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Nice article on Norwich's window in the Telegraph - written by John Percy who is very reliable. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/09/09/no-longer-going-war-without-gun-inside-story-norwichs-11-new/ Nuggets include Dortmund making a bid for Aarons the day before the window closed (loan with an option). Lee Dunn has taken over as Head of Recruitment. Tzolis had been tracked for years by the academy recruitment team, and Rashica had been watched since he was at Vitesse. Well worth a read.

This is an interesting passage, I posted recently stating that - although the transfer business coming in more than justified the sale - I still felt the club were complicit with the sale of Buendia, and that perhaps a harder stance on the sale could've been taken without necessarily compromising the self-funding model / squad harmony or Buendia - as some on here immediately jumped to. Again I reiterate that the overriding feeling on the sale is good due to the business coming in which has exceeded my expectations. But reading this it sounds more like things could've definitely turned sour if instead the sale was drawn out or not agreed with Villa, so more points to the club for doing it the way they did it. I take it back!

https://www.wba.co.uk/news/club-statement-albion-issue-lifetime-ban Now this is how it's done, well done Brom 👏

I don't understand why Keiran Dowell has been so readily brushed aside. I feel that we have a gem there, who cannot reasonably be confined to the "Championship standard only" bin. He's shown that he has an eye for goal, and a skilful eye at that. Both him and Sorensen need a fair crack, they might well surprise ... even in the rarefied atmosphere of Premier League football. I am not insisting he starts, but a mention would be pleasing.

I think Farke deserves credit as well for still getting so much out of Emi and seemingly keeping the camp happy despite our most integral player spending a year consistently making noise about wanting to leave. I think it shows that football is far more complex than @Jim Smith's (and others) concept of "Just keep emi, not doing so shows no ambition" etc etc. There's so much info we don't have access to.

Arsenal vs Norwich.mp4

The grass is not always greener, sometimes its better to take care of your own grass... Unless it is absolutely terrible, record low points, regular thrashings and obvious off-field problems, sacking him is a bad idea in my view. It is such a simplistic and in my opinion stupid belief that "change the manager" will suddenly improve everything and it baffles me why it is so widely held. I was an advocate of getting rid of Worthy at the time but be careful what you wish for. I was wrong, as all that followed for a while was decline.

We are changing our proven formation to accommodate Gilmour. Sorry, stick to 4 2 3 1. Gilmour at the moment looks like a square peg in a round hole

So In the last couple of years Dortmund, Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Tottenham, Arsenal and Man Utd have been interested in Aaron’s yet he is still at Norwich. I just call bs on all of those links. The minute someone is really interested in a Norwich player the deal is done end of. This is nothing against Aaron’s he is a great player.

McLean coming in improved things a lot from the previous games. Gilmour broke through at Chelsea doing exactly what he is doing for Norwich now. Normann will primarily challenge McLean for that spot on the left of the midfield three. I can see the same midfield on Saturday as Leicester (if McLean is fit) while Normann beds in and gets his fitness up. I suspect that if McLean isn't fit Normann will get his first start. Seems Arsenal are having a bit of a midfield crisis - no Xhaka, Elneny or Smith-Rowe. There is also a doubt over Lokongo who pulled out of the last Belgium game.

"They need us more that we need them". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58484454 UK on course to drop from Germany's top 10 trading partners As a result, German companies have been looking to source goods from EU suppliers instead of UK ones - and this trend is increasing, an expert said. "More and more small and medium-sized companies are ceasing to trade [with the UK] because of these hurdles," said Michael Schmidt, president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany. They "simply can't afford the extra burden of keeping up to date and complying with all the kicked-in customs rules, such as health certificates for cheese and other fresh products", he added.

I don’t expect them to all start for the reasons you have cited but I do think Farke is sometimes over cautious in introducing new players and in many ways we have nothing to lose with this game. I therefore expect at least a couple of them to feature on Saturday, particularly Normann. I also don’t want to see Tzolis warming the bench for the next month whilst we are “patient” with him. Everything I have seen of him suggests he is perfectly capable of playing and making an impact for us.

wasn't denying the idea of a bit of a jump, just wish people would stop skimming over the figures and commenting whatever suits their agenda. 18 months in and its the same old faces from both sides of the coin. Kinda why I stepped away from following it all the last month. I'd love to just lock Matt Le Tissier and Eric Feigl Ding in a room together and throw away the key, both gob****es of the highest order 😆

Can’t remember if I have posted this before, but during the first half of the game against England both Lee Dixon and Ally McCoist commented that Gilmour seemed to be struggling with the pace of the game. I was very surprised to hear Souness creaming himself over the performance at the end of the game. I know he’s had 3 tough opponents but I’ve hardly noticed him in those 3 games. I hope he gets a chance to show what he can do against the lesser teams.

So a huge, massive season defining relegation 6 pointer coming up.. Well, for Arsenal 😉 What 11 are we thinking we should play then? I think I'm going for..

Norwich win

Nope, It has been mentioned before, We paid around £3.5m for the Kabak loan deal, and just under £2m for Normann loan. I think it's not so uncommon nowadays, either. Club are serious about both players, so they're not without risk which some people presume.

What an absolute tale of woe that is. Find someone else to talk football with 😂

Bravo Baggies. An excellent response Compare and contrast the Suarez issue with Liverpool (another proven racist ) . Complete with supporting T Shirts worn by the players (including Jordan Henderson MBE) .

So if McLean is unfit, Normann not ready, then having worked with him closely this past week, surely Farke can do no worse than turn to Sorenson for the deeper CM role?

Interesting as always @sonyc and Mrs ICF is 100% convinced we both caught Covid on a trip to Italy at the very start of 2020. Personally I think it's bonkers (although I've not mentioned this to her) because if Covid was really on the loose in Europe in late 2019, with no social distancing, it would have shown up very quickly in hospital and death rates, which didn't happen at all. I personally have no doubt that it originated in China, but the only serious debate for me is whether it was naturally transmitted or whether it actually did escape from a lab, and I'm not sure we'll ever know for sure. Also, it is clearly in China's interests to sponsor the various conspiracy theories that point to some other origin for Covid and I think it is very likely they have cyber-teams tasked with encouraging the spread of those sort of ideas.

Michel Barnier says France needs to regain its sovereignty from the ECJ and is proposing a referendum on immigration. https://twitter.com/republicains_an/status/1435901218283470853 Oh the irony, Foxy must have turned him during those long all nighters.😁

What response code do you get if you look in your browser Developer Console?

I think we are still as a fan base expecting a lot from some very young players. When Gilmore was announced everyone was amazed but now some are saying he's usless. Let's look at this sensibly. He has changed club and that takes time. He is used to having Kante next to him. Let's be honest , when playing next to him Drinkwater looked good. Their is a very good player there but we have put every signing on such a pedestal that I worry for the pressure they will be under. Some players are also changing country. I hope and pray people will be patient as all the signings have potential but still a lot to prove. We have not signed £30 million Premier league ready we have signed £10 million Premier league potential.

Krul (Gunn pushing for this shirt) Hanley Kabak Gibson Aarons Williams Gilmour Normann Rashica Pukki Cantwell Subs coming on: Tzolis, Lees-Melou (could start for Normann), Sargent

@OTBC06with the telegraph if you do the cookie selection then refresh the page you can actually stop it once the article is loaded but before the paywall has. It can take a couple of tries but definitely works on Chrome on my phone ..

I would definitely have Omobamidele in the team, so a back three. Krul Omobamidele Hanley Gibson Aarons Gilmour Lees-melou Williams Rashica Cantwell Pukki Idah/Sargent/Tzolis all to get minutes from the bench. Normann and Kabak in once up to speed in a week or two.

I do think he’s over cautious in that regard though. A top international central midfielder is, in reality, capable of slotting into most teams and playing in central midfield. I really don’t want to see us at the Emirates with a midfield trio of Rupp, Gilmour and Lees Melou.

Think it is more about Farke being confident he's had enough time to work with players on the training ground so they know the system and how he wants the team to play. Norwich's midfield has looked like a bunch of strangers at times this season, so chucking in Normann might not be the best move (although depends what the situation is with McLean injury). Kabak is going to be a way off fitness wise, he was frozen out at Schalke and played no pre-season to my knowledge. Tzolis is just coming back off injury and in unlikely to be ready to start. I expect a similar line up to Leicester in all honesty. Unless McLean is out and then Farke may go for Normann. Sargent had a pretty torrid international break by all accounts so suspect he'll also be on the bench.

Can he read?

I can sort of see that but are Dortmund that bleak financially they couldn't just pay up if they had enough faith in Maxs ability? They just got nearly £80m for Sancho and have assets like Haaland on the books if things go south. Not like they're in danger of relegation like us is it? Our TV money next year is either over £100m or a few pence (and parachute payments) hence our need to do loan with view to buy

Yes confirms my thoughts that the future is secure. If Webber were to leave tomorrow, then he will leave a club well set. Cynics might say that our yo-yo status is confirmed, so it's now up to Farke and the players to contradict this view.

Alex who?

beat me to it!

was the same in Madiera though I didn't really notice the strict enforcement as everyone just did it. That was basically the only restriction they had though. I think their al fresco lifestyle massively helps as well, I was barely ever indoors other than when I went to bed. I suspect the fact they only had 2 months of strict lockdown right at the start means their population is a bit less fatigued by having to have their lives interfered with so they tolerate and buy into the mask wearing a bit more.

👍😉😇 sorted again!! .

Paul McCartney promoting an energy company.

Sorted😇😉👍

No you giant clown - we HAVEN'T set a premier league record!! Try reading the original post properly.

Congratulations on putting a negative spin on it - I knew it wouldn't take long.

Perhaps its the brevity we use on here but I had read your message as saying that the policy was sold by by Tories as a measure to improve the NHS but in reality is just a measure to protect wealthy homeowners. Apologies if you were saying it 'should have been sold as a NHS fix as that is what it is'. For what it is worth I support the short term NHS funding element and think it is a good first step to a long term social care plan. Be interesting to see if the NHS funding is to capital projects only or goes into general budgets (never to be seen by social care) The brexit comment was a bit cheeky but there is a definite element of "it is a Boris policy so it's deeply flawed, what is the policy?" about some comments on here from people you would assume would be natural supporters of the measure as actually articulated. I think ricardo and I have a similar humour and so tend to point to the same sort of things.

I agree, the stat is nonsensical. But the reality isn't a nonsense, that's the bigger concern. My biggest fear this season was to have fans/pundits are asking when the next win is coming, first goal in open play etc. We're already just two matches away from crapping the bed. If we're also continually being reminded that it's the worst start in nearly 20 years then that's just something else to pour over. Anyone want to take a guess at who came along to give Swindon their first point? 🙂 14 August 1993 Sheffield United A 1–3 20,904 Moncur 18 August 1993 Oldham Athletic H 0–1 11,940 22 August 1993 Liverpool H 0–5 17,364 25 August 1993 Southampton A 1–5 12,505 Maskell (pen) 28 August 1993 Norwich City A 0–0 17,614

Sadly the same **** that promised you £350 million a week and no tax rises are now raising tax to cover up the fact there's no £350 million a week and none of you seem to give a damn.

Exactly. This is just another one of Johnson's trying to be popular stunts. Until Social Care is totally divorced from the NHS and treated differently, then its just numbers. One is an assurance, the other an insurance. Social Care needs to be administered publicly and not by for profit companies for a start.

I agree with this as whilst .Farke is willing to throw young players in, these have tended to be those at the club who had been given time with the first team to settle in and understand the style he wants. New players into the club are given a few weeks to settle. Add in the fact that with the internationals they’ve not even had time to train and really get to know their team mates I expect we will see a similar starting 11 for Arsenal as in previous games (Normann perhaps the key exception). Hopefully over next couple games we will then see more new starters.

Yeah I'm a bit of a Gilmour skeptic at this point- particularly unimpressed by the **** poor attempt at a tackle in the build up the second Leicester goal. My concern is he's the kind of player that needs to be playing in a team that is dominating the ball vs opponents who sit deep where he can show off the range of passing skills he has while not requiring him to get too physical.

There seems to be this cast iron expectation that Gilmour will be a hit. He's played 11 PL games at 20 years old. He had a great game against England at the Euros but then so did Hanley. If he was going to be **** hot, I fear he'd have played a lot more by now. Not a great comparison as he's one of the hottest prospects in World football, but Greenwood is a year younger and has made nearly 70 PL appearances. I fear a lot of stock is being put into his performance v England when in reality that will prove to be like the game Savage kept Pirlo quiet.

Indeed. Once Gilmour drops out of defensive mid (where Normann will now play) and plays higher up at central mid alongside Lees-Melou we will start getting the best out of him I think

Isn't it bloomin lovely to actually have a selection issue and quality to come in and play different systems. Thought Billy looked a bit overrun by Leicester and should have been more streetwise for their second, Gibson had an off game but it won't define him and I would have no issues with either starting again. Seeing Rashica in 'the flesh' so to speak, proper quality direct player, hope he stays fit. Tierney will cause problems, as could Aubameyang so giving Max some more support down our right would be my priority, perhaps even dropping PLM in favour of Sorenson to offer some extra level of screening down that side. Sorenson less likely to be found on the edge of the opponent's area and is a capable full back if Max overlaps.

Probably have to leave Tzolis out, he doesn't look very well.