More than happy if we ****house our way to survival this season. We were never "street smart" under Farke and it cost us. Fundamentally, I trust that if the club goes for a Burnley/Mick McCarthy-like approach this season, it will be a means to an end rather than a long term plan. And I think Smith is capable of evolving the strategy over time.
I thought that the option price agreed was only upon survival, I think he could get a PL move if we are relegated
You're being ridiculous now Robbie. Hanley came to us from Newcastle because Benitez thought he wasn't going to be 'PL quality'. Have a look at their CBs now - Lascelles is the highest rated one at an 6.51 average over the season and the others are 6.48, 6.44, and 6.24 respectively. Hanley is ranked at 6.79 by comparison. He worked hard on to change his game under Farke and Smith rates him as well and has retained him as captain. Why would he want to leave? He has achieved a lot IMO, and developed his career both for us and for Scotland with a strong sense of loyalty to both. That's much more valuable to me than some mercenary who sees us as a stepping stone to a fatter paycheck.
I wouldn’t bother Rick By Robbie’s measure, unless you are playing a full season for a Premier League team coming in the top half by the age of 25, game over for you. You’re crap, you might as well retire. He doesn’t recognise that players might still improve with age and experience, or that injuries and formations might make a difference. But most of all, once Robbie’s decided his opinion, the lady’s not for turning. It doesn’t matter how comprehensively that opinion is demonstrated to be false. The idea that Hanley might have been our best player so far this season is nonsense to him, because he cannot comprehend that.
I don't see why the football we're playing now is similar to Burnley or McCarthy hoofball. At times we work the ball out of defence but we also use intermediate passing and kicking to progress it more quickly to catch the defence out of position. Too often under Farke we were too slow in the build up trying to play like ManCity. That worked in the Championship but not in the PL. S&S have mixed it up to good effect and suddenly we're scoring goals and winning games - 3 in a row now. That's anything but ugly to me.
Farkeball was pretty when it worked, but too often it didn't, at least in the PL. As long as we're creating chances and scoring goals while also preventing them at the other end, that's good enough for me.
Though I loved Farkeball.... Some of the Farkeball games this season were butt-ugly it looked like men against boys as we tried to tap tap it out and invariably lose possession in our half and pay the price.
I agree with all that, the problem is I still have nightmares about the end of the Hughton era when we basically relegated ourselves with the fans turning on the manager due to the style of play, even though we really should have finished comfortably mid table
Of course I was being (deliberately) ridiculous. Irrespective of whether Grant would contemplate a move or not, nobody in their right mind expects a Premier League club to make any sort of bid for him. Which rather says it all. Not even Newcastle who, in January, thought it worthwhile paying a reputed £25M for a 30 year old striker. They were in the market for at least one CB and ended up paying in excess of £13M for Brighton's 3rd-choice, similar aged, CB, Dan Burn. As I said in my original post, Grant's career and transfer history are the best measure of his true level.
Bollocks. Doesn’t matter how many times you repeat yourself, it’s been demonstrably bollocks the first time you said it and it remains demonstrably bollocks now, as has been comprehensively demonstrated. Players change in quality over time. If you’d said Hanley was not a Premier League quality player at 26, that would be fair. If you’d said, if when Hanley is 32 he hasn’t played in the Premier League much, it will be fair to say he never made it to Premier League quality, that would be fair. But you didn’t, you went for ill-thought bollocks which takes no account for the potential to improve as a player. And you’re doubling down on it because you too proud and arrogant to admit you might be, and increasingly likely you are, wrong.
You wrote off Hanley as not Premier league quality when we were in the Championship. He was one of our best players as we won the title. This season especially in the last few WINS he has been one of our best players . Most people would admit that they are pleasantly surprised and glad to be proven wrong. As others have mentioned you are too stubborn to ever be wrong, and you would probably rather be correct and Norwich get relegated than wrong and Norwich survive. Many of us slated Sargent but happy to be eating humble pie as he improves . It's OK to admit when you're wrong it's actually quite an endearing trait . You should try it some time.
Michale Bailey mentioned something about this in a roundabout way in his post-match review, referring to the noise made by some fans towards the end of the Chris Hughton era with the football being seen as being dull as dishwater (and in fairness, it was not great). For the duration, the gaffer will get away with what we are doing to get some wins/points, but for how long? Will the mindset of fans change and accept that we have to do what we have to do to survive and possibly compete better?
The Athletic have picked up the "****housing" thread today, discussing Norwich's adoption of the dark arts. 6 bookings in a game was more than we've had in 11 league seasons. Definitely elements of gamesmanship, time wasting, buying free kicks, etc. Smith has put renewed focus on set pieces, and the club are aiming to appoint a specialist coach in the summer (something I think several of us have called for before!)
Yes, I'll be first to put my hand up on that one. I have made many critical comments about Sargent, including a sarky one about Blackpool sands. But if he can perform for the rest of the season like he has for his last few appearances, I'll have to admit I was wrong.
You are pretty alone to be honest, because you still don’t seem to understand that it is not so much the opinion that’s the problem as your complete missing of the facts. I don’t know a single other football fan who thinks players cannot improve after the age of 26.
I remember saying he needed something without time to think, a reflex or it just hitting him and going in. Fortunately he has had that and hopefully kicks on I noticed that after about 5 mins of the first half the Wolves fans were booing time wasting. However we weren't wasting any then, but it certainly influenced the ref later on to book players who were wasting time.
