The responses on twitter have been positive only seen a handful of fans grumbling. This season round I think we have a better front line then last time, also we have a manager who can motivate and the get the best out of his players.
Precisely and he certainly deserves another chance - AN could just be the driving force he needs to motivate him and with a much more attacking formation, who knows what he might achieve???.
Would love Wolfy to prove the doubters wrong, but if he really is that good how come he didn't pull up any trees in France where the football is nowhere near the standard of the Premier League?
This is my main concern with RvW and it won't matter how good AN's motivational skills are if RvW is just not good enough for the premier league. You could argue that when he was with us in the PL part of the problem was Hughton's style of play, but that doesn't explain his performances in France.
I think sometimes we hole the premier league as this mythical utopia of football where there is a very high entry level. The reality is that there are lots of teams that are quite good and a few that are very good. Ricky is talented, he always has been, due to a series of events some within his control and some out side he's had a terrible season with us and his confidence seems shot. I've never doubted he could play in the premier league, I don't think the talent bar is really that high, but whether he wants to work for it is the question.
Some players only seem to be able to do well at certain clubs at certain times - Grant Holt really pulled up few trees either before or after his time with us. Fleck was superb for us but shocking at Chelski. I think that some players just have a sweet spot in their career when their form and fitness are good and they are playing at a level and for a team in the style that is suited to their game. Truly great players are capable of doing it week in week out pretty much wherever they play. I'll be interested to see how Charlie Austin and Danny Ings do now they have moved on - Ricky Lambert - goal machine and England international at Saints, pretty ordinary for Liverpool. Maybe the Wolf under AN in the PL will work, maybe AN can get his best out of him. RvW is still young and should improve and hopefully if given the chance he will take it - if he doesn't he must know that it will be second tier football for him for the rest of his career so he should be pretty motivated.
We do know that he will get better service from our players now, so he has to grab his chance with both hands. Whether he is in fact good enough is open to debate. ( Which is what is happening here ).
May I suggest that there is a bit of over reaction here to a goal against league 2 opposition. Last week AN was trying to flog him to Portugal and we were all delighted. One goal and all of a sudden he could possibly be our saviour!! AN will quite clearly not change his system and, like most Premiership sides, play one on his own up top. As things stand this striker is Jerome with either Wes, Andreu or even Redmond or Howson as the AM ' in the hole' . Within the confinements of the 25 man squad we can only afford one striker as cover for Jerome - Lafferty seems the only other lone front man on the books - and 2 other strikers to provide variety. This means that already one of Grabban, Hooper or RVW have got to go or, alternatively, 2 of those 3 or Lafferty if we buy another striker. I can see the argument that in view of what we paid for him and the level of his wages we have got to give him a chance but what a risk especially if his form in the last two seasons is his true ability level. I accept that AN is a very good Manager and motivator but, IN MY OPINION, if he can turn that lazy lump into a 20 goal a season Premiership striker the UN should give him a few loaves and fishes and send him off to Africa to feed the starving millions.
Not setting the bar too high then 1950 - 20 PL goals playing for one of the lesser clubs in the league.......Benteke's never managed that and he gone for a bargain £32.5m If AN has had a look at him and sees a possibility then surely it makes sense to keep what we have rather than blow a bit more cash on another unproven striker who may or may not succeed. It is entirely possible that he will watch RvW closely on tour and then make a final call on whether he feels he can do a job for us. I suspect RvW is not the only forward on our books who will be under the laser like stare of AN this week.
Tentatively positive about RvW being back in the fold, but I think we are all aware it would be pretty foolish to think we will get a return on our £8.5m. It's a possibility, but it still doesn't seem likely. It's just good to see he's motivated and on the same page
But taking up a place in the 25 instead of one, or possibly two, of Lafferty, Grabban or Hooper? It's one hell of a gamble Rob although I accept it may be a decision forced on AN if we can't sell him.
I'm not disagreeing with you I thought we do have a bit of wiggle room in our 25 man squad though? We haven't signed many players...
The inclusion of Ricky in our squad would be a gamble, but I think you can make a stronger case for his inclusion than for Lafferty's. Both have just 1 goal and 2 assists in a Norwich shirt. Ricky has had 600 minutes more in a Norwich shirt, but he was also playing in the Premier League, under Hughton, and carried an injury for several games. Lafferty was played wider (as is his more accustomed role), but in a more attack minded team in the championship. I don't think there's a lot in it in terms of stats. Much as you can scoff at people getting excited by a goal against league 2 opposition, Lafferty's reputation now appears to rest on his international record, against the likes of Finland, Hungary, Greece and the Faroes. All well known footballing powerhouses. For me, RvW gets the nod as he's more naturally a centre forward, and I think our midfield plays more to his strengths than before. Instead of Tettey and Johnson sitting deep, we'll more likely have the likes of Dorrans or Mulumbu there, who can pass a lot better. Rather than Redmond left and Snodgrass right, he'll have at least one winger looking to get to the byeline. Then we've also got better options from attacking midfield roles too. His attitude and confidence could be questioned, but I think our current team looks a lot more like something Ricky could work with compared to before.
For all RvW's faults/failings I don't ever remember think he was lazy. Most of the time I think he was trying too hard.
You have different memories to me my friend. Yes , he made a few runs ' into the channel ' but he also spent a lot of time standing still waiting for the ball to come to him and never seemed to pressurise a central defender. His tracking back was non existent and any attempt at defending set pieces was sloppy to say the least. AN wouldn't stand for any of that but would I want to see him in the 25 man squad at the expense of a striker already on the books or preventing a new striker being bought? Preferably not.
Was he supposed to run into the channels then? Why would you sign a player who doesn't play that way and then tell him to do so. You wouldn't ask Shearer to play like Gary Lineker. You can argue with justification that he wasn't good enough at the things he was bought for, but running channels, hassling defenders and defending set peices were not on his C.V. I saw plenty of movement out of him early on when his confidence was up but the midfield just could not adapt due to Hughtons rigid style, it was horrible to watch him struggle because there was no additional movement around him to create space. The balls were coming in from to far away and behind him on too many occasions, all our forwards were destroyed. I think Wolfswinkle wants the ball cut back and he will certainly want midfielders to move around him which was something we very rarely done under Hughton. Wolfswinkle is not going to outmuscle the ball off a centre back, or skip past a defender. He needs others to feed him and help mix up the defenders. Once he's confident I do think he can score a few, personally I don't think AN is willing (probably quite rightly) to change how we play to accomodate him at this stage of our return to PL. I would love him to be our star striker come good but I don't see him playing given the amount of forwards we have.
