I´m sure in the minds of Adams and Co Everything´s going as planned, And very good too if that really is so But a few things I don´t understand In central defence we have Turner and Russ While sitting there twiddling their thumbs, Are Bennett and Bassong both picking up dust And waiting for the scraps and crumbs Now Bennett´s never been a favourite of mine But surely the time is now ripe, To give him a chance to show us a sign Of what merited all the hype And Bassong we know hasn´t featured at all Since Adams took over the reins, So offload him then to a new port of call For keeping him here has no gains And Russ in the centre of defence then leaves S. Whittaker as sole right back, From what I have seen he defensively grieves And prefers to join in the attack My fear is what happens when injuries come Or bookings, as they surely will, Even if not first choice, players need a run If a sudden gap they must fill Also unless Hooper´s on his way out Should he not be striker number one, And start a few games so´s to give him no doubt That all´s still well under the sun And Tettey I know did have a slight groin strain But that seemed a few weeks ago, Thought he might by now have played a full game But then again, what do I know I hope my confusion´s unnecessary And the player pool that we have seen, Proves it can cope more than adequately For those fans in the yellow and green. OTBC
it is a little confusing but you often get things like this to iron out after a relegation - especially given there is a new manager too.
That´s very kind of you Super, because I didn´t want to come across as being too Alzheimerish think my biggest concern is Whittaker, more than Martin being in centrally, but perhaps he´ll be able to cope with the sort of opposition he´s likely to be up against this year. Also would have preferred to have seen Turner and Bennett R together for longer than we have, just to see how they work.
I was at the game on Fri and was sitting in the Jarrold stand, so had a good view of how ineffective Whittaker was in defence and kept hoping he'd get injured. If he is going to be first choice RB, then opposing managers will just instruct his players to keep attacking him and we will be in trouble. Agree RBF that he wants to get forward too much and I'd rather see E Bennett in that position, as at least he hsa pace.
Errr, you were hoping that one of our own players would get injured? I didn't see that match and by all accounts he was caught out a lot, but I think Whittaker gets more criticism than he deserves. He is very much an attacking fullback and there is always an associated risk with that. Somehow I doubt we will see it reined in under NA this season.
i'm not overly concerned by whittaker. he'll be very good at championship level. my main concern is russell martin playing out of position. it seems adams sees him predominantly in that role and this is a huge worry because it is clear to me and many others that he isn't good enough to play there. play him at right back, let him compete with whittaker by all means.
Whittaker started only 16 games last season but he started 4 of Adams 5 matches. He even played at LB against Chelsea instead of Garrido, when Olsson was pushed forward into midfield. In pre-season Whittaker has been ever-present (unlike Russell). I think Whittaker is a bit of a favourite of NA's. So my guess is that a decision to play Martin at CB may be driven as much by a desire to accommodate his captain in a team containing Whittaker, rather than NA thinking that CB is Martin's best position.
Was thinking along the same lines myself. Would always prefer, if possible, a position to be held down by a player who is a specialist in that position, and as well as being a better RB imo, Russell is not a specialist CB, so I don´t quite understand Adams´s logic here. If talk of the Belgian CB ( Ciman is it) has any foundation, that would certainly make me feel a bit better.
My main concern re Rusty is that he's been handed the captain's armband, so I would envisage that NA plans to start him most games.
NA's quote when the captaincy was announced: “It’s important to stress as well – and I’ve spoken to Russ and the team about it – that with Russ being the team captain doesn’t mean it’s a guaranteed starting place every week. He’s the same as everyone else in terms of being a squad player. You hope your captain is in the team but he knows if he isn’t playing well, then we will pick another captain for the day." So not guaranteed, but hoped for...
