GJP

Norwich really aren''t a million miles away, there''s far too much panic. Too many drama queens making it seem worse than it is. Thanks to Earnie''s injury we need to bring a new striker in but other than that the only area that needs real work is the defence. Colin and Shackell aren''t good enough and the Doc has lost the confidence and form he had shown. The midfield is looking pretty good although I don''t think Hucks looks the same player under Grant as he did under Worthy. Croft is probably trying a bit too hard at the minute but it''ll come for him. Safri is obviously quality, we all know that. Dickson isn''t doing anywhere near as bad as some seem to think but he is definitely a confidence player and he''s got a lot more ability than he sometimes shows. If we sign another striker now that''ll give us Earnie, Brown, Dion and whoever we sign as proper striker options. That''s not too bad. Then it also gives us the option to drop Dion into centreback. If we signed a couple of defenders and another striker then we''d have a good first 11 and a pretty strong bench to go with it. We aren''t that far away at all...just need a couple more players to come in and we''ll turn the corner.

There''s maybe only a couple of lads at the club who qualify as ''promising''. The reason Jarvis and Henderson haven''t got anywhere is because of a lack of ability, not a lack of opportunity. Just giving people games isn''t going to turn them into footballers. Norwich are short of quality youngsters. A lot of fans seem to love Shackell because he''s a youth product that has made it into the first team. But if Norwich were really going anywhere then he wouldn''t be in the lineup. When he hoofs the ball clear in a no nonsense kind of way everyone thinks he''s done something great but at the Plymouth game (as an example) did anybody notice when he lost headers to Kevin Gallen who''s a few inches shorter than him or when he stood off Barry Hayles so much he could get the ball down and play it everytime? I don''t understand why people think our youth players have got so much to offer us because just by watching the odd reserve game or what not it should be fairly clear to see that we''ve not got much to get excited about. Filling the team with young players will only help Norwich fall further down the table.

I''m not really sure of the team we should play on Saturday as I''ve not been keeping tabs on who''s fit etc. Personally I''m not really a fan of playing the youngsters as most of them are miles off the standard we need. People often suggest that young players who don''t often get a chance will work really hard for the team etc but look at Ryan Jarvis...he''s usually fairly lazy when he gets a game. Chris Martin looks like he''s got a bit of ability but he''s nowhere near this level yet and most of the others fall way short. It looks like we need 2 new centrebacks to go with our new goalkeeper. Doherty has lost the form and confidence he showed towards the end of the Worthington era and Jason Shackell just isn''t good enough. Lots of people have been very quick to put the blame on the the Doc, but Shacks is a weak centreback. I remember when we had Davenport on loan, the City staff thought they were better off with Shackell over him. But Davenport has played for Spurs and he''s now gone to West Ham. Is Shacks ever going to play for a big club like that? No chance. Also Jurgen Colin...intelligent on the ball, very tidy with the ball at his feet. He''s not the strongest defender ever though and his crossing is awful. In conclusion we need more strength at the back and obviously now another striker to come in. At least 2 new defenders and a new striker and Norwich will start to have a pretty tasty squad.