KidCanary

With regards to you not believing Safri is good enough Freddy, I dont really think anyone can make that assumption yet as he hasnt had enough time on the pitch. I also think the whole ''he''s a reckless player is a bit of a myth'', hes not got match sharpness, through lack of games, and the challenges I have seem him booked for having been through the occassional late (not dangerously so) or mis timed tackle, which I would attribute more to this.  Its purely because he plays a more central defensive role that this is highlighted more.

Well Freddy, I was not surprised but saddened to see Safri not only not make the team but the bench. I dont know if he is injured or still recovering from Ramadan? We definitely needed his steel in the first half. First half: Centre Midfield was completely non existant, Holt was guilty of giving the ball away alot and wasnt even doing what he does well harry/tackle players.  Mulryne was reduced to type of a few seasons ago of picking the ball up deep, facing our goal and playing passes back or to the side.  They both dropped so deep it got to the point of wandering where the defence stopped and the midfield began.  This resulted in a lot of balls into the box (was obviously B''s game plan) which Heskey was winning left right and centre and also resulted in the goal. Second half: Holt made his one and only contribution to the game, a fine tackly just before being subbed, to be honest I was suprised to see him emerge at the break.  Helveg harried, chased down players and despite being quite short won quite a bit in the air.  Team over all: Green 7/10 - Personally felt he could of done better with the goal (although they should of been able to either a. get the cross in or b. eddy completely caught out at the far post again), I felt he could of tipped it over rather than palming it back into the centre of the goal as he got to it quite comfortably, it was only for the fact I think he thought it was going to go over and it was to late before he had realised.  Excellent stop from Morrison later on though and came out well on a couple of occasions. Drury 6/10 - Had a bit of a mare first half (by his own standards, as did both our fulbacks), was moving out to their winger to late and never really seemed to communicate well with Brennan.  Was alot more composed and got forward well in the second. Fleming 7/10 - Forced deeper and deeper by the midfield, good on the floor though. Charlton 7/10 - Same as above. Edworthy 3/10 - How this guy keeps his place in the team each week I really do not know.  First half continously caught out of position, very slow moving out to the winger, left Bentley with 2 on 1 quite frequently as he dithered between moving towards their centre forward who was already covered and the winger, which resulted in him being caught in no man lands continously.  Outjumped for the goal, didnt put Heskey under any real pressure.  Also Dunn got past him far to easily on several occasions.  With a central defence lacking in height we really can not afford the luxury of this player?!?  Improved a little midway through the second half, but I have to put that more down to the fact that the defence were under alot less pressure second half. Brennan 6/10 - So so first half, didnt really link up with drury well.  Second half played one or two decent balls through to hux, only made way for a tactical swap. Holt 2/10 - Mentioned in the above, didnt tackle, didnt chase, very poor passing even when not under pressure, playing the ball behind people alot.  Should not make the squad next game but will due to injuries. Mulryne 7/10 - Did his best to make up for holts lapses in the first half, but had a really strong second half, won the ball well, held it up well and had good distribution. Bentley - Did his best in spite Eddy''s lapses in the first half, defended well and good intelligent use of the ball in the second, was nice to see him have a bit of a run at them to. Huckerby - Quiet first half due to not much service, should of put away his chance.  Excellent runs again from deep once switched to the left (Zipper, cant honestly still think he should be upfront, completely on his own again), took his goal well, seems to do better shooting wise when he doenst have to much time to think about it. Svennson 8/10 - My man of the match, ran into the ground

A bitter blow to lose a talented player for up to 8 weeks and deprive a settle side of continouing where they left off on Saturday.. But... Please give Safri his chance now as the holding midfield and utilise mulryne as the late running into the box. That gives us two players who can put a decent pass together in teh centre of the park, one who is probably strong defensively (Safri) and the other who is proably stronger going forward (mulryne, alot of late runs/headers in the box for NI). I really feel this could work and seeing as Holt was dropped completely last week I feel it would be unfair not to give Safri his first proper chance!

Whilst having a browse of the transfers this month I see Zema has gone to Bradford on  a free....

I think bringing Brennan on the left is a fair idea,  at times like people have noted Hux can be a defensive liability.  I think the best thing if you really wanted to keep Hux in midfield but where defensively it doesnt cost us would be to play him as an advanced central midfielder behind a single striker much like Scholes/Nistleroy. Problem is who do you then choose as the lone striker, Leon would be my first choice I feel, but if you have brennan/jonson or bentley pinging more crosses in Svensson is bloody good in the air. So to recap I would like so see this as our formation away from home:                                Green Helveg/Edddy      Charlton      Fleming          Drury Jonson/bentley    Francis      Mulryne/Safri    Brennan                                       Huckerby                  Svensson/Leon You then negate huckerbys defensive issues, get more crosses from the wings and are more sound defensively on the wings, you still have huckerbys penetrating runs from midfield you also lose the problem of him having no support when he gets forward as you have the lone striker.  

(a) bring in Scott Parker from Chelsea on loan Could have his pick of teams in the top 10, but believe he is concentrating on fighting for his place at chelsea, so I would say definitely no. (b) swap Arsenal''s Jermaine Pennant for David Bentley I think this could be likely, but not a swap, just a straight move for JP, I really like the idea of him on the right and huckerby on the left, its been a while since we have had a good attacking winger on both flanks at Norwich (O''Neil and Eadie for a while I spose, when either werent injured!) (c) buy Dean Ashton from Crewe for 750,000 pounds Would love to buy him, but would be a min of 3 mill and I dont think Worth would risk that on a slightly unknown quantity, which is fair enough. (d) buy (?) a tall central defender (probably Robert Huth from Chelsea) Again your Villas/Newcastles tracking him, wouldnt drop down to our level.  A feasible alternative to him of course would be Dawson at Notts Forest.  I think you could pick him up for 1 mill, seeing has he has had quite a few injuries and so been out of the limelight for a while, would be a good bit of business.

Zipper I agree with Hux pulling people out of position but I feel this is more effective when he plays on the left. By playing in there hes in that grey area at times where either the central midfielder or central defender have to decide who is going to double up on him, this always leaves a space which Francis has been benefiting from. But like I have already said, I think people are starting to realise our midfield is more than a one trick pony so on saturday I wouldnt be surprised to see alot more of Huckerby as teams start to be more aware of Francis. Another reason I prefer him from midfield is because of his pace, he rarely has support along side when he plays up front and his natural instinct is to pull out wide to look for the assist.  Besides being in midfield he sees more of the ball to run at people with, which with his ability is only a good thing.

Have been reading/lurking for quite a while and thought I would drop my opinion on a few things: Current Team: On the Whole I agree with Worthy''s selection, my personal choice would be:                                           Green        Helveg*         Fleming                  Charlton             Drury        Jonson           Francis                  **                      Huckerby                            Mckensie              Svensson *Edworthy on his day can be stirling, but for me he gets caught out of position to much and for some one who isnt gifted with buckets of pace, becomes even more noticable.  Helveg I have seen play against Real Mallorca and Man Utd, now he looked comfortable on the ball, decent tackle, good pace of 5-10yrds, only blott then was his mistake that lead to the first Man Utd Goal, but I think he should be give a run of games at right back.  ** Mulryne would be my first choice here if he could be consistant, if he plays well over a sustained period and doesnt switch off during games then im all for him commanding this position on a regular basis, but from past experience I will be surprised if this happens.  Possibly being in the prem may give him more incentive than before and he will prove me wrong, I hope so.  That being said I would like to see Safri giving a bit of a run, people have mentioned hes a bit to hot headed, well it may appear so but I can guarrantee this is more likely him not having match practice and so not being up to speed and catching people a little late.  Give him games and this will correct itself, to me he looks like he could be very sound defensively and has a very good pass on him.  A little food for thought also, I had considered Bentley in this position, at first I would of presumed him to light weight for a defensive role but when I have seen him put himself about he does quite well and again another good passer of the ball. With regards to moving Huckerby off the left, personally feel thats a bad idea.  At the moment majority of teams feel he is our only threat and have been double marking, this has given Francis the space to come forward as either central defender/midfielder have move across, which we have all seen the benefit of.  Now interestingly, Francis is the name on all the lips at the moment, so I have suspicion you will start to see a little more of Huckerby as teams realise they cant afford to lose a man in the centre. On our formation as a whole, I would like to see us start playing 5 in midfield away from home, with the 5th midfield in an advanced position just behind a lone striker (Svensson or Leon, both proving they can hold the ball up well).  We do have a fair few midfielders compared to strikers and I think this would make us more solid. Having said the above, unless tactical, I dont think Worthy should change the team from last weekend as it doesnt send out the right message, and I dont think he will either. On Worthy: Still learning at times