley, Keegan… the list goes on and on.

And yet here are 16 lads doing as well as any Newcastle team has for a generation in a side that barely has two household ‘names’ to its credit.

Perhaps, to coin that horrible phrase, it is the ‘team’ that is the star; that – for once – they are, indeed, all in it together, as opposed to a rag-tag of bit-part players struggling to impress in Joey’s wake.

The parallels with the team that Paul Lambert has built at Norwich ought to be obvious.

As mentioned above, I would suspect most non-Canaries would struggle to name six starting players at Norwich.

Likewise, ask a pub in Liverpool to name Norwich’s ‘star’ player and I would imagine you would get half a dozen answers – or else, just the one. Grant Holt. And he’s still to command a regular starting place, hero that he is.

Would Russell Martin cross many a lip? Bradley Johnson? David Fox?

I guess Demba Ba would be deemed Newcastle’s ‘star’ turn after last night’s hat-trick took his tally for the season to eight. But, again, I suspect if you put that question to a pub in Portsmouth, you’d struggle to find one answer.

It is interesting. Because what if the experiences of both Newcastle and Norwich this season are starting to prove a point to both managers and chairmen alike? Let alone the supporters – traditionally fed a big name star.

That certain Premiership ‘stars’ are way more trouble than they are actually worth – be it on the pitch or off it. Titus Bramble might be one whose arrival on Wearside might be cause for regret; Barton’s baggage is weighty; are Chelsea getting full value out of John Terry?

Of course, if you have the level of resource that Manchester City have, then you can live without the circus that follows Carlos Tevez about – ‘Whatever…’ can be your fall-back position.

A team of Newcastle’s means – certainly under this latest regime – however would far rather get shot of such bothersome top-earners and pay a team of relative nobodies relative peanuts in the hope that one team can, collectively, achieve far more than 11 Big Charlie individuals.

And right now, on the banks of both the Wensum and the Tyne, that policy appears to be working a treat…

http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...-what-exactly-is-the-secret-of-their-success/

 

Good read and very true.

Exciting times ahead. Only the current team spirit will ensure that

 

Good article but whoever wrote it got their Ameobi's mixed up.

 

I could name 17 Norwich players, and of course know their manager... So

Why? Let's just say I am a manly god of football knowledge....





















Definitely did not collect Match Attax Cards this season to fulfill a lifelong dream of finishing a football related card-collecting album... 100% I'm not that sad....

 

After last summer when a lot of people were pissed that we hadn't made any 'Big Name' signings, thought this summed it up. You don't need big names to be succesful, Graham Carr & Pardew have brought in some absolute gems of players that nobody had heard of but are doing it week in week out (regardless of what some of the unwashed thing of them e.g. wouldn't have them in my team )

As long as we make signings to strengthen the team and to give it more depth, then I'm not bothered if they are unheard of and not household names.
We don't need big ego's like Barton in the dressing room, as good as he was for the team I still think he had negative influences as well. The team seems a lot more harmonious with out him.

My own personal perspective and expectations for the transfer have certainly changed in terms of who and what to expect.
Instead of what big star will we sign, it's more what gems are we going to get this time around.

 

It comes down to your definition of big stars. We replaced one cap wonder and a player who's had probably two at best good top flight seasons in Joey Barton with a French international who'd just done the league and cup double. Jonas Gutierrez doesn't roll off the tongue like a Barton or Nolan, but he went to the World Cup along with Cheik Tiote last summer. A lot of players that were decent for us as a Championship/lower Premier League club just don't cut the mustard moving forward (and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Gary Speed frankly) so we've replaced them with better players that Mark Lawrenson doesn't know. We also lost good players in Enrique and potentially Carroll, but we've done alright in replacing them to say the least.