I think most of us are hoping that RvW and Hooper stay, Northants, but there's no guarantee that they will, especially if they don't want to. City currently have four out and out strikers and Grabban, who can also play out wide (though Lafferty also has that ability). Beyond that there is Loza, but I doubt that he will feature big time. Above, I suggested that Adams might "be thinking of converting Elliot Bennett to a FB/WB to replace Martin." If Adams is thinking of using a 4-3-3 or similar, then there will be a need for options across the front three, especially the wide positions. We can only guess what is going on behind the scenes, but the one thing that seems certain is that a lot more pace will be involved, especially in the wide positions.
I REALLY hope so and that the wide players are taught that they need to cross the ball and not try to be 'heroes' all the time!!!!
Suggestions we've got our chief scout sorted - Barry Simmonds from Fulham - I know little about him - and not seen it confirmed anywhere - if true, interesting given the recent Norwich/Fulham transfer rumours that have been flying around.
Not sure if mentioned before but seeing some things that we knocked back a bid from west ham for Olson. Most 'sources' remark on the time Big Sam and Martin spent together before as a reason for why this may happen. Got me thinking however if the bid was rejected because Olson didnt like playing for SA. Would maybe shed some light on why he came to us over West Ham last Summer as well?
Because they know the Club will give them a chance to prove themselves. At our Club you have be at least 24 years old to get a game if you came through the academy and if the fans had their way it would be raised to 26. At Southampton Murphy would have been given a chance long ago - not here. Southampton sell a 18yo with extensive first team experience and bring through another 18yo. When I suggested that Murphy and Loza should get regular starts this year what was I told - too young at 20, send them out on loan!! Same with Rudd - how old has he got to be before he sits on our bench? Steer - his junior by a couple of years - goes to Villa and immediately is the GK deputy. Rudd - send him out on loan again. If these kids are not good enough to get a game in the Championship at 20 they are unlikely to be good enough to play in the Premiership at 23. Give them a chance and if they don't look good enough move them on.
partly true, but i can assure you that their kids are much, much better than ours, so naturally they will be given a chance much earlier. its all about timing with youngsters. throw them in too early and you set them back in their development. throw them in too late and you stifle their development. if a player is good enough, they will get game time. you mention steer and rudd - who is gaining the better experience? steer, sitting on the bench in the premier league and playing development games or rudd, who is playing league one football week in, week out? when rudd is good enough to play in the norwich first team, he'll be given that opportunity. if that opportunity never arises, he'll move on. i've visited southampton's academy at marchwood and its right up there with barcelona/ajax in terms of facilities and coaching techniques. it begins with their under 8s and the whole system follows the same path right up to the first team. they've invested untold millions into it over the past few years and the rewards are being reaped - you still need a little luck to get a batch of youngsters as good as those through though. norwich, unfortunately, are miles behind them but ours is certainly one of the top 20 in the country these days, so all very promising - we've made big strides in a short space of time.
I think it may depend on how the season goes. If City get a good start and build on it, then the young ones will get a chance. Adams may be limited in first team experience, but he does know the young players' strengths and weaknesses.
Looking like Cresswell has binned the binners and joined the shammers! Martin Olsson still proudly wearing the yellow and green.....for the time being http://www.footballfancast.com/foot...ed-complete-third-major-signing-with-4m-move?
I accept that my original argument was a bit simplistic Supers but, with respect, so is your reply. Most Premiership and Championship sides last year gave a chance in the squad to an 18yo and most had a home produced 20yo as a permanent fixture. When was the last time we had an 18yo in the squad or a 20yo home produced player regularly playing? I accept that the youngsters at Southampton are better than ours but they are in the Premiership - we are in the Championship. We want to return to the Premiership so I say again - if a player is not good enough to play in the Championship at 20 how is he going to be good enough to play in the Premiership at 22? If the answer is ' he won't be ' then why are we wasting all this money? In the Championship last year several teams played youngsters. Derby, for example, had several in their team and nearly got promotion. Is their academy so much better than ours? How do you know if a youngster is good enough unless you play him? Surely with a young GK you send him out on loan to get game time, he then comes back as a sub on the bench and then he progresses to first choice. If Guzan gets injured in the first minute against Liverpool then Steer has to play the rest of the game and all other games until Guzan is fit again. Rudd, 24 next season, is still at stage one. How old has he got to be before he is trusted with the number 2 slot? If the two most promising, Murphy and Loza, can't get a chance then surely we are wasting our money with the rest.
err, josh murphy was 18 when he made his premier league debut and played a dozen or so games. declan rudd was 19 when he made his premier league debut. its fair to say we haven't had many good batches of kids in the past 15 years so of course we haven't had many break through. check out where most of them ended up - nearly all in non league. a few such as shackell and green were deemed good enough when young and they've gone on to have decent careers. goalkeepers are a bad example anyway as they don't tend to be ready until their mid 20s - its rare to find a teenage keeper. and how many outfield players really find their a-game in their early 20s? even the likes of beckham and scholes - truly great players - never really played first team football until they were 21, 22. i've watched a lot of our youngsters. generally you can tell when a kid is ready to taste first team action and in my opinion the only one who should be involved in the squad, and indeed the only one i think will ever grace the premier league on a long term basis is josh murphy. the others, though good, are going to struggle to get to the top of the game. loza for example absolutely needs first team football at a lower level if he is to ever be trusted at a higher level - his game is far, far too immature. so if i don't think most of them are ready, its entirely possible the manager will think likewise. i personally think murphy could really step up to the plate thanks to the drop in status - he's one person for whom relegation might help his career. but the point is, if they are good enough, they will feature.
Would be a shame to see Leroy go but he is probably too good for this level. If the likes of AC are involved then we've no real chance of keeping him. Hopefully it's just rumour mill though.
interesting if true - would appear to be based on that goal at the world cup rather than anything he did last season. i wonder what sort of fee we'd be looking at?
To be honest, Supers, whilst I broadened my post to cover young players/the academy it really was Murphy I had in mind as I was finding it disconcerting that every time he was mentioned we were getting ' too young - send him out on loan ' responses. I think that next season he should be a regular in the first team squad/team. I favour Redmond on the right and Murphy on the left ( both encouraged to cut in and shoot ) with the best of whatever strikers are left at the end of the transfer window in the middle. Wes as acm, Fer - if he stays - Tettey ( holding ) and a back 4 of Martin/Whittaker, Bennett, Turner and Olsson will do for me. I suspect that the transfer window will have a say in that however.
It's a rumor from Italy... Might be true, might not. I would like to think we could get £10mil + for him.
to be fair, i've not seen too much talk of josh going out on loan. i know a few people might be wary of letting him step up in place of snodgrass and would rather see an experienced wide man replace him, but i wouldn't do that. i think he is capable of 25-30 games next season at championship level, either starting or from the bench. i would go with the four we have - bennett, pilkington, redmond and murphy. i too would favour redmond on the right and hopefully pilks on the left (if fit and his head is right) as first choice but to be honest, the way adams is progressing in the transfer market it looks more and more as though we won't play with conventional wingers and will instead use wide forwards so that may actually limit murphy's game time as rather than be one of four, he'd be one of about eight! personally i favour the 4-5-1/4-3-3 which looks likely to be our approach next season so no room for wes. a midfield three of tettey holding and howson and fer ahead of him would be very dominant in the championship and allow a platform for whoever the three forwards are to do their business but as you say, the transfer window will play a big part in that.
If AC want to be pushing for the Champions League again they need to be getting better players in than Leroy. Seems as if they've lowered their ambitions somewhat. Pirlo, Gattuso, Kaka, Seedorf, Leroy Fer...
With our healthy position and a 2 years left on Fer's contract we could probably hold out for £12mil. Don't think he's that good but he'd be invaluable to us in the Championship so a high amount of compensation would be in order.
