Howson is now!

That's an interesting one Pete because as it stands, it looks like it's only Tettey, Krul, Vrancic, and Stiepermann that currently expire at the end of next season. I personally would be happy with renegotiating an extra year on two of those as it stands. However, I think the bigger gamble lies in the fact that Pukki, Hernandez, Zimmerman all expire the next year. Do you gamble on thinking they can do the business and get an extension in now (also reward for promotion if/when it happens), or they show they can cut it and it becomes much more expensive to negotiate extensions?

Has anybody else listened to this Podcast? It''s fantastic! I listened to the first one last year, they''ve only done 7 so far but this week''s guest was Gunny and it''s just brilliant and really interesting to get insight into the world of Norwich. If any of the presenters are members on here then 10 out of 10 boys. Really enjoyed Gunn this week and hilarious to hear that Angus got scared of the wind and was calling for his Dad in the night. Hahaha. Strongly recommend any Norwich fans that love their podcasts to search for Along Come Norwich on whatever you use to listen to Podcasts. If you need any fan guests of someone that knows bugger all, give me a shout 😀

GK - Fraser Forster RB - Ian Culverhouse CB - Malky Mackay CB - Ian Butterworth LB - Adam Drury RM - Ruel Fox CM - Ian Crook CM - Jonny Howson LM - Darren Eadie ST - Grant Holt ST - Chris Sutton

[quote user="Baldyboy"]Were you there Lakey? I was and the problem is clearly the slow build up, the opposition get the ball forward so much quicker! It’s the same every home game, we have concentrated on sorting out the defence but now we need to sort out the attack, we are set up to counter attack which away from home is fine but at home it’s not, it doesn’t help either when Farke changes the attacking three behind Jerome every game[/quote] That''s not the point he made though Baldy. He made the point that our first couple of attacks against Derby were very quick and then we weren''t able to replicate that. Which is what happened on Saturday. Those first 5 - 10 minutes were brilliant. The rest not so much and the issue behind that as someone pointed out is it''s incredibly difficult to either maintain that level of attack, or be able to switch incredibly quickly from our possession play to direct attack without better players.

You''re absolutely right GJP that there are a lot of players at the age of 22 who are much better/ more developed than both Murphys. The issue I have is that these players are not the norm. I often liken the Murphys to Redmond in that I actually felt that we as a club stunted Nathan Redmond''s development by expecting too much from him. Our style of play also didn''t compliment his development. I remember saying at the time that we didn''t have the time, or quality of players around him to allow him to develop his skills and that if he went to a mid table Prem team I thought he would thrive. Look at his record already? He''s scored almost the same amount of goals, (11 for us and 7 for Southampton) in almost a third of the appearances. He is not expected to win games by himself as he''s not the best player in the team, and he is able to get things wrong as he has the quality around him. I fear that if we continue to lean too heavily on a player who isn''t as developed as others his age, we''re going to see the same thing again. Too high expectations on someone who is still learning their trade and we''ll damage them. I just think he needs some guidance to enable his own realisation that it''s not down to him, and he needs to contribute to the team overall. The rest will come with experience.

[quote user="GJP"]He''s 22 and he''ll be 23 before this season is out. He ain''t a kid.[/quote] Yeah, I made all my best decisions when I was 22, never got any of them wrong, never made any mistakes, and was fully competent at my job! You don''t need to be awkward just for the sake of it. The inference is a lack of experience and a lot of development to happen, not that he''s 8 years old.

[quote user="Jim Smith"] I wonder if he will play Wes for the home game tomorrow and save Maddison for Boro away next week where we may need the extra running and energy.[/quote] Hard to argue with that rationale.

"The concern before the season was about having enough recognised forwards. We need goals. But do we ? If we don''t concede at one end then we need hust the one goal to achieve the 3 points. Not saying this is the approach to take, but to keep the opposition out it does require a fair bit of counter acting them, rather than simply playing the ''best'' 11 available." I think you''ve probably hit the nail on the head of what this season is going to be. We can''t afford the Gung Ho "we''re going to score more than you" approach as we just don''t have the components to do that effectively. What we do have is a defensive 7 (including Keeper)that are getting better and stronger by the game who are looking to keep the ball, dictate play, and penetrate when best suited. This leaves us with 4 potential game changers in (usually) Oliviera, Murphy, Maddison, A.N. Other, to hopefully contribute enough goals to take the points. Vrancic is a conundrum for me at the moment LDC as whilst he had a very good game recently, it was all too recently that many were complaining about how little he offered. I think he''s working his way into the team and as you say, it''s a good issue to have considering how doom and gloom everything was a few weeks ago.

The biggest problem with this is we''re not willing to embrace technology fully yet as a sport. As it stands you''re not allowed to show any replays that may be contentious. Can''t remember whether it''s because they fear it will incite the 80s Hooligans in the crowd, or the fact that it could undermine our otherwise infallible referees when it highlights how wrong they are a lot of the time. So whilst it could be used for live football, we''re not really far enough away from the action to not be able to see so it will continue to be used for advertising. Until we get to a position where decisions are confirmed or changed by video replays, it will only ever be used for goal replays. Would love it to show the crowd when a decision was incorrect exactly like they do on TV but heavens forbid they rile up the crowd.

Where do you draw the line on advertising though? Can''t advertise gambling companies because it''s bad. Can''t advertise cigarette companies because they''re bad. You can advertise alcohol companies though, despite it quite probably being the cause (I''m not a statistician so making a sweeping statement here) of more deaths, more domestic violence, more violent behaviour, and more crime overall than the others put together. But don''t put it on the kiddies shirts because it might promote them to drink. I can''t help but feel it''s a futile exercise to try and tell people what they can and can''t advertise in an attempt to try and tell people what they can and can''t buy or do with their lives. If you want to try and protect people, focus your attentions on supporting those with issues, and making it much more accessible to get help, not trying to stop companies advertising their poisons. There are millions of people that gamble and it''s not an issue, there are millions of people that can have a drink without becoming addicted. Having a LeoVegas sponsor hasn''t made me gamble any more, I haven''t opened an account, I just don''t like it because the logo looks like a child''s design. I don''t see why anybody should be able to tell a football club what they can and can''t be sponsored by when you can have billboards for anything. I''d love to go back to a time where you didn''t have a shirt sponsor but that''s never going to happen. If they let people have sponsors, who are they to dictate what they want to sponsor?

Yeah, FarkeLife was simply: "All the Germans, so many Germans, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through their Farkelife... FARKELIFE!" One I heard that was hilarious but probably won''t catch on was to the tune of Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine: "Our love is for James Maddison! James Maddison''s what we need! Check it out we''ve got James Maddison! Scores the goals that Norwich need!"

Hahaha. I wish my surname started with a YouTube. I''d be rich. Starts with a simple Y.

My surname starts with a YouTube and had mine two weeks now so definitely call the club. Gutted cos the new ones look cr@p

Aviva will still be the shirt sponsor next year.

There were "ironic cheers" quite a few times when Ruddy kicked and it stayed in, cleared three men etc. I know they''re professionals and their paid handsomely, but how is that actually going to help someone who is having a poor game? (I actually don''t think overall he had a poor game, just his kicking)

*angle. Not quite sure Cech had an angel out there yesterday :)

I think the key thing that was quite apparent (well I thought it was anyway) was that Grabban wasn''t expected to close the defenders down and leave a stupidly large gap behind him for one of the most skillful midfields in Europe to tear us apart. Grabban''s role was to block off the angel to Cech''s left (as he''s a lot taller than Hoolahan) so that Cech would feel he had only half the pitch to aim at and with Hoolahan pressing the players forcing them to play it longer than they would have liked. His movement off the ball was good and he showed some good awareness yesterday. People always clamor for "more running" but I actually agrred (it''s very rare I know) with Rob Butler last night of "do you really think if a player was lazy, they would get their chances in the premier league?"

[quote user="CanaryOne"]Martin does not want to play right back , he has said time and time again he needs to be playing in the middle thats what Strachan wants . Move him to right back and he would probably sulk as much as Grabban , Agree with firststeps he best position is not starting at all .[/quote] Whilst I''m not Martin''s biggest fan at CB, what gives you any inclination that he''s anything but a consummate professional? To imply that he would sulk does our captain a disservice. I may question his ability as a centre back at the highest level of English football, but I think it''s unfair to question his commitment to this club.

I think the cover does stretch across positions but we absolutely need at least one more in. Wisdom spent all of his youth, and his international career at 16s, 17s, 19s, and 21s at centre back. It wasn''t until he broke into the Liverpool first team that he started playing there. Factor this in with the fact we have a defender playing centre back who played the majority of his career at right back, and I would have hoped the sensible choice with Whittaker out is that Wisdom comes into CB, Martin out to RB and Whittaker has to earn his place back. However, these are two players that have been used at their "unnatural" positions for over a few years so would expect Wisdom to just slot in at RB. I would assume that the boards thinking would be along the lines of Left back is happy to be: Martin Olsson, Robbie Brady, and Harry Toffolo (in that order) Centre Backs will be: Russell Martin, Seb Bassong, New signing, Ryan Bennett, and Andre Wisdom (in that order give or take with RB&AW) Right Back will be: Steven Whittaker, Andre Wisdom, and Russell Martin (in that order) So the actual numbers of people I think are fine, it''s the quality they can offer in each position that is the question mark. We can argue the merits and failings of the Centre Backs but I do have genuine concerns that who are they going to drop? Bassong who is clearly the better centre back but is prone to lack of judgement/complacancy, or Russell Martin who is club captain and offers loads to the club and players around him? Unfortunately I would put my money on Bassong, but surely in the best interests of the club''s survival it would be Olsson, Bassong, New Signing, R. Martin

I saw on Twitter someone say they were tearing up The Murderers. Any truth in that?

... in the Waterside Cafe out at Broadland. Immediately started scanning the car park to see if there were any other flash cars but nothing stood out. Maybe he was meeting with an agent? Maybe he was just out here because Aviva have buildings out here (not sure if their sponsorship team is out here)? Or maybe TC was right and they really are checking out building a stadium out here? Hahaha. Anyway, I wish it was more exciting and I did see Charlie Austin supping on a cup of green tea, but alas... just McNally. Hope you enjoyed the boring news :D

[quote user="kick it off"]Let''s hope that we get a new sponsor who is willing to have their logo integrated into the kit designs instead of ruining them.[/quote] Yeeeeeeaaahhhhhhhh! How dare they give us absolutely millions and expect to do things their way! Unfortunately if you want corporate sponsorship, expect corporate behaviour. They pay to advertise their brand.

Love how everyone jumps on the scapegoat word. It''s the new Binner/Plastic that people throw out if they disagree. In answer to the original question, if you take it out of context of specifically Grabban, can a player at the age of 27 improve on what for a lot of quality strikers is natural talent/instinct? You could argue both ways but my opinion is that he will have a level of natural ability that you can improve with training and experience. Historically Grabban has not played at this level but if you consistently play against better players, your game will improve. However, I do think that it would be your overall game that would improve. Learning the runs you make to beat better players, learning the passes to make to beat better players, where to put your shots to beat better keepers. These are all things that I feel you can absolutely improve through training and playing against a better level of opponent but there will always be a roof to someone''s ability. The natural gift of talent will potentially mean that Grabban may always need more attempts on goal than others. The big issue here is that we don''t necessarily have the time/capability to afford this to Grabban. I said a similar thing of Redmond in that I feared at some point we would have to weigh up the pros and cons of giving players time to improve against the fact we''ll possibly be fighting for survival each season to begin with. Thankfully Redmond has increased his trajectory quite rapidly and long may it continue. Binner/Plastic/Scapegoat Howsonisnow

How on Earth anyone can rate Grabban is beyond me. How he started today is beyond me. Here''s two golden opportunities to score... Shanked! Waste of space!

The Rose have said they''re hoping to be showing it. I think with it being the first game quite a few will be gambling that they''re able to get a feed. I know Ketts Kev always tries but not sure if he''ll have it this season. Tends to depend on how tough the regultors are being. I know the Wig got quite a hefty fine which is why they stopped and why The Jubilee stopped as well.