Now we are delving into the area of hopeful fantasy. If we have the squad to start the season with that line up I will be incredibly chuffed.
I think the only one in that line-up with a major question mark next to them would be Van Dijk, no? How is that "hopeful fantasy"? I'm not saying we'll DEFINITELY sign Yedlin and Mbokani, but it's hardly utterly implausible is it? I take your point though, and my 3-6-1 / 3-5-2 / 3-4-3 conjecture is merely an academic exercise.
I did not suggest that your starting line up was wrong, but that if all those players were on our books I would expect us to do very well this coming season.
I don't think you'd play three CBs and two DMs the extra centre back is to cover the wing backs, who shouldn't both be ranging forward together too often. Personally I'm not a fan of that formation. I would love us to be able to play something like: Ruddy Yedlin - van Dijk - Bassong - Olsson Mulumbu - Howson Redmond - Hoolahan - Brady Jerome I'm a real fan of the 4-2-3-1 formation. I think Hooper could play well in Wes' role. And I know there's no Johnson but if we had Brady I think he would edge him out on the left.
Interesting that all these potential line-ups have Wes starting, but yet a lot of them don't have Bradley Johnson in. I know they play different positions, but I'm pretty sure Bradders will be starting a lot more games than the little fella this season.
That last one though, we could easily swap Johnson and Brady plus Wes and Vadis... plus with that much creativity in midfield, I'm confident Hooper could sit up top comfortably as an alternative for Jerome too.
To be honest I thought of putting Dorrans in that place, Maybe swapped with Howson. I wouldn't be surprised if neither play as much as people are imagining. I've said before I don't think we really understand Alex yet. In terms of style of plan and favoured players. He openly said towards the end of the year that he wasn't going to change the line up this late in the season as it might throw everything off. Next season will I think be a surprise. We haven't yet seen his supposedly favour formation of 4-1-4-1 yet.
I agree I don't see Hoolahan starting that many games, but I think he'll be one of the first names on the bench. I can't believe how may people under rate Howson. I don't think it's a coincidence that our improvement towards the end of last season seemed to coincided with his return from injury.
I agree carrow, a fit Howson was instrumental in our fine form in the second half of the season. But a lot of what he does goes unnoticed.
I doubt it's a case of people underrating him. It's purely people suggesting formations/lineups academically, and attempting to fit the most appropriate players into each position. I rate Howson very highly, but I'd still rather have Wes in an advanced, creative midfield role, close to the striker/s.
I agree that the formations this season will focus on a 5-man midfield, but it will vary according to the venue and opposition. Away, especially against top teams, it could be two DMs, possibly in a 4-3-2-1 formation which could switch to 4-2-3-1 in attack. At home the 4-2-3-1 is more likely, with one DM and a box-to-box CM like Howson or Odjidja-Ofoe and Johnson or Brady on the left sliding back into a 4-3-2-1 when the ball is lost. AN has spoken of further refinements and 'layers' that he wants to add in the pre-season and I think the tactics will become more complex as a result.
It is going to be interesting to see what impact Ofoe is going to have, and just where AN feels he should play.
IMO, Wes wasn't as effective against PL defenders, but would probably start him in the first couple of games to see how he fares against less able defences. I'd be surprised if we see more or less the same starting 11 each week, but feel there may be a 'nucleus' of say 7 or 8 who start most weeks.
Odjidja-Ofoe is primarily a CM whose strength is taking the ball forward from defence and running at the opposition with pace and my guess is that is how AN will use him. He can also play at AM or even DM, but to do so would be to take away his main strengths. He and Howson are likely to be fighting for that CM role, though I suspect Jonny may move up to AM more this season. The other question is how Andreu might fit in as an alternative AM and that will also be interesting to see. Many people have been preoccupied with the need for a goal-scoring striker, but under AN's system much of the goal-scoring will fall to midfield players running into the box. BJ thrived on that last season and much will depend on how the others can do that as well. Jerome's goals will matter of course, but much of his game will centre on laying the ball off to midfielders running into the box. That's much more difficult to defend against. Here's AN's take on it “It’s something that I’m really looking forward to, bedding in more principles about how we’ll function as a group. When you come in and work on things mid-season, when you’ve got games coming up, you don’t want to over-train them and give them too much information. To be fair, I thought they grasped it really well last year and it won’t take long for all of that to come back and for them to start adding other layers as well. We’re going to new levels, we’re going to come across challenges we haven’t faced before. In those types of scenarios, we’ve got to know how to deal with them. We’ll be doing a lot of work on that.”
You can't help but like what AN is trying to do and I'm sure the players will 'buy into it'. Exciting times ahead next season and kick off is only 36 days away - (assuming BT/Sky) don't decided to show our opening fixture Excellent post RER. .
It's like AN is saying what every single Norwich fan wants to hear, the truth. He lays it all out so plainly, I assume that's how he does it with the players as well. I can't help but get overly optimistic. A chap at the pub I work at has put a bet on that Norwich will get top 7. I think that's pushing the boat out, but I can see us getting into the top ten. Momentum and a special manager can take you a long way.
I have been reliably informed that you can get 10/1 for us ifnishing top ten, which sounds VERY tempting indeed....
