I'm going to ignore the 'football' match on Saturday as there is literally nothing to say. It was dire, truly dire from both sides and though I'm not convinced Stoke deserved to win, we certainly didn't! Where do we think we need to improve our squad in the summer? For me, first port of call is a defensive midfielder. Crofts and Johnson, despite doing ok are not the answer long term. Bridcutt from Brighton would be my pick. Both full back positions are an issue too. If we can't sign Naughton I will be devastated! Excellent player but very pricey - we should push the boat out to get him. Left back is a problem because I think Drury will be off. Tierney has been injured for ages. We will definitely need someone to compete with Tierney but I'm not sure who the answer will be. Up front, Rodriguez from Burnley is the name we were linked with heavily and he'd be a great signing. I think we are sorted at centre back, goalkeeper, but another wide man would be good. Ince or Phillips from Blackpool? I don't think we need too much to improve the squad in the summer but four or five new faces, complimenting Howson and Bennett would be great business. Any other positions or player nominations?
Pretty much agree with your thoughts - definitely need to either keep Naughton or get a decent RB in. Need cover at LB if Drury leaves and Tierney remains crocked. I really hope that given the number of CB's we now have that we can find the right combination. I do think that at least some of our defensive struggles this season have been down to multiple injuries and an inability to play a settled back four for a number of matches. Hopefully this will not be the case next season. I have been a little disappointed with Johnson this season despite him starting well. I am very happy with Bennett and Pilks out wide and I think that Bennett will continue to improve and become a key man next season. I don't know enough about Howson to know if he will be keeping Wes on his toes but I have a worry with creativity - some games Wes is a genius and others he is just awful. I would like to see us have another creative force but appreciate that they are both rare and expensive commodities! I am very positive about our recent signings and I think that we have a number of top class young players who are only going to improve with another season under their belts. Yes it would be great if we could get a top-class finisher such as Rhodes but I would like to see Vaughan given a chance to prove himself. I see no point spending money for the sake of it and buying players of a similar level to those we have in place and I don't want the future of the club jeapordised by a spiralling wage bill.
Sorry Beefy, but there's more chance of you finding Rocking Horse **** than us signing Rhodes. I reckon he'll probably end up at Wet Sham.
I'd like to see us get Gunter, Snodgrass, Rodriguez, Naughton and at a push Robert Koren. Out would go C.Martin, Barnett, Crofts and possbily Drury and Wilbs althoigh they've done nothing wrong and are good squad players but I can't see them being retained next year.
I've said it before, we need a bossman in midfield. Despite the praise for Fox regarding his cameo role on Saturday, I believe he doesn't complete enough. I bracket him with Wes. On any given day, they are magic but on any other day, they are passengers. And when that happens, you do need the Crofts and Johnsons to make up for it. We wouldn't have much chance to get him as he is now a regular but the lad Spearing at Liverpool impresses me. Not a flair player but in that Sammy Lee mould of linking play at pace. We tend to link play slowly at times. MAybe the one they might be available is Whittingham. But I'm not sure how many good games out of 40 you get out of him. We have taken most of our players from the lower leagues but I don't think you can get 100% success rate. Some will fail, like MacNamee. It may depend on PL's tactics for the second season. They know how to combat us now not the other way round. Will we go for a measured possession game or continue with our attacking approach. If its the latter then we will need help for Holt. And IMO not another big guy but the Pacheco type. If its the former then I really wouldn't like to say which individual would be available. If Bolton go down, I've always though Eagles was a decent player. Fletcher and Jarvis at Wolves. Chris Burke at Birmingham. Theres plenty to choose from but the price will be higher than last summer which makes the risk even greater.
[QUOTE=redruthyella;2414903]I've said it before, we need a bossman in midfield. Despite the praise for Fox regarding his cameo role on Saturday, I believe he doesn't complete enough. I bracket him with Wes. On any given day, they are magic but on any other day, they are passengers. And when that happens, you do need the Crofts and Johnsons to make up for it.We wouldn't have much chance to get him as he is now a regular but the lad Spearing at Liverpool impresses me. Not a flair player but in that Sammy Lee mould of linking play at pace. We tend to link play slowly at times. MAybe the one they might be available is Whittingham. But I'm not sure how many good games out of 40 you get out of him. We have taken most of our players from the lower leagues but I don't think you can get 100% success rate. Some will fail, like MacNamee. It may depend on PL's tactics for the second season. They know how to combat us now not the other way round. Will we go for a measured possession game or continue with our attacking approach. If its the latter then we will need help for Holt. And IMO not another big guy but the Pacheco type. If its the former then I really wouldn't like to say which individual would be available. If Bolton go down, I've always though Eagles was a decent player. Fletcher and Jarvis at Wolves. Chris Burke at Birmingham. Theres plenty to choose from but the price will be higher than last summer which makes the risk even greater.[/QUOTE] Spot on Redruth, I've been seeing this and saying it all season, we don't have a boss in the right place. It shows up when a forward runs straight down the middle at our defence, no one goes out to tackle them. I don't know who that should or would be, but I just hope that Paul Lambert has someone in mind, it's his call at the end of the day. As to the game on Saturday; thats 3 really really bad/dire/appalling performances in the last 5 games, why don't we just play the Norwich way, instead of trying to battle against others teams tactics? I'm getting a little worried! ILD OTBC
My ideal team next season would be as follows. ----------------------Ruddy Naughton-------Whitbread----- Ayala---------Tierney ----------------Fox------------Surman Snodgrass-------------Howson---------------Pilkington ------------------------Holt I realise we need a bit more steel in midfield, but as I can't think of anyone for that role, I will stick with Surman and Fox. Subs - Rudd, R. Bennett, E. Bennett, C. Stewart (Hull), Morison, Hoolahan & N. Redmond (Brum) edit- I realise getting Redmond from Birmingham will not be easy to say the least, but I did say my ideal team.
Naughton, bridcutt, Whittingham, snodgrass, rodriguez as many of these as possible but its unlikely to happen cause there would need to be a huge wod of cash laying around.
Just posted on NewsNow! http://www.clubcall.com/norwich-city/boss-values-targets-versatility-1392330.html?
no way we should pay £4m for gunter. rather pay £8m for naughton and look elsewhere for a left back
Isn't it great to be thinking about this already. Defensive midfielder for sure if it's better than we have got New LB, and new RB if we can't get Naughton. I think it also depends who Leaves the club as well - either through our choice or bought be other clubs.
Clyne is a RB supers, but that is actually a good shout if we were not to get naughton cause clyne is out of contract at the end of the season! Aaron Creswell anyone
