Salopian

Perhaps he will play better with occupancy of the CB position, and perhaps in the Championship he will get away with it, but I think that Bennett is better, certainly in the air. I think that with Whittaker our only other senior RB, we need to sign someone for RB and also CB. I''ve thought this right from the end of last season, and even earlier. We didn''t ship goals yesterday, but I suspect that this was largely because we were playing against 10 men, and only one of them up front. Whenever we play a team with pacey wingers, I fear the worst.

Without Olsson and with Garrido, we could be in trouble down our left, but let''s hope that if Fer plays, and O''Neil, plus Lafferty, we can do enough elsewhere to gain the points. We are playing a good side, but we need the confidence which comes from winning, so urge them on and forget any reservations you may have!

He was never going to do much in the impossible last five games last season - the other sides had too much to play for, and our troops were shell-shocked. In the event there were one or two good performances, and we lost to one or two wonder goals. I was impressed at the performances sufficiently to feel that he deserved his chance. Whether he will succeed in getting into the top six, I don''t know - it was always a tall order with two other good relegated teams and three or four very good teams who were near to promotion last season. I fear that Prudence, with McNally pointing out our halved income this season, will mean that we shall not sign anyone really outstanding (i.e. big money). I think that NA has done well in the signings so far - three useful players for very little outlay, improving the striking options and bringing experience to the midfield. I am desperately hoping the club will find him some money to sign a good central defender and a good right back, at least. I like NA''s approach - very honest in answering questions, very thoughtful in tactics and willingness to experiment - apart from the one goal, from two defensive mistakes, Wolves did not get much of a sniff, even when we were down to 10 men. When he has a full squad from which to choose, I shall expect a better performance - on Sunday Howson was unfit, and Tettey, Hooper and Lafferty not quite fit, as well as O''Neil banned. So I am more optimistic than I was 12 months ago, despite the arrival of RvW and Hooper, and I hope that the squad settle down and give us something to cheer about.

If there have been any bids, they seem to have been largely made through the press. How many genuine bids we have received, we may never know. I personally hope that we shall stick to the mantra "We don''t need to sell", and demand high fees. We hope to get to the Premiership soon, and we certainly don''t want to have to pay much more to find replacements than we are being offered currently. Adams in an interview was certainly a little bit cagey over the possible selection of Fer. This may be to deny the knowledge to Watford, or it may be genuinely that Fer is not yet fully match fit. I would have thought that the possibility of either player being left out to prevent loss of sale value, is a minor concern. We need to win, and we need to put out the most effective team. We are not blessed with too many top players, and these two are obviously among our best. If they are in form and fit, let''s play them.

One of the things I like about Adams is his refreshing honesty. When he said that he would not be upset if no further players were to leave, including Pilks and Becchio, I believe him. What was he supposed to say, that he would like to get rid of RvW - that wouldn''t do much for the price we hoped to get? Few managers are forthcoming when a player is sent off, partly because they want to view the video recording of the incident(s), and partly because they genuinely need to talk to players, including the offender. Not sure what to make about Pilkington, but the fact that he left supposedly at a prime age suggests that like Hughton he foresaw a future of recurring injuries. I suspect, too, that Pilks had already suggested that he wanted to leave. So if he had upset his team selection and his basic strategy merely to offer a game for a player who had already asked to leave, what does that suggest? Signing players in an area of the team that did not need strengthening is a suggestion I can''t understand. How many goals did our strikers score between them last year? I still hope that he will strengthen the defence, which certainly needs strengthening. Playing Redmond out of position is a strange one. At the moment the player is looking like Croft Mark 2. He has pace, but there is little product in terms of good crosses, and I think that unless he can develop parts of his game He doesn''t offer much which Benno can do. Redmond was certainly played out of position when Snodgrass was here, and both Redmond and Bennett showed that they can do little on the left wing other than cut inside. My own feeling is that Josh is much better than either on the left wing. I respect the right of Koreacanary to hold his views, and I think that Adams has made mistakes and will almost certainly make more, but I don''t agree with the poster.

We lost by one goal, and that scored after we were down to ten men, and in a fixture we knew would be tough, as it always has been.You can''t lose by a smaller margin than one! On the basis of this pundits on here are forecasting that things will get progressively worse. It will be a struggle, because Olsson is streets ahead of Garrido, and currently Whittaker looks poor. We have some good players to return - Lafferty - fully fit, Howson, O''Neil, and Fer (if he stays). These should give an attacking edge, but perhaps not fully in the next match. Adams has some selection problems, clearly, and has a tough decision on the balance of attack and defence. He admitted that at Molineux his emphasis was on making it difficult for Wolves to score. With four of our best central midfielders missing, our attacks were fewer than those of Wolves, but this should improve when the those players are available.

Well, things are stacked against us - Howson injured, Fer not match fit, Olsson probably out, and two very slow full backs in Whittaker and Garrido. In our favour is that our shape against Wolves certainly held them, apart from that one defensive error. I still fear that without one or two new defenders we shall be in trouble, but we conceded only the one goal while down to only 10 players. The big question is whether we can work enough to score goals. I am slightly more confident here, with Lafferty back and the willingness of Grabban to run into space. I can''t honestly see us scoring enough to win, but I would not be surprised if we drew.

May be the same old Norwich, except that Fer and Howson were missing, and they would surely be our main central midfielders if fit and still playing for us. Laffterty is clearly not match fit. In one respect Adams has followed Hughton in being concerned by a not very good back line, and choosing a defensive formation. We could have predicted the consequence. Even the weakest teams are given a chance by defenders without pace being slow to close down, block or head clear. The one major disappointment was Olsson, both in his sluggish performance, - he has always seemed quick, and in his idiotic reaction. It was worrying that he winger who had given Olsson so much trouble with his pace, should be confronted with Garrido and produce something special. This he did, with the fullback nowhere near him. I think that Adams planned a defensive approach, in the belief that a pre-season break-away performance would produce a goal. Wolves had few goal attempts, so the strategy was partly right, even with our poor defence.

I. S. asks rightly , "Salopian, how many defences don''t need a player in front to protect them? " I confess that I don''t know the answer, although there are clearly variations on the theme. Some Premiership teams play 4-3-3, with wing backs who get forward, and wasn''t it Wet Spam who played for a while with 4-6-0, and no strikers? Our problem now is that if we play the diamond, with two strikers, and the tip player in close attendance, we effectively have a three man midfield, with one playing back and the other two both speedy wingers. This means that we created relatively little through the middle last season, and we now have two young wingers whose defensive qualities are not yet fully developed. We have a porous defence, and the failure to close down, block or mark cost us two goals in the last pre-season game. We are ripe for picking if opponents have any pace in the middle. If the central three , or four, contain two attacking wingers, and the remaining midfielder(s) have to play a significant defensive role, there will be relatively few creative movements down the centre. The two "lines of four" is a good defensive posture, and is difficult to break down, but it requires a good back four with quick movement to deal with defence splitting passes, and with the exception of Olsson we are lacking in this.

Once or twice, in congratulating scorers, etc, he has seemed very relaxed and enjoying his football, so this bolt from out of the blue doesn''t fit in. When you add the possibility that Fer will be off, and also Tettey, the only explanations I can offer would be either that NA had a word and told the player that he is down the pecking order, or reinforced this by the near signing of someone in the Fer mould. Or has there been some falling out, perhaps over a new contract? I am assuming that O''Neil is a different sort of player and not really competing with Surman. It doesn''t make sense. Why would we want to get rid of a virtually new player, for £1m, and then have to pay up to £5m for a replacement?

If, as I suspect, there will be little further signing, and certainly no stand-out player, then it seems to me that the Board are holding the purse strings very tightly. We have barely spent the Snodgrass money yet. Come on Board - release some money to enable us to sign a couple of good defenders. The defence was riddled with errors and mistakes last year, and removing Bassong, the only central defender with ability, weakens it still further. I appreciate that there is an element of "wait and see" who leaves, but we saw the result of two years of last-minute attempted signings by Hughton. The RvW deal seems a little weak, if the possible eventual deal could be short of £5m. Adams was happy to have RvW here, so are the Board in miserly mode yet again? They''ll have egg n their faces if he comes back as a failure, or if he goes at such a loss.

We certainly need a centre-back - a couple of injuries anywhere in the back four and a fairly weak defence could become porous. I think that Turner and Bennett will be just about O.K., but I don''t think that Martin is tall enough or quick enough. We also need cover at RB, or we could find ourselves having to play a youngster there, or someone not used to that position. I also have my doubts about both Martin and Whittaker - good going forward, but short of pace. I think that we need to splash out on a very good CB, - technically good and also able to marshall the defence.

You may be gobsmacked, but don''t build your hopes too high. QPR would want to get him, but on the cheap, I suspect - is the manager under instructions not to spend like in the recent past? Can he persuade his board that this is no squad player but an international, and if so how high will he bid. Southampton are a different case - they have plenty of transfer money, or is it going on solving financial problems? They want Redmond, and possibly Fer, but how much can they afford? In the end Premiership clubs can offer higher wages, but some are strapped for cash. We have to stand firm, and not allow them to get a good player for virtual peanuts, because in 12 months time we may be buying someone like him, and all we shall have will be peanuts. McNally''s reputation took a dive earlier this year. Now is the time for him to get a good price for a very good asset, or else try to hang on. Can we hang on? If the potential buyer were one the big boys, who have all sorts of ways of unsettling players, I wouldn''t give us a chance, but perhaps we can get him to resist the blandishments of QPR and Southampton. But I wouldn''t bet on it.

A very good question. Last year''s defence was slow to close down and block, outpaced, and needed at least one player in front to "protect" them. I share the fear that new attacking policy is both attractive and efficient (so far), but it is essentially the same defence as last year minus Bassong and Yobo. With all due respect to the players, Whittaker, Martin, Turner and Garrido are troubled by pace, and there seems no-one to organise them. The two goals scored on Friday night showed the weaknesses - no-one picked up the quick movement of the opposing player for the first goal, and no-one closed down or blocked the second scoring shot - I thought that Ruddy was a little slow as well, but he didn''t have much chance. We may not meet the same pace and movement each week during the season, but we shall meet them often enough. We need a new central defender with some pace and quickness of thought, and we need a right back. Is Adams hoping to sign these on loan? Otherwise, we shall be as generous at the back as we were last season!

It''s boring, - we''re just scoring goal after goal!

For a period from May until mid July Canaries World posted nothing at all, and, as others comment, highlights pre-season are available on the PInkun Website. I discovered that I was too late to cancel my standing order, so I was a little peeved. In the past I thought it was good value, because they showed the manager''s press conferences on Thursdays or Fridays. The match highlights were longer than those on the BBC, and after each game there were interviews with the manager and with a player, for what these were worth. There were also occasional interviews with McNally, and clips of the annual awards dinner, etc. Above all there were the match commentaries, and a scrolling match postings. There were also clips of junior squads, both matches and interviews. I can never get to home matches, and I am reduced to away games in the Midlands. Unless the traditional contents is restored fully, I shall not renew my subscription next year.

Yet again what is evident from the brief clips is passing and movement, and the movement is quick. At times the Nice defence seemed bemused. Perhaps the visitors were not very good - they didn''t do very well even after we had introduced several juniors in the second half, so we can''t get carried away. For the whole match we had had important team members missing - Olsson, Howson. RvW, Hooper, Lafferty. They seem to be enjoying playing together, and team spirit seems good. I didn''t see the game, merely the highlights, but one slightly worrying thing was to read that Ruddy had to be helped when he dropped crosses. Perhaps he was under physical pressure?

Until comparatively recently when loading the messages, and making a posting, I had the offer strip of tools at the top of the box, including colours, size of print, bullet points, spelling correction, etc, This no longer appears, whether on IE, Firefox or Chrome. It seems to me to be likely that the Pinkun site no longer offers this, and I must have missed an announcement. Could a kind poster please put me out of my misery and tell me if this is the case, or how I get it back? Thanks for any help.

We know have five good quick wingers - Redders, Benno, Pilks, Josh, and Jacob. If one went , we would have two for each wing. I hope that Redders will stay, but for a good price, I wouldn''t mind if he went. Leroy looks likely to go - some big teams in for him now. He is an all-round good central midfielder, with strength, pace and technique, and streets above our other players. I would be sad to see him go, but if he does it should mean a good price. Given that we have four strikers without Becchio, I think that one of them could be vital. We need someone to score 20+ goals. We need some bolstering in defence, assuming that Bassong is off, in mind if not in body. Olsson is great, but the other positions concern me. It was some very poor defending against Bastia that cost us the goal. I think that a top flight CD is vital, one like Bassong at his best, anticipating, encouraging, intercepting and blocking, and organising,is what we need. This for me is were we are lacking, and a good signing here could turn us into a very useful side.

I am sure that we could do this from a financial point of view, but it would not be a replacement. Fer has a strength and atheliticism which make him more effective defensively than Lansbury could ever be. In my view Fer is the complete central midfielder, while Lansbury is a useful threader of passes around the box, and arguably we already have Surman and Howson for this.

GJL hit the nail on the head - Hoolahan needs to have the rest of the team selected to suit his inclusion, but then to some extent the same applied to Hux, who also had something of a very distinctive way of playing. I recall that when we signed Wes Blackpool had been playing him as a left winger, having tried him in various positions. Wes is not s striker, and in fact I have the impression that his actual goal-scoring has diminished over the past few seasons. If you reckon him to be one of four midfielders with, we hope, two quick wingers, then somebody else in the midfield has to contribute to creativity and also to defence - I doubt if even Leroy could do this. With wingers attacking, we would have little defensive cover for the back four - our Achilles heel at the moment. There seem to be three possibilities: 1) Play 4-4-1-1 using Wes as the first 1 in support of the striker. This would mean that we are defensively more compact and strong, and also that the wingers could quickly turn the front one into three. 2)Play 4-4-2, with Wes in the midfield and two strikers. - this would weaken us defensively, and perhaps would require a different sort of player on the wing. (I have the memory of the game at the Hawthorns, where we somehow won, with Leroy on the left wing!.) 3) Play orthodox 4-4-2, without Wes. Two of Surman, Howson and Fer could fill the central midfield roles between them, and could be as creative as Wes. I am sure that Adams has been considering the three set-ups, and others. The answer could well be to be more expansive at home, and have two strikers, but play only one away. It doesn''t have to be exclusive - I am sure that Adams will have been training the squad to adapt according to need during matches, and with substitutions when necessary. We now seem to have a squad with good cover in all positions, except the defence, which worries me, especially after the mess which resulted in the goal for Bastia! But that''s another story.

Thanks for the photos. The gulf between the teams was evident - the Italians were short on pace and movement, and also tackling. They looked what their league position suggests. It was good of them to step in at the last moment. It was all too easy, but at least our boys were committed, even if they were relaxed and enjoying themselves. They were trying, presumably for a starting place at Molineux. Did our lads gain from the experience? Probably - confidence in shooting and passing - something lacking last season, and awareness of each other.

For what it''s worth, I don''t think he is very much like Holt at all, but he seems to know about positions, has a good dead ball shot, and despite his height is not a great header of the ball. I was not very impressed when I first heard about his likely signing, but the more I see of him, the more I am impressed. I think that he could make a very good contribution this coming season. I also like Grabban''s movement and commitment to the cause. He seems to be one of those hard workers who seem to achieve things with hardly anyone noticing. It seems unlikely that RvW will leave this summer, and nothing has been heard about Hooper - perhaps managers, who know the quality of Scottish football, are holding off to see how he plays this year. If they both stay, and with Loza in the wings, I doubt if we shall sign another striker. Adams already seems to have switched his attention to a (central) defender.

We have three centre backs - Turner, Bennett and Bassong, with Martin stretched across two positions. Even if, as seems unlikely at the moment, Bassong stays, we shall need a specialist CB. Four is the minimum, with Martin possibly needed at RB. This seems wise as any youth players are not yet ready, and with the possibility of injury.

How far his utterances have been authorised, or how far the club is happy with what he is saying, we may never know, but they are consistent with the insistence by Adams that all are playing for their places. I personally would not be unhappy to see Bunn go. I feel that he is a good shot stopper, but lacks the height and reach to be fully effective. In this part of "keeping" Rudd has a distinctive advantage.