Welcome Norwich

[ArmchairDiehard]

I'm even more happy for you because of the £200 you've put in my pocket.

Up the Canaries!

 

[mistermagic]

Welcome back Munkers, Hooray, SUTSS and all. All match-going fans. This section needs a few.

 

[TheWednesday]

Done well to bounce back at the first attempt, I like Norwich as a club so don't mind seeing them back in the Premiership. Interested to see how Alex Neil copes with the step up next season.

 

[SUTSS]

I think we have a good chance of doing ok next season. The players seem to have bought into Neil's philosophy in every way and we don't need to invest too heavily in the squad.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

I was kinda confident we could finish above Boro at least if they came up. But Norwich are a different prospect.

On paper arguably the best squad in the Championship and with an obviously capable manager, with the recent experience of this level that the club has already. I'd put a pound or two on them finishing top of the 'promoted 3' next season.

They'll have to find a new home for Lewis Grabban though I imagine!

 

[johnnytodd]

I think we have a good chance of doing ok next season. The players seem to have bought into Neil's philosophy in every way and we don't need to invest too heavily in the squad.

That last sentence will be the one that comes back to haunt you.

 

[SUTSS]

I don't think it will. We have a good core squad. We would have stayed up last season had it not been for mismanagement by Hughton and we have only lost a couple of players from that squad. Our biggest weakness is our defence. We need a good partner for Bassong and an upgrade on Whittaker on the right hand side. Our midfield is good enough although the big concern there is injuries to Tettey so a good defensive midfielder is a must as we can't afford to go back to playing Bradley Johnson there. Grabban, Jerome, Hooper and possibly van Wolfswinkel is a decent front line but could probably do with one addition. 4 or 5 quality players will do it.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

No way on earth Grabban could be good enough for the prem surely? I mean I'm no expert on what level it takes, but for all the blokes' effort he can't finish his dinner half the time.

 

[SUTSS]

His finishing is a weak spot but his movement is excellent and he brings others into the game for them to score.

 

[G-Dragon]

Norwich should consider themselves lucky now that Luis Suarez does not play in PL anymore.

 

[Stevencc]

Good point mate. No racial abuse or bites coming their way now!

 

[johnnytodd]

I don't think it will. We have a good core squad. We would have stayed up last season had it not been for mismanagement by Hughton and we have only lost a couple of players from that squad. Our biggest weakness is our defence. We need a good partner for Bassong and an upgrade on Whittaker on the right hand side. Our midfield is good enough although the big concern there is injuries to Tettey so a good defensive midfielder is a must as we can't afford to go back to playing Bradley Johnson there. Grabban, Jerome, Hooper and possibly van Wolfswinkel is a decent front line but could probably do with one addition. 4 or 5 quality players will do it.

Ahh fair does mate hope your right then.........good luck

 

[mistermagic]

I don't think it will. We have a good core squad. We would have stayed up last season had it not been for mismanagement by Hughton and we have only lost a couple of players from that squad. Our biggest weakness is our defence. We need a good partner for Bassong and an upgrade on Whittaker on the right hand side. Our midfield is good enough although the big concern there is injuries to Tettey so a good defensive midfielder is a must as we can't afford to go back to playing Bradley Johnson there. Grabban, Jerome, Hooper and possibly van Wolfswinkel is a decent front line but could probably do with one addition. 4 or 5 quality players will do it.

RvW hasn't had the best of times at Saint-Etienne this season: 5 goals from 18 starts.

 

[G-Dragon]

Good point mate. No racial abuse or bites coming their way now!

True. But they still need to watch out for their wives and girlfriends

 

[HarvSFC]

I don't think it will. We have a good core squad. We would have stayed up last season had it not been for mismanagement by Hughton and we have only lost a couple of players from that squad. Our biggest weakness is our defence. We need a good partner for Bassong and an upgrade on Whittaker on the right hand side. Our midfield is good enough although the big concern there is injuries to Tettey so a good defensive midfielder is a must as we can't afford to go back to playing Bradley Johnson there. Grabban, Jerome, Hooper and possibly van Wolfswinkel is a decent front line but could probably do with one addition. 4 or 5 quality players will do it.

I don't think any of those strikers are good enough for the Premier League and goals were your biggest problem last time you went down, as Hooper and Snodgrass were your joint top scorers with 6, followed by Fer and Johnson on 3 and an overall of 28 goals scored in the season. It may have been part down to Hughton's tactics, but those individuals haven't ever proven themselves in the Premier League and 3/4 of them have failed before.

Cameron Jerome's always been your bog standard high scoring Championship striker, but never done so in the Premier League, hello David Nugent. After Jerome scored 11 Premier League goals in the 2009-10 season his scoring total in the Prem is 12 goals in 111 appearances. Whilst Hooper and RVW were very much considered massive flops the last time you guys were up here. Hooper has scored 12 goals in the Championship this season, but RVW has once again flopped in Ligue 1 this season, as mentioned by MM. Grabban is unproven at this level, but he's had two good goal scoring seasons in his career and one of those was in League 2.

 

[SUTSS]

I think that a large part of why we didn't score enough was Hughton's tactics. He expected two poachers to play as all action complete forwards. Seeing van Wolfswinkel have to drop back into his own half to get the ball was depressing. I don't think he'd particularly suit Neil's style of play either but let's face it, no one is going to buy him and maybe he will get his redemption (I do fear that Hughton has broken him permanently though).

The thing with Neil's style of play, and I'm just assuming that he'll keep it the same, is that the strikers are expecting to pitch in much more than goals. His style relies on the striker drifting wide to overload the flanks and the midfielders to burst forward to fill the space. It's no surprise that the top scorer when he left Hamilton was Tony Andreu playing largely from midfield. That's why I don't think it particularly matters that Grabban and Jerome aren't goal machines because they have proven themselves adept at bullying defenders on the flanks. I'd still like another striker to come in, but the defence has to be the priority.

I also think that this is the season that Nathan Redmond could go from kid with potential to a top class player. He has been in and out of the side a bit this season but since getting back in the side under Neil he has begun to be everything that we hoped he'd be. His biggest weakness now is his decision making but that is coming on in leaps and bounds and this might be the season where he really becomes something.

 

[mistermagic]

Gonna have to agree with Harv there, your squad is not that much different from the one that went down and don't look good enough to survive without 4-5 reinforcements. Defence-wise, I reckon you'll be ok but other than that I think your attack needs a bit more strength. I still reckon that Redmond should be playing as a second-striker and not on the wing (Aaron Lennon 2.0) and that buying a striker from one of the relegated sides (Ings or Austin would be a brilliant move). I certainly wouldn't rely on RvW to get you goals in the Prem. He's terrible.

 

[Whitechapel]

I've not kept track since celebrating their relegation. I guess they've improved without Hughton?

 

[Munkiki]

Gonna have to agree with Harv there, your squad is not that much different from the one that went down and don't look good enough to survive without 4-5 reinforcements.

Not sure I agree. That season we looked set for survival until we lost at home to West Brom. I know it doesn't fit in with the media's bullshit narrative of us treating Hughton wrong but the only reason we went down that season was because of his awful tactics. Confident that if we had even a half-competent manager, we'd have stayed up.

Obviously we'll need to improve the squad for next season but surely that's something every club looks to do every season?

 

[mistermagic]

Hughton is a good manager.

 

[SUTSS]

4-5 players is exactly what I'm saying!

 

[SUTSS]

What I think we need, in order of priority is, a centre back to partner Bassong, a defensive midfielder to rotate with Tettey, an upgrade on Whittaker, a striker, back up for Olsson and a winger if I'm being greedy

 

[johnnytodd]

Not sure I agree. That season we looked set for survival until we lost at home to West Brom. I know it doesn't fit in with the media's bullshit narrative of us treating Hughton wrong but the only reason we went down that season was because of his awful tactics. Confident that if we had even a half-competent manager, we'd have stayed up.

Obviously we'll need to improve the squad for next season but surely that's something every club looks to do every season?

Playing good football is not enough for the Premier League anymore ( see Everton last year this and this) You have to be brilliant without the ball for 90 minutes.

Mourinho said i think it's the team who is best without the ball that wins the league.

 

[johnnytodd]

What I think we need, in order of priority is, a centre back to partner Bassong, a defensive midfielder to rotate with Tettey, an upgrade on Whittaker, a striker, back up for Olsson and a winger if I'm being greedy

Distin?

 

[SUTSS]

Playing good football is not enough for the Premier League anymore ( see Everton last year this and this) You have to be brilliant without the ball for 90 minutes.

Mourinho said i think it's the team who is best without the ball that wins the league.

It wasn't so much that we were playing awful football. It was the fact that we were set up for a draw in every single game. It was like Hughton had a massive inferiority complex. We'd play relegation rivals and go for a 0-0. We'd go 1-0 down and try and defend it so the goal difference didn't get any worse. Not only was it painful to watch it was also obvious for some time that we were drifting toward the relegation zone and by the time the board reacted it was too late for Adams to realistically do anything about it.

There was also other frustrations with Hughton's tactics. I've mentioned the playing of poachers as all action complete forwards but there was also not making any substitutions until the last 5 minutes even when the game was drifting away from us or players were exhausted. As well as persisting with the same side no matter how badly certain players were playing. Hughton was awful and it wasn't just because his football was suicide inducing.

 

[BlueBee]

Back down again in 2 seasons and then back up a season later....repeat....forever.

 

[johnnytodd]

It wasn't so much that we were playing awful football. It was the fact that we were set up for a draw in every single game. It was like Hughton had a massive inferiority complex. We'd play relegation rivals and go for a 0-0. We'd go 1-0 down and try and defend it so the goal difference didn't get any worse. Not only was it painful to watch it was also obvious for some time that we were drifting toward the relegation zone and by the time the board reacted it was too late for Adams to realistically do anything about it.

There was also other frustrations with Hughton's tactics. I've mentioned the playing of poachers as all action complete forwards but there was also not making any substitutions until the last 5 minutes even when the game was drifting away from us or players were exhausted. As well as persisting with the same side no matter how badly certain players were playing. Hughton was awful and it wasn't just because his football was suicide inducing.

He sounds like David Moyes

 

[mistermagic]

Thought Martin was the better CB out of the two. Bassong looked quite suspect at times against Ipswich...

 

[SUTSS]

Martin is definitely not the better centre back of the two. Our defence has looked so much better since Bassong has returned. If we were relying on Martin all season next year I'd be very worried.

 

[Munkiki]

No chance has Russ been better than Bassong. Our defence was all over the place until Bass returned. Without him: 6 clean sheets in 28, conceding 1.3 goals per game. With him: 8 clean sheets in 19, conceding 0.7 goals per game.

Also, both Ipswich's goals came from Russ not being able to deal with their high balls, so not sure why you think he was better in those games.

When he's got his head screwed on, Bassong is by far and away our best defender. It's just the whole keeping his head screwed on thing we have to worry about...

Playing good football is not enough for the Premier League anymore ( see Everton last year this and this) You have to be brilliant without the ball for 90 minutes.

Mourinho said i think it's the team who is best without the ball that wins the league.

You have to go into every game believing you can win else what's the point? Under Lambert, we played with no fear. Under Hughton, we surrendered meekly before a ball was even kicked. It was pathetic. Easier to forgive losing every week when you're trying to win than losing every week trying to bore the opposition to a 0-0 draw.

But anyway, sod all this relegation talk. We've got Alex Neil, we're going to win the fucking league!!