GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary

Quite revealing actually.......Holt said in his own words that he wanted to leave because he had "had enough". He didnt enjoy the role Hughton was asking him to play and didn''t enjoy the defensive way that theteam was being set up.  Also said that his family/geography sitaution wasnt something that was foremost in him wanting to move. More surprisingly he revealed that he asked Hughton for a move in January but was turned down. It seems rather a shame after hearing this that with the promise of more attack minded players around him ,he might have been persuaded to stay?

I''d rather have his first 4 than our last 4 ?!?

I think you all maybe wrong on this?....when Fer comes back I can see Hughton playing him just behind Van Wolfswinkel. Johnson in my opinion is the first choice central mid.....its a straight fight between Howson and Tettey for the other.

Hughton said on radio Norfolk that Hooper had a knock on the side of the shin and was having an x-ray as a precaution, so all this talk of knee and ankle ligament damage is premature, which is good news......BUT.........even if he is fit ,I still dont see him and RVW as natural partners? I still dont think we''ve adressed the 2nd striker role proporly as Hoolahan will not get enough goals. I belive Fer will be of more use to us moving forward from a deeper role alongside Johnson. one bit of good news ,Hughton confirmed that Bassong will play in the U21 match on Monday at Colney, Bassong himself that he''s been training for a couple of weeks and sounds like he believes he''s ready to play v Everton..

One point?.....in the card instructions leaflet it says under the heading "non premiership matches" i.e cup games...purchase your normal seat and your card will be activted so that the machine gives you admission for the match. what happens if you buy a seat that isn''t your normal season ticket seat?.....what do you receive as proof of purchase or proof or which seat youre supposed to be sitting in?

Purely from a selfish point of view, as an away season ticket holder, and therefore working under the "3 strikes and you''re out" rule ,I''d rather it not be Newport County away on a Tuesday night requiring me to use one of them up on this?!

Surely we''ll play the side thats likely to start vs Everton?....as they are international friendlies in midweek and are taking place on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday I dont see that the various FA''s can dictate who can/can''t play the previous Saturday? It might however influence how many minutes Hughton gives players who are likely to play again on Wednesday. Martin/Whittaker and Snodgrass would probably all start for Scotland as they played in their last match where they won in Croatia. Who knows what Trappatoni will do with Hoolahan?.....not sure whether the likes of Ruddy,Tettey,Olsson and Redmond will feature for there international teams. Van Wolfswinkel is in the dutch sqaud too , on paper is 4th choice striker in their squad?

I''m delighted that the numbers of our military forces are being cut and would hope that one day what we''re esstentially left with is a "home guard". This is essentially what many other countries operate quite peacefully with, countries that often get accused of not sending troops into illegal wars that have nothing to do with them such as ourselves. We''d do well to remember that this country hasn''t been succesfully invaded since the Norman conquest 950 years ago and unless there is any direct eveidence that this country is under any threat from another then there is no reason whatsover to engage in any warfare......there is no eveidence to suggest that we were from either Iraq or Afganistan. attack only when attacked........and I''d literally want to see foreign boats landing on the shores of Dover before I believe that we are. as for free tickets for troops............put your hand in your own pockets just like anyone else in employment has to.

Second to Mark Bowen, Garrido is the best ''top flight'' left back we''ve had ,possibly in our history, so I wouldnt necessarily write him off just yet? I also believe that in certain games, particularly away, when we''re likely to have backs to the wall, ,i.eChelsea,Man City,Man Utd etc, that Hughton might just ''double up'' down the left, with Olsson playing LM & Garrido LB?

I think its quite interesting that every player we''ve let go over the past year or so are now playing back in the Championship and not with another Premier league side (exeption of Wilbraham!).  None of them ,with the possible exeption of Holt are what you would call past their peak age wise either. What it does display is how much we must have over acheived ,if not last season, certainly the season before with a squad of essentially Championship players??!  

[quote user="Crispy"]@GJL On paper 442 sounds like a grand idea ..... but Hoots can''t get that to work. Can only see it doing a job at Home Vs. a newly promoted or team out of form.[/quote] you say he can''t get it to work but the problem with the 2nd half in tonights game is that he didnt try it, instead when he brought RVW on he dropped a sharp looking Hooper back into the hole which totally nulified his game and he no longer was a threat. My point is , if we have them both on the pitch, lets just be bold about what we''re doing and play 2 out and out strikers with 2 wingers to get crosses into them. I''ve been watching NCFC fo 34 years now of which probably 28 of them featured us playing a 4-4-2.......this isn''t a new thing?..and I wonder whether the basics of this way of playing have been forgotten or whether coaches are overcomplicating the matter. Man United still adopt this system, and it still seems to work for them??

the point of a 4-4-1 / 4-5-1 , whichever we want to call it ,is that the player ''in the hole'' drops to act as an extra midfielder when required. If we''re playing Van Wolfswinkel and Hooper in the same side we should just call it 4-4-2 and be done with it as I just cant see either being comfortable in dropping back and playing that role. Anyway when did ''4-4-2'' become such a dirty phrase?!?...teams are still allowed to play it , what we need to ask ourselves is what is the right midfield to play behind it if/when we do?.....I think our best bet will be Snodgrass-Fer-Johnson-Pilkington......2 wide men who can track back and help out their full backs when necesarry, and probably our two physically strongest central midfielders to combat sides, who most of which may very well be outnumbering us in the midfield department. Fer will be absolutely key to any success with this as he appears to be a midfielder who can not only defend but break forward in support aswell...not something we have had in Johnson or Tettey or see enough of in Howson.

I think we may start the season like this.....                     Ruddy Martin  Turner   Bassong   Garrido                 Fer  Johnson Snodgrass    Hoolahan    Pilkington                  Van Wolfswinkel subs: Bunn,Whittaker,Bennett.R, Tettey,Howson,Redmond,Hooper   but I don''t think it''''l be too long into the season before Redmond replaces Pilkington, Olsson replaces Garrido and Fer eventually plays off RVW..... really not convinced yet that Hooper can play in the hole behind a striker, but will be happy to be proved wrong.....until then he''ll be understudy to RVW / sub off the bench to play as 2nd striker if we''re chasing a game.

[quote user="Pyro Pete"][quote user="GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary"] [quote user="Pyro Pete"]A decent signing for Wigan. He''s a solid Championship defender. Holt should enjoy those raking long balls over his head ;^) Ups the demand for another centre back over here though. [/quote] I wouldn''t be suite so sure as to the urgency of this?....I wouldn''t be surprised if Russell Martin is being lined up a centre half? [/quote] Sure. Martin has never let us down when he''s been asked to fill in at centre back, and like you I think he could be considered there as his first choice of position. But judging by comments Hughton made at the Man City game at the end of the season when Martin had to play there, along the lines of "you hope you get away with it", I got the impression Hughton doesn''t yet see him as a main choice centre back. I could be wrong, of course. As others mention, Ayala might be given a chance, as might Bennett. I still think (or hope) a quality new addition is more likely. [/quote] if anyone saw Martin''s mom performance for Scotland away at Croatia when playing at centre half, where he nulified Mandzukic , would think that he should be playing there all the time.....and has played in every pre season friendly there so far aswell, often ahead of both Bennett and Ayala

Surman and Barnett out of the door in the last couple of days............not many of the infamous "Luton 11" still at the club now !

[quote user="Pyro Pete"]A decent signing for Wigan. He''s a solid Championship defender. Holt should enjoy those raking long balls over his head ;^) Ups the demand for another centre back over here though. [/quote] I wouldn''t be suite so sure as to the urgency of this?....I wouldn''t be surprised if Russell Martin is being lined up a centre half?

ideally from here on in we''d be using these last 3 friendlys to hone our first XI.......but with potentially 5 first teamers seemingly struggling for fitness at the monent (Bassong,Turner,Olsson,Johnson,Pilkington) it looks like it might still be a way off?

Olsson''s non appearance once again must surely raise an eyebrow??. you can understand ,if he was slightly behind on fitness, to not be thrown in against USA sides halfway through their season, or against a Championship side who are 2/3 weeks ahead in preparation......but to not be featuring tonight agaisnt a non league team must surely mean there''s something awry here?....how unfit is he?!?

Best -Bayern Munich -away Worst - FA Cup Semi Final vs Sunderland......probably the last time I cried

now that it looks like we''ve got him, the question now is ,what do we do with him? For £5.5m, which makes him the 2nd  highest signing in our history, I can''t imagine he''s just come here to be RVW''s undersudy?, so the conundrum is how do we play them both in the same team? if we were to go a 442 to accomodate this, then Leroy Fer is going to be absoutely crucial to allow us to do this, as he looks to be the only midfielder we have that could cover the necessary ground to make up the lack of numbers in midfield against sides whom most of which will outnumber us by playing 433/451. the other way of course is to play 4411 with one of Hooper or RVW playing just behind the other.............not sure if either is suited to that role?

it would be pretty ludicrous to lose out to a Championship club for the sake of 500k. We clealy want the player, both back in January and still now. Get the deal done, get him over to the USA asap and integrate him with the squad.

[quote user="ellis206"]After all the pantwetting we had to endure towards the end of last season (Twitter people, check out the #Hughtonout hashtag, its hilarious) I wanted to see what peoples opinions are now. Just answer with a simple in or out. For me its   IN [/quote] "pantwetting"??............after losing at hom to Villa on the third from last game of the season ,following a run of 2 wins in 19, did you not think there was some justification for that? we were incredibly fortunate that the fixture list provided us with a WBA side that couldn''t have been more on the beach ,to roll over and and hnd us 3 pointsthe following week, as we could very easily be comtemplating a season in the Championship now. I''ve no issue with his signings, most of them last season were a success, and on paper those that he has made this season look good. my issue is how he sets his teams up.....with a full summer and the biggest transfer kitty any NCFC manager has ever had, lets see how he starts the season shall we?

[quote user="Splendid Rush"]I remember as a kid watching Real Sociedad play at Carrow Road and being really excited as it was the first foreign club I''d ever seen. I''m sure it was a testimonial for someone anyone remember who?[/quote] I''ll take a ''stab'' at Peter Mendham?.......

going back to the OP if we may......when you look at those 2 Villa teams (particularly minus Benteke) ...it looks a very weak squad of 22? I would fully expect Villa to be fighting relegation for the 3rd season in a row.

I''d admit that there probably is a point where this could happen.........but I don''t think we''re there just yet....we have afterall only really signed 4 players. I do still think though that having Holt around for another year would have helped smoothed any integration.