LeJuge

[quote user="jed exodous"]Great win tonight and Lambo got the tactics pretty much spot on again.  However,, was there any need to go 442 with 15 minutes left at 2-0 up?  I was slightly surprised at that move.  We got away with it tonight, just, but i think he needs to consider when a sub really needs to be made.  Morrison looked fine, though Pilks didn''t have too much influence tonight, and Crofts was a straight swap.  Shame to see Vaughan hobble off, he dont have much luck really does he...[/quote]I thought that Pilkington was quality to be honest. Vaughan has been injury prone for 6 years, I was criticised for people on here when I said that I doubt he would manage 20 games a year, slated in fact. It''s not the end of the season yet, but so far I am well on course to be right about that. Unfortunately I think that Lambert has bought a crock. He really should have played that ball to Holt too, I thought that was selfish.

[quote user="TheJarrold"][quote user="lincoln canary"]Im sorry but I''ve got to say how dissapointed i am in Morison. He looks slow lazy and for a big guy remarkably lightweight. I hope Lambert restores Holty to tomorrows line up. Any one else agree he looks like a flop in the making??[/quote] Regretting this post now I bet! [/quote]I doubt it, he hasn''t shown any signs of remorse or regret at the other dozens of overly negative ill-informed nonsense that he has shared on here, he will lick his wounds for two weeks and then come back with another crap thread just like this when he picks his next victim of unwarranted and unfair criticism.

[quote user="NWC"]I have to agree with lincoln. I was never quite sure of this signing anyway - I wasn''t sure if he would give the team anything different. I didn''t like the fact that he came here with the whol;e "i just wanna play in the prem" rather than the "I wanna play for NCFC or Lambert". He was good against Wigan, but that was mainly due to most others being poor. His work rate isn''t that good - I don''t think he closes defenders down with any real conviction - he just seems to be going through the motions. More importantly he hasn''t scored, and he has missed a couple of sitters. Don''t get me wrong - I want him to get better and score for us, but does he?[/quote]After creating the Hoolahan goal against Wigan that earnt us a point, setting up the Pilkington goal against Bolton, and scoring the decider today, it''s time to admit that you, sir, are an idiot. "I want him to get better and score for us, but does he?" - What a cretinous, scummy, pathetic, and weak comment. Disgusting accusation, call yourself a City fan, pah. Who needs fans like you.

[quote user="lincoln canary"]Im sorry but I''ve got to say how dissapointed i am in Morison. He looks slow lazy and for a big guy remarkably lightweight. I hope Lambert restores Holty to tomorrows line up. Any one else agree he looks like a flop in the making??[/quote]Shove that in your pipe and smoke it lincoln. Won''t be long until we have a negative thread from you which criticises the club or the players though, you never have anything good to say.

[quote user="Better Wizard"]....... can i be the one that said told you so? please :)[/quote]Be my guest, none of them had the bottle to come on to this thread after slagging him off on the other one. I don''t expect to see any of them on here tonight either.

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]I think Morison has been asked to play a strict role that allows others to get into the game. He did this for Wales too and as some posts have only served to confirm - it is a thankless task.[/quote]Steve Morison has had twice as many shots in 2 starts and 2 sub appearances as Holt has had in 3 starts and 1 sub appearance. I''ve got no worry about him scoring goals. That video link shows precisely why he will get the chances needed to score goals, and once one goal comes it won''t be long until more come with it.

Love the way that none of the people willing to slag Steve Morison off are willing to watch a 3 minute video which shows him showing stealth and intelligience to get into the same position, with no marker whatsoever, in the same game.Morison completely did a job on his marker against Bolton, he will score goals if he keeps on doing that.

[quote user="Harry"]My point was fearing for his life until he was told his neck wasn''t broken was OTT, I wasn''t criticising Drogba and as I said in my post I can understand him being scared see what part do you have problem with?[/quote]I can''t see any quote from Drogba which says that he was "fearing for his life until he was told his next wasn''t broken", can you see one? Have you read one? The exact quotes that I can see are:"Not playing was frustrating, but I was lucky I was still alive and I knew it was only a question of time and I''d play football again." - The Daily Mail"The most important thing is I''m alive." - The Sun"When I see those images again it''s scary. I was lucky, definitely". - The Sun"When I woke up in the ambulance I was scared because I didn''t know what I was doing there". - ESPN"When I saw the images I really understood why my parents, my family and close friends were very worried because it''s not something you see every weekend". - ESPNNow to me, that says that he saw the replay and realised how bad it could have been. That''s what I have a problem with, your making things up. The only thing OTT about this thread is people like you exaggerating things that Drogba has said, or worse even still, making them up. Now do a search for the following phrases on Google News:Drogba Broken NeckDrogba Neck BrokenNothing, zilch, the quote doesn''t exist. That is what I have a problem with. He has seen the video, the first time he could see what had happened, and realised how serious it could have been. He hasn''t said that he was worried about his life, he has said that he is lucky to be alive. But by all means play the game of Chinese whispers, I just find it pretty bloody sad and pathetic that you can''t read the articles properly. Drogba also perferated his ear drum. Have you ever perferated your ear drum? It can leave you seriously off balance, and can cause a long term or permanent problem. You probably didn''t know that, in fact definitely don''t, because you haven''t read the articles. You can''t join the police force if you have ever perforated your ear drum, because it is a permanent injury even when it heals up or is repaired.

[quote user="Salopian"]He is certainly disappointing at the moment, rarely having an attempt actually on goal. He has the qualitites of Holt, - willingness to run all day, and take on big CDs, but Morison is noticeably quicker, if not with lightning pace. What he seems to lack, especially with that actual control and turn at Bolton which left experienced defenders lost, is finesse - to finish cooly and well. Whether he will develop and acquire greater accuracy, I have no idea, but if I had to put my faith in any one it would be Vaughan or Martin C, who have both managed to get on target. Vaughn''s injury record may defeat him, however.[/quote]Steve Morison         11 shots (3 on target)Grant Holt                5 shots (2 on target)James Vaughan         1 shot (0 on target)Simeon Jackson       4 shots (1 on target)No stats available for Chris Martin, but the one decent chance that I can remember him having was straight at the keeper after he hesistated. It''s interesting that you, like most other people, continue to forget about Simeon Jackson. He was one of the most deadly strikers in the Championship last year in terms of number of shots required per goal, he needed about 4 chances to score. Why do people write off Simeon Jackson? He came off the bench to score in a World Cup qualifier not long ago, did you see the goal? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgHHs6pFjuM

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="LeJuge"] I think everybody on here knows that I have too much to say about some of my own opinions, but even I am miffed by how anybody can have such strong opinions on a player after 2 starts and 2 sub appearances. I''m undecided, but I''m prepared to wait a fair bit longer for any player to make such a jump, including some of those who were already at the club. We have paid a fair bit of money for Morison, but that''s the strikers premium. I don''t think that I will ever consider him a waste of money even if he doesn''t ''make it'' in this league, because he has done enough in the league below to recoup at least £1m if we stay up, and if we go down this year then having Holt and Morison at the club is effectively like holding a return ticket to the Premiership.I can''t say that my very early ''opinion'' - if I even have one - includes the words ''lazy'' or ''lightweight'' though. If he doesn''t turn out any better than Grant Holt then that''s not testimony to any lack of ability on behalf of Morison, but more testimony to how important Holt is to our team. Morison has looked far from lazy, and for me he was one of the shining lights against Wigan. None of our strikers have nailed their place yet, we also have Jackson to throw into the mix at some stage. I expect that by Christmas we will have two strikers who sit at #1 and #2 in the pecking order, and that those strikers will be any two out of Morison, Holt, Vaughan, Martin and Jackson. The first two will need to up their game, Vaughan will need to stay fit, Martin will need to find his shooting boots, and Jackson will need to take his chance when he gets it. We don''t need all 5 to hit top form, I''m pretty confident that at least 2 or 3 will, that doesnt take anything away from the other 2 or 3, because this is a squad game and not a team game with Lambert. If one player is sitting on the bench all season, then it means a player on the pitch is keeping him out of the team. At this stage, and I''m sure many people will agree with me here, we don''t have a striker who has made himself indispensible at this level like Holt did in the level down. [/quote] True enough, although it is still early. We haven''t actually scored a proper goal in open play yet, as opposed to those handed to us by goalkeeping errors. Perhaps that will change tonight. My suspicion is that Lambert earmarked Vaughan as the nearest thing he has to a pure goalscorer. Holt and Morison being to a greater or lesser extent target men. And Vaughan has only played around 35 league minutes so far. Him staying fit would be handy. [/quote]If Vaughan stays fit I think he will score goals, and I suspect his perfect strike partner would be either one of Holt or Morison. That said though, I''m not ruling out Simeon Jackson. If our strikers struggle for goals, and he takes his chance and shows that he knows where the goal is again, he could end up being important for us again this year. In terms of goals, the only one that I have my doubts about is Chris Martin, but I think that is a confidence thing which can only really be fixed by letting him go out on loan somewhere to score some goals. It''s been a long time since he found the net, we know that he can do it, his all round game is fantastic - just looked reluctant to have a pop in his two starts this year.

[quote user="Salopian"]He is still fairly young, and prone to make expensive mistakes, like Barnett - our two quickest and potentially best central defenders. I think that De Laet will learn, and what he really needs is a more experienced central defender with him, to keep him concentrating. (I wonder if Martin could fullfil that role - he was fairly vocal, like a senior pro, at Bolton? I am sorry that De Laet is not a permanent signing, because in a year or two he will be a very good player, I think.[/quote]Don''t want to see De Laet and Martin at centre back together to be honest, what with Martin being extremely inexperienced in that position himself. I think that we just have to hope that Whitbread can quickly get back to full fitness and gives a good account of himself.

[quote user="Muddy funster"]Or Tealed??? Actually  he is going to be a top class player.  In my opinion, Barnett has made just as many errors as De Laet.  All Ritchies have been punished however.  I really am unsure about Barnett - I think I must be the only one on here though.  He had some questionable games last season, and I actually think it was a well timed blessing in disguise when he got injured.  He''s not terrible - just not that good.  His choice of when to tackle and when to stand people up seems to be awry and he is a canny strikers dream in my opinion. [/quote]Barnett is fantastic in the air however, possibly the best in the air out of our bunch. At current we have no choice but to play Barnett in my opinion, with Whitbread and Ward out injured, I wouldn''t want to see a partnership of Martin and De Laet..... against teams who themselves are good in the air. Barnett seems to win every header that he goes for, that''s an important asset, and probably the reason that Shackell ended up playing for us in the last Premiership season after Malky left. Whitbread is probably the next best thing that we have in that respect, I''m looking forward to seeing him get a chance, shouldn''t be long. I don''t think Barnett is anything special either really, if we stay up this year then I would love to see a top class centre back like a Woodgate or a Ridgewell. In fact if Birmingham aren''t anywhere near the top 6 in January, then that is precisely who I would like to see at the club, Liam Ridgewell..... more than I want to see De Laet.

[quote user="Scottlarock"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="Scottlarock"]is it..........elated? Love word games.[/quote]I knew that somebody would come up with a smart ass answer taking that precise form when using the word ''conundrum''. 1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun2a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answerb : an intricate and difficult problemMy use of the word falls within ''b'', this is a difficult and intricate problem. Of course, the correct answer is: The Irishman. [/quote] ...didn''t mean to upset you mate, only having a light tongue in cheek post. It''s not a literary criticism , personal attack or vehicle to belittle you. All the same, thank you for the information, very kind.[/quote]I neither felt upset, criticised, attacked, or belittled...... just knew that there would be a countdown fan ready to pounce, I had the definition pre-prepared :P

[quote user="Harry"]"I guess when he was later told he didn''t have a broken neck that he stopped fearing for his life" I can understand him being scared about the possibility that his neck is broken but fearing for his life is a bit OTT, it would greatly affect his lifestyle but he wouldn''t die from it.[/quote]You don''t just wake up from unconsciousness feeling completely normal like nothing had happened, he would have woken up completely disorientated and confused, come on get a grip.He woke up in an ambulance not knowing where he was, in his football kit, attached to oxygen, with paramedics looking over him. They were able to tell him that he had a broken neck, but I can assure you that they wouldn''t have been able to confirm that he wasn''t seriously injured until a CAT scan was performed. Have you ever been knocked flat out cold? If your saying that it wouldn''t have well and truly freaked you out then you are a downright liar. To wake up with no memory in an ambulance attached to oxygen would freak anybody out, whether you are a giant muscle man like Drogba or a dainty fairy like Alan Carr.

I really can''t understand the Morison critics, he looks like a team player who works hard, and as with most Lambert signings they get better as they mature. Russell Martin for example went from pretty good League One right back who was a welcome relief from that headless chicken Otsemober to the best championship right back last year (in my opinion).Morison played a key role in the Hoolahan goal against Wigan to win us a point, even if it wasn''t the perfect cross and the actual assist goes to the flapping keeper, he still squared it to Hoolahan, and Hoolahan still got on the end of it somehow. Then against Bolton our first goal was a result of Morisons quick reaction in a postion where he could have gone for goal himself. Barnett headed the ball out wide, where stood an unmarked Morison, who played the simple ball to Pilkington to tap it in. Watch the highlights of the Bolton game, http://theoriginalwinger.com/2011-09-17-epl-highlights-bolton-wanderers-v-norwich-cityLook at Morison for the first goal. Then, look at the second goal, a set piece from the same side. Watch Morison at the far post, going into precisely the same position. Both times he completely loses his marker. This bloke is a better ''player'' then people are giving him credit for. I think people are seeing a big strong striker and wondering why he isn''t knocking around centre backs like Grant Holt, I just think he has his own game. I''m writing this because people have started to criticise him a bit recently, I''m going to watch him like a hawk tonight and try and work out his game. I''ve got a feeling that he is a pretty clever player. Do watch Morison for the two goals before replying, I justed watched the goals back three times, and then tell me if you see what I mean.

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]I personally didn''t think Russell Martin was that impressive against Bolton - he did fine against a fairly slow and immobile Davies and Klasnic but as soon as N''Gog came on he pulled Martin all over the pitch and exposed his lack of knowledge of the CB position. Bolton''s goal was down to Martin''s mistake in not clearing the ball when he had the chance and if De Laet had of done something similar he would be coming into another bashing on this message board.I would be perfectly happy to have De Laet starting against Sunderland as Martin clearly isn''t ready to play that position in the Premier League yet.[/quote]So far this season only 1 goals has come from a striker at Sunderland. I don''t know enough about their goal threat to know how to defend against them, haven''t been paying attention to Sunderland in all fairness. I agree that Martin should have cleared that ball, but I still think it was a foul that Barnett didn''t have to make. The Bolton player hit the ball far too wide to stand a good chance of sticking it in the net, and there was no Bolton player to square it too. Barnett didn''t know that of course, but should he have done? I wasn''t too harsh on Barnett because his header played a key role in the first Norwich goal.

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]I said on another thread that we should buy him now, whilst his stock is low and man Utd have a surfeit of centrebacks because he is class and will be great in a few years. Another Dave Watson. I am still of that opinion.[/quote]We can''t buy him until January, and his stock could rise before then, but I would support that. It becomes a whole different ball game if he is our player, and we lose the part of the argument which says that De Laet is making his mistakes at Norwich to become a great player for somebody else.

[quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="Scottlarock"]is it..........elated? Love word games.[/quote]I knew that somebody would come up with a smart ass answer taking that precise form when using the word ''conundrum''. 1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun2a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answerb : an intricate and difficult problemMy use of the word falls within ''b'', this is a difficult and intricate problem. Of course, the correct answer is: The Irishman. [/quote]That copy and paste didn''t work very well, here''s the definition: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conundrumSee (b).

All great answers, and good to see that people largely agree, it has helped to confirm that my own opinions are along the right lines. Another thing that I have been thinking about is the possibility that De Laet was never actually intended to play as a centre back, but actually to come into compete with Tierney at left back? I think it''s clear that Drury isn''t good enough for this level at 33 years old, and won''t feature much at all this year. He went to Preston to replace an injured left back, and played his first games for Man Utd as a left back too. Lambert made a point of emphasising his versitility when signing him, could De Laet have found himself at centre back as a result of the Ward injury? Was the intention to play a Ward & Barnett or Whitbread & Ward partnership? With De Laet finding himself at centre back on default after injuries?It is entirely possible that De Laet was brought in to challenge Tierney for a place just like Naughton was brought in to challenge Martin. If Tierney gets injured or suspended at any stage this year, then I suspect we would see De Laet at left back.That is actually a much less dangerous place for De Laet to play. If he gets his chance at left back, he might just be perfect for that position. You have to say that De Laet might find himself getting further in football as a left back then he would as a centre back, there really is no shortage of Centre backs in the game, but there is definitely a shortage of left backs.Maybe we will see him at left back at some stage this season, although of course I hope that Tierney stays fit and healthy and in good shape, because for me Tierney is right up there with Ruddy and Johnson as one of the best players for us so far this year.

[quote user="Scottlarock"]is it..........elated? Love word games.[/quote]I knew that somebody would come up with a smart ass answer taking that precise form when using the word ''conundrum''. 1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun2a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answerb : an intricate and difficult problemMy use of the word falls within ''b'', this is a difficult and intricate problem. Of course, the correct answer is: The Irishman.

[quote user="swindoncanary"]Hospital reported that he had mild concussion ! [/quote]With the only other description of concussion being ''severe concussion'', which is a medical emergency and can often lead to long term effects on mobility, speech, and learning, effectively rendering somebody mentally and physically disabled, we should be thankful that Drogba did only suffer from ''mild concussion'' rather than an injury which could potentially have ended his football career. This is precisely why Drogba is grateful that his injury turned out to be fine, and precisely why John Ruddy bothered to phone him. Even mild concussion can result in a bad headache for a good few days, as bad if not worse than a migraine. Looking at that Drogba video, it was easily a big enough impact for him to experience bleeding in the brain, fortunately he didn''t. A bleeding brain can clot, which is effectively what a stroke is, the result of a clot of a brain bleed It really isn''t something to be mocked, any head injury can kill you or leave you disabled. We have seen enough people killed down Prince of Wales Road from a single blow to the head to know this in Norwich. The hospital would have given Drogba an emergency CAT scan to ensure that there was no bleeding, just as they would if you were knocked out for 6-8 minutes. Eight minutes is actually precisely the amount of time that Michael Watson spent without Oxygen after a head injury, until they get to hospital there is no way to know whether a brain is bleeding, Watson''s was, Drogba''s wasn''t (thank goodness). Watson sued because of this, the Oxygen could have enabled him to live the rest of his life with a far greater standard of health. This is why Drogba thanks the medical team for their quick response.

[quote user="birchfest"]I know its the cool thing to hate drogba... but hes still a person, I dont think anyone on this message board would want to be knocked out like that and wake up in ambalance thinking you were still at a football match. Stupid statements about his wages and making comparisons to soldiers fighting is completely irrelevant, we could use that logic to say that anyone that gets hurt outside of a war zone should just ''get over themselves''. [/quote]Well said, the video on YouTube says all that you need to know about how bad it was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvSNMrcKR5QAnybody who sees the slow motion replay of his head bouncing on the floor and doesn''t consider that serious is clearly insane or lying. No doubt they would be calling Grant Holt the hardest man on earth if he played the week after that. Boxers have suffered brain damage from knock outs lasting less than 8 minutes, that''s a very very long time to be unconcious. Drogba is actually a very good bloke off the pitch, on the pitch he does what he thinks he has to do to win a game. That''s why they say that things which happen on the pitch stay on the pitch, unless you are trying to end peoples careers like Kevin Muscat, all Drogba does is go down easily.The wages argument is a stupid one too. I love the way that the man on the street always accuse the wealthy to be greedy, Drogba is a well known philantrophist who donates a lot of money. Generosity is relative. I know plenty of builders and office workers who are too greedy to buy anybody else a pint in a pub but wealthy enough to buy every release of the iPhone, there are greedy wealthy footballers and there are generous wealthy footballers. There are very few African footballers who fit into the former, most of them distribute a lot of their wealth to charity, very few British footballers would consider doing the same. Drogba made it clear that these things happen in football, and could quite easily of played the Arsene Wenger game of blaming everything on somebody.

I really can''t decide whether I want to see this bloke back in the side just yet. For tonight, I think Martin has earned the right to stay in the team after a great performance against Bolton, but I doubt we will see Martin there all season and he will probably want to try and win his right back spot back as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Am I the only person who sees a potential top class centre back? And I mean top class, capable of playing football for a top six team, but who hasn''t really served his apprenticeship? If he cuts out the mistakes he would be by far the best defender in our team.The question is do you give him the regular football that he needs to cut out the mistakes or do you write him off as not ready and use him as a squad player? He has actually only played 46 league games in his career, at 22, he is really inexperienced. Korey Smith has played 67! That is equivalent to one ever-present Championship season. It''s less than Connor Wickham too. De Laet is probably 40 games away from being absolutely class, and I would love to see that class player at Carrow Road for the long term. Would the best thing for De Laet to have been to have a full season in the Championship for a decent side like Cardiff?  I''m not preaching here, I''m merely asking for opinions, I don''t know any answers. It feels to me a little as if we are merely giving a player the experience that he needs to be a top defender, rather than benefitting from that top player. I think that he is potentially good enough to be a squad player at Man Utd like O''Shea was and Brown was, but will we see that from him this year?Can we assume that Lambert and Culverhouse are working hard in training to get him to cut out the mistakes? I''m firmly crossing my fingers that we see a player who is willing to hoof the ball to no mans land when necessary whenever he returns to the team. I''ve never seen a player who can spend 89 minutes of the game looking like the most composed player on the pitch, and the other minute losing his head, it''s the difference between him being a top class defender and a potential liability. Don''t shoot, think I''ve been clear that I consider him potentially top drawer, just looking for input!

[quote user="LeJuge"]Great effort, it''s people like you who make football great, and this is precisely WHY football is all about the fans. I''ve looked at the photos though and it appears that there are three Norwich fans pictured? How did the Plymouth fans know which one was Keith? Lol[/quote]Oh, that chap with the mobile appears to be wearing some other kit, is that a Brazil top then?

Great effort, it''s people like you who make football great, and this is precisely WHY football is all about the fans. I''ve looked at the photos though and it appears that there are three Norwich fans pictured? How did the Plymouth fans know which one was Keith? Lol.