Ulf Ottosson

I''m Roeder fan but Worthy took over from Hamilton team yes but a team that contained - Roberts, Mcveigh, Steeno, MacKay, Fleming, Mulyrne, Holt, Kenton, Jackson, Green, Jackson - i.e. the basis of the team that won promotion to the premiership. Roeder got no one in that category - the only players who could play in a play off threatening team are Doherty and Marshall. He''s had to effectively replace the whole Midfield, Strike force and defence with no or little money to do it.

Earnshaw a quality signing , scored goal by the bucket load. Well looking back the signing of Earnshaw  I see it has the beginning of the end for us and since then we have been struggling to keep afloat. At that time we were still thinking about quick promotion  back to the premiership but the earnshaw signing was wrong on so many different levels. We''d just sold Ashton and what do we do sign the completely opposite style of striker to him I can''t imagine what the response at Colney from messers Huckerby, MacKenzie and Mcveigh when Worthy announced he''d sign Earnshaw pretty sick I''d imagine he complemented none of them and his signing was directly or indirectly the end of MacKenzie and Mcveigh norwich careers. What we needed to do was take a step back,  breath write that season off and sign the players we really needed (and still don''t have and now can''t afford!!!) a commanding Centre back and a target man capable of holding the ball up and scoring a few. For arguments sake say Martin Taylor and Rob Hulse. The attitude that Worthy and lately grant had was we''re a couple of players short of being a promotion challengers how wrong they were. What''s worse with Earnshaw is he left for what we bought him for and any money left was then used to pay debt off leaving us no better off. The saga was a total disaster and is still affecting us now.

Ok - no one like''s all the loans Roeder has got in (I forgot all about OJ!) but really what is the alternative, we have little money to spend on new players and I think Roeder hasn''t done too bad he''s spent about a million quid and got Bell, Hoolahan, Clinigan, Pattison. But we simply don''t have the cash to spend on the quality needed and I''d rather have the loan signings than fritter money away on players who aren''t going to move us forward. So the alternative to the loans in my opinion would be poor quality signing Chris Brown anyone? Ian Murray? Simon Lappin? or would you rather have Lupoli, Kennedy and Bertrand there just no comparison in my view - so keep getting the loans and watch out for bargains like Clinigan.

Sorry I''m with Roeder on this one! Granted he''s not the worst player I''ve seen in Yellow and Green - he reminds me a lot of Clint Easton but without the strength! But come on it''s hardly like we have Lionel Messi but we''re not playing him. There are a lot of things to get a roeder for - his dealing with the media, our inconsistent form etc... but Simon Lappin I don''t think is something he''s got very wrong

No i''m not We''re due a good performance and I really think we''ll beat them quite easily of course we''ll even lose to watford just as easily!

  Just an observation about Russell I always think when watching him play that he plays in the wrong place in midfield. He always wants  I believe to be considered a box to box goal scoring midfield players - but the that''s just not his strength. It always strikes me that he works hard, gets stuck in, good in the air, strong with a good engine and is at our current level a decent player but he just isn''t a box to box goalscorer in the say francis mould. In my humble opinion he''d be better deployed in a defensive midfield role mopping things up and giving simple passes to better players I just think it''s strange he''s never deployed in this role.

  Right now I''m backing Roeder transfer policy which I see as two fold : 1) Buy only players who are significantly better than what we already have 2) Loan players should also be significantly better and if not they should be covering a long term absence But the fact is we don''t have the money to buy players who are significantly better than what we. The Taylor situation is just the start I can see the same when he turns his attention to the strike force - 20 goal a season strikers don''t come cheap. What happens when he identifies a target the club want 1.5 million the board will only give 750,000 It will be interesting to see how this develops - will he stick to his guns or will he move into the territoy that haunted Grant and Worthy i.e. signing players just to act as cover for senior players and end with a stack of carp e.g. Thorne (Ashton) Murray (Shackell), Robinson (Etuhu), Heckingbottom Brennan (Drury), Chadwick (Croft) or is the other way round?, Lappin (huckerby), Brown (Dublin) there are hundreds of other examples of player brought just for the sake of having cover if someone gets injured.

Just over half way through the season, if the vote was tomorrow who would you vote for. Can''t say there are too candidates. I''d say the candidates are : Dion, Marshall and Dare I say it the Doc A shout to for Fotheringham but he''s only player ten or so games. Right now I''d go for Dion but if Fotheringham can keep up his good form.........

  It''s strange Worthy is still derided in parts - yes - he stayed too long but he was our most successfully since Walker remember he got us to Cardiff with a team that included Mcveigh, easton, rivers, mulryne, nielsen at. Not such a bad achievement none of the players of that era have ever touched success like that since.

Last few months Underrated : Dion Dublin - The man is our best player end of - whether it be Up front or at the back - we need to find a way to keep him at the club in the long term. David Marshall - Leaving the Joe Lewis mess aside, he''s solved what was a real problem position for us last season. Plus he will only get better with time. Overrated : Big Dave - Currently his ability is being built up mainly because of  the fact he''s not playing - there is a reason for that he''s not very good, if a striker can''t get a game in a team for can''t score toffee he must be rubbish. Darel Russell - I''m not saying he''s awful but he''s not going to push us forward into a team pushing for promotion. There was a reason he left first time - he could''nt displace Holt or Mulyrne from the first team. Both players who get plenty of stick (wrongly!!) on this board 

Here goes this : 10) Leon Mackenzie -> A bit of a rogue choice but mainly choosen because of two moments which will live long in the memory : his two goal debut at portman road moving us to the top of the table and the moment he tapped in the winner against Man Utd then ripped off his shirt while the Barclay went MENTAL. Always played with great passion and pace two thing which we need at the moment. 9) Dean Ashton - > Class - pure and simply talent wise one of the best players i''ve ever seen at Carrow Road, almost led us to a very unlikely survival. Painted as a villian after we got relegated but it was obvious we were holding his career back - the Fa Cup Final or a mid table Championship. 8) Adam Drury -> Solid as a rock and now approaching the veteran level, tough in the tackle and a great professional. Noticed more often when he''s not there than when he is. 7) Darren Huckerby -> A legend the man who rode into Carrow Road and took us to the premiership. Pace and skill in abundance. Would be higher if it wasn''t for what''s happened since the Premiership - for me it;s like when he arrived he was the icing on the cake, now there is no cake!  6) Iwan Roberts -> Another legend a beast of the man and the heartbeat of the club for a number of years. It''s shame after holding the club together for a number of seasons - he was slightly over the hill when we got good. Plus did anyone have any doubts when he stepped up to take that Penalty at cardiff - I would have bet my life on him scoring....what a guy 5) Paul McVeigh -> Yes Paul McVeigh for me a key player in our rise back to the top of the championship. All of a sudden with him in the team we had flair, vision and tricks - he created practically every goal scored in the WOrthington first two full seasons - don''t believe me - watch the videos. Without him players of Huckerby and Ashton quality would never have turned up. 4 Equal) Craig Fleming & Malky Mackay - > Quite simply the best defensive partnership we have seen at carrow road since forever.....Both tough as nails, willing to throw there bodies on the line for the cause and  always gave 110% for the cause. 2) Rob Green - Norwich and Englands No.1 a quality shot stopper who hardly ever makes errors - I can only think of the David Johnson error in the promotion year. Plus he''s Norwich through and through giving us a year of his career to help us back into the Championship when he really did''nt need to. 1)Gary Holt -> Ask yourself when it went wrong for Norwich - the sale of Mackay/Roberts? Failure to secure a 10 goal a season striker? Worthy not being sacked sooner? Well I think the day Holt had blood drained off his lungs is up there when he broke down we have never really recovered. The man was immense, not a headline grabber but solid as a rock - I used to call him the ginger Patrick Viera simpy awesome what a guy. Disagree, let''s hear you, have I missed someone obvious let me know

PACE!! All opposition teams at whatever level hate playing against it and we have well none of it......no one in our entire first team squad is in the quick bracket. This is particularly felt up front Brown, Cureton, Hartson, Dublin, Dave, MArtin - Pace aren''t there strengths we really miss Earnie pace up front - his ability to run in behind the defence was a more important than people realise. Now the opposition take one look at our Strike force and push up to the half way line and never leave it - if there ''s a ball in behind they simply out pace are slow strikers...... This puts more pressure on the midfield as we struggle to clear our lines... Basically we need an injection of pace real pace and fast

  Personally I don''t think it matters who gets the job, the squad we have got is sooo poor even Alex Ferguson would struggle to turn us round, compound this with the fact we have no ''real'' money to improve the squad - this year could be very difficult indeed. The defence, is on paper and unbelievable in my opnion is our are strongest suit Marshall, Osi, Shaks, The Doc and Drury - are a reasonable back five true true there are problems distribtion and lack of pace in the centre. Plus Murray and Dublin provide acceptable short term reserves. The Midfield is a disaster zone and we should apply to the UN for aid. Rossi Jarvis looks like a full back playing in midfield, people seem to forget there was a reason Russell left he could''nt dislodge Fat Phil or three lungs players much cricitised on this very board. Breiller Who? Chadwick and Lappin are both wide men who can''t beat a full back. Huckerby he''s gold - but we still have no idea where to play him. The Strikers are also poor there''s no pace, no trickery, no creativity and look to the midfield to create for them which is a big problem.

Mixed feelings - given that this season is likely to be a long hard fight against relegation his exprience and knowledge of the championship and loan market could be invaluable. Compared him with someone like say Ian Crook a green rookie manager with no exprience. I know who I would rather have in charge in a relegation dog fight. However in the long term I don''t see him being able to take the club forward and making us a premiership club again..................

  It will be 4-4-2 - i''d say he play Marshall Ostoember, Shackell, Doc, Drury Croft, Russell, Breiller , Lappin                   Huckerby                   Brown Sub - Gilks, Jarvis, Murray, Dublin, Cureton THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THE TEAM, FANS, CLUB and MANAGER''s FATE are all linked to the performance and attitude of Darren Huckerby - apart from Lappin set pieces he is our only creative outlet - in the last five games he''s stunk, when his form turns so will ours - whether this will do us any good in the long term is open to debate but in the short it all depends on him - BTW i''d make him captain.

It''s passed me by a bit but we are only 3 points off 12th!! 6 off the play offs!!! - I know we did''nt but IF we beat scunthorpe (which we should have) and got a point against Sheff Wed we would be 12th, with the potential to go into the playoffs if we beat QPR.........................a couple of results and a bit of luck and it might look a bit different................(maybe)

The thing I''m not sure if i''m joking or not!! How did he turn it round all those years ago..........................

  Pace - vital in the modern game - is something completely missing from our entire squad. Teams have worked out that we simply don''t have the option of playing the ball in behind the defence, something which was crucial last year with Earnie in the team. No team wanted to defend high up the pitch because of his threat in behind. Now with the strike option being Cureton, Dave the Striker, Brown, Dublin and Martin aren''t that sort of player meaning that teams push up on us making it hard for us to sustain any pressure. Up front is where this is most obvious but i would''nt place any player in the squad as quick - Huckerby as lost half a year, croft legs move fast but he doesn''t go anywhere, chadwick lost his pace years ago (this is why his career is in free fall)

My spin on Hughes is that he''s never going to be good enough for the first team, that said he is a very useful 12th man, capable of filling in well in both full backs, positions and anywhere across the midfield to cover any short term absences. I think a lot of the stick he gets is that we paid 500,000 for him a lot - but this figure must be placed in it''s correct context. We had just be relegated and had a fair bit to spend, we bid 1/4m just about acceptable for him, reading wanted 1/2m - Worthy told the board he wanted him (probably because of the reason above) and they did the rest.

ZLF - I agree Shackell gets away with a lot compared to the doc it''s total double standard I also people don''t appeciate Drury as they should. I also totally with you on Earnie - for 3mill you thought he might have a first touch - personally we would''nt move on as a club until either he or Huckerby leaves. However I think we''ll lose both next season and then would''nt be able to replace either of them. Lappin - the whole point of overrated / underrated is you cut the hype on players or built it up. I think Simon Lappin is good but not that good - I still feel he''s Clint Easton with confidence, plus we have just had him compared to David Beckham, Brian Gunn and Malky Malkay so you''re not overrating him?

Who are the players over the last six months who have been underrated and overrated here are mine : Overrated Simon Lappin - Ok he''s not that bad and looks good value for money but the only thing I think when I see him is - Why is Clint Easton back on the left wing? For me he''s a squad player cover for left back and left winger but not quite good enough to be a a first choice in either position - too slight to be a left back not quick or tricky enough to be a real threat down the left hand side. Chris Martin - Ok he''s a home grown product and he did well for us when we needed it most - But I can''t think apart from a couple of goals what he has that I haven''t seen from say Ryan Jarvis technically he''s very good, good first touch, awareness and technique but I struggle (like I do with Jarvis) to see what sort of striker he is - he isn''t a target man, doesn''t quite have the pace to be a threat in behind the defence what sort of stiker is he? I think he maybe best suited in midfield..........my spin is that he''s talented but the comparisions to Sutton and Bellamy maybe a bit much Underrated (a bit more of a struggle) Michael Spillane - Six months younger than Martin, did''nt look out of place last year and hasn''t this despite playing in a number of different positions. He quickly and efficiently went about his business and I for one are really looking forward to him making a first team place his own next year. Dickson Etuhu - Yes I know he gets stick for being inconsistent but for me people overlook the fact that he scored seven goals this season and played a key role in most of our best performance this year. When he''s good he''s awesome and if he could make his off days say from 1/4 to 1/6 - then we''d be lucky to hold onto him for the whole of next season.  

Why all the gloating! Phil was an excellent player before his sickening injury, I was on the listening on the radio and Matt Jackson who was doing the co-commentry with Roy Waller left his post to make sure he was alright. After his injury he was still a very good player but I think one who was just happy to be playing football.  Also given his replacement was Andy "500,000" Hughes I know who I''d rather have in central midfield - since being released by Norwich he has been pretty unlucky he looked a dead cert for a place in the Cardiff team but he had a sersious injury a couple of weeks into the season ( I think) by then Koumas had arrived. Without a way back into the team in the middle of the season he was released but got injured again next season, lost a deal a Oldham due to the change in Manager and wasn''t deemed fit enough for a relegation battle at LEyton Orient. 

Nutty Nigel the nail being hit on head well and truely - Every strike partnership needs someone to link the attack and midfield either a target man a la Roberts or a someone dropping off and getting the ball into feet a al McVeigh. Neither Huckerby or Earnshaw do this - Huckerby is not an option on the left - it cripples us defensively. 4-3-3 isn''t an option because Earnshaw needs to hold the ball up. The only compromise is perhaps a diamond in midfield with Huckerby at the top. I would suggest that the question in this post could be reversed Would selling Huckerby be a disaster?

More posts on the Dion thread - who said football fans were fickle!

No one else has so I thought I would, I would like to thank Paul for the great service he gave Norwich during his time here. He played as important a role as Malky, Iwan, Flem and Greeno in the turn around under Worthy, was instrumental in getting to the play off final, led the attack the following season netting a 14 goals and then again was a key player in our promotion campaign. We would''nt talk about the premiership season, perhaps Paul will let us know why Worthy fell out with him in due course. Back in the championship last year he led our recovery in the winter to give our season some respectability finishing a well deserved 3rd in the player of the season vote. This year well I don''t know at for me he''s never played, had about 5 starts if that all on the right wing go figure why he wasn''t played his best - at least he''s shown Burnley what he his capable of in this division. Probably the best free transfer we ever made, had vision, technique and for me ideas ahead of anyone else in the squad it''s criminal that no manager ever managed to get him and huckerby playing together successfully in the same team. The question for Grant is will we be able to replace him  for nothing? I wish him well in the future and look forward to seeing him at Carrow Road again in the future   Cheers Paul