Jacko

I agree, at the end of the day Morty, a win is a win and people should always enjoy them. Particularly after last year when they were particularly thin on the ground. But I do understand why there are concerns about us playing some of the bigger hitters in the league - time will soon tell, if those concerns are founded. Hopefully, Forest will cast that all to one side. Whilst I sound horribly defeatist I do believe that the whole division is playing for 2nd place behind Newcastle but I see absolutely no reason why we can''t be the team that does it, if we tighten up. Particularly, as big spending Villa have already handed us an 8 point head start (albeit with a game in hand) and we''re well placed in relation to other teams.

I think there''s a middle ground here Morty. I''m obviously very pleased with the result yesterday and the fact we''ve started well. 14 points from 7 games is a very good start. You only have to look at Villa, currently stranded on 6 points to see things are pretty good. However, I think it isn''t unfair to say that quite a few of the performances have been unconvincing. You''re not to play well and belt teams every week over a 46 games season. I''ve watched this league for far too many years to know that. But it is concerning how twice in the space of a week we''ve failed to manage games properly and turned what should have been relatively comfortable wins into rather nail biting finishes. I am also concerned by how badly the team had faded in both games, particularly yesterday''s. We have had wretched luck with injuries and hopefully that is the main reason for us tiring in games at the moment. However, it was a feature that blighted us throughout last year - West Ham (twice) being a good example. It''s not a new problem and it''s even a concern Michael Bailey as flagged up with Neil. It''s worth also remembering that 3 of the 4 wins have come against sides currently stuck in the bottom 4. You, of course, have to put these teams away (and we didn''t last time we played Wigan) but I think a truer test of our credentials will be a game away to Forest on Saturday. Which will be very difficult. We''re doing well and we''ve got some cracking players like Oliveira and Brady to come back into the mix yet and other players to come back. So I am very much encouraged overall. However, I do think we will need to improve to mount a sustained challenge for promotion.

The home games against Wigan and Cardiff are looking so, so important already.

History would suggest Naismith is unlikely to score between 10 - 15 goals this season. He has only managed that feat once in the last decade. In his defence, much of his football has been played at Premier League level, but he has also played a fair amount of football in a much weaker Scottish league during that period. The main problem I have with Naismith is that at the moment his inclusion necessitates both of Hoolahan and Pritchard being either dropped or shunted into wide areas to accommodate him - when both are available. Hoolahan has been voted one of the best football league players of the last decade by his peers. He''s won that accolade for his performances behind the striker/strikers. Playing him in wider areas in the last 8 years has largely been unsatisfactory. Likewise, Pritchard scored 12 goals and chalked up a number of assists for Brentford playing as an orthodox No.10. There were times that he played wide, but he was most effective in that no.10 position as we saw at Carrow Road where he was excellent. For Naismith to warrant playing ahead of those two in that position his output simply has to be much higher than what he''s producing now - in terms of goals, assists and general link up play. Particularly, when you consider the balance of the team is being compromised tactically to include him. Save for the Liverpool and Blackburn games I am genuinely struggling to recall a game in which Naismith has produced a performance of the standard you would expect from an £8.5 million player. Sadly, Naismith increasingly looks out of place in the attacking unit that Neil is trying to construct. I just don''t see him prospering this season for a variety of reasons. The fact Neil was prepared to let him leave speaks volumes. Particularly when other bids for players were knocked back on deadline day. Ultimately, his signing for was one sole purpose. He was a gamble designed to inject that bit of quality to keep Norwich up last season. The gamble failed and increasingly now looks like it''s going to be a very expensive mistake. I''d love to be proven wrong and I hope you''re right about him smashing in the goals that take us to promotion. I''d be the first one on here saying I got it wrong but I just can''t see it.

I think playing with Howson and Dorrans together in central midfield (whilst exciting) leaves you horribly exposed. The Liverpool and Newcastle games were massive illustrations of this where a lot of goals were scored by untracked midfield runners.

Howson is the best central midfielder we''ve got. It''s laughable that people honestly believe that Alex Pritchard (for all his undoubted quality) is equipped to play in a deep lying central midfield role in his place.

Starting with the positives. It was brilliant to retain Pinto, Klose, Brady, Howson, Tettey, Jerome and Hoolahan. In particular, I didn''t think there was any hope either Brady or Klose would be here now. That in itself is a statement as most of those players will be on big money relative to this division. Unfortunately, our transfers leave much to be desired. There didn''t appear to be much strategy with our strikers. We spent much of the summer persuing McCormack - a player who even if we''d got it wasn''t abundantly clear how he''d fit into the side, given Neil''s preference for 1 up front. Once McCormack had failed we didn''t appear to have other irons in the fire. We got Oliveria but if he''s a player we thought would add value then surely he could have been signed in time for pre season allowing him to bed in? I also don''t quite understand how we''ve ended the window with only two natural left sided players available to us (Jarvis is a long term absentee). Surely more cover was needed so this horrible experiment of Brady at left back could be brought to an end? That smacks of pretty poor planning, particularly as Olsson will be free to leave overseas for nothing in January and his head is likely to be elsewhere by then. The other worry is the players that haven''t been shifted. We''ve got Naismith and Lafferty here against their wishes. Naismith, in particular, is a massive problem who threatens to undermine a promotion push this season given the way he unbalances the side if we select him and Neil''s slavish desire to pick him. It''s disappointing we''ve put ourselves in this position again. You do have to question the suitability of Ricky Martin and Lee Darnbrough in these recruitment roles. Darnbrough whilst at Burnley masterminded the signings of Marvin Sordell and Lukasz Jutekeweicz for a Premier League campaign. We effectively get two cracks at promotion before our parachute payments dry up and we slip back into the pack. It appears we have entrusted these funds to a team that aren''t fit for purpose and it may cost us dearly.

Gk - McGovern RB - Pinto LB - Olsson CB - Klose CB - Martin CM - Tettey CM - Howson AMR - Canos AML - Brady AMC - Hoolahan/Pritchard ST - Jerome Get players playing in their natural positions and stop crowbarring players into areas they don''t want to be. Also recall Russell Martin so we''ve got a centre back who can actually pass the ball out from the back which has been a real issue already this season. Do all of that and top 6 is a realistic possibility.

I felt for Naismith yesterday, by all accounts he was pretty dreadful but he isn''t a centre forward and shouldn''t have been playing there. However, it does raise questions about what value he brings to this squad, particularly given his status as one of the club''s top earners. He can''t play as a striker and I would argue he''s probably the 3rd best No.10 at the club. I can''t see him emulating seasons like Pritchard and West have had at this level before. So that means he''s either on the bench or you are having to crowbar the Pritchard and Hoolahan into positions which don''t suit them to accommodate him. That unbalances us and compromises us tactically. I don''t want to make it a personal attack on the player but from a purely footballing perspective, his continued presence in the side is threatening to completely undermine and tear apart everything were hoping to achieve this season.

I don''t get how anyone can defend Van Wolfswinkel as a footballer. He''s failed to make an impression under 5 different managers, in 3 different countries, in 3 different seasons. I refuse to believe all of these managers are getting it totally wrong. I wish him well because by all accounts he''s a decent person and doesn''t deserve some of the nasty, personal and downright vitriolic abuse he''s received on this forum, but he just isn''t cut out for playing football in England. He may well go back to Holland and do very well but we must remember that the Dutch Eredivisie has recently been rated statistically as being the 13th weakest league in Europe and therefore place his performances into that context.

I don''t think there can be any question that the board are doing all they can to back Neil financially. Every penny this club brings in revenue is reinvested into football - either in terms of facilities or into the playing budget. If the McCormack deal had been successful then that would have been the 3rd time in 8 months that we''ve broken the club transfer record. The issue is clearly that we are failing to spot and identify the appropriate kind if players - both for the Championship and the Premier League. Our recruitment is seemingly reactive and very scattergunned. With little by way of planning. This situation with recruitment was meant to have been rectified by the board but now appears worse than ever. That for me is where this is going wrong and you can have all the money in the world but it''s meaningless if you don''t know who to sign.

I''ve seen the twitter posts and clearly what Lafferty has done is totally unprofessional and he should know much better. However, I do have some sympathy for him. He''s played well on Tuesday night and scored, albeit against a very poor Coventry side. He''s been challenged by Neil to keep it going and then he doesn''t get a chance to start the game on Saturday, despite us having no other recognised centre forward. I''m not saying Lafferty is the answer (far from it) but if you aren''t going to play him in this situation (when we have nothing else) then there is literally no point in him being at the club drawing a wage. You might as well let him go on a free transfer and allow another club to take on his wages. At least then you''ve also removed a deeply unhappy player from the training ground. It''s an utterly ridiculous situation which Neil should never have allowed to have got to this stage.

Just some food for thought. Last season Oliveira scored 9 goals in 2071 minutes of football. That is a goal every 230 minutes roughly. Rhodes scored 16 goals in 3341 minutes. That is a roughly every 209 minutes. Given that Rhodes brings very little to the party in terms of linkup play and is solely about his goals, is Oliveira that much of a disaster potentially? Particularly, as he''s played in England already so there shouldn''t be an acclimatisation period. I''m not saying the guy will absolutely destroy the division this season but surely he warrants people not totally writing him off before he''s even kicked a ball, purely because he won''t have cost 10m plus or have scored 20 goals at this level before. The reality is that was always going to be very difficult to sign a top goal scorer from a rival championship club. So we were always going to need to be a bit creative and think outside the box. Either a player from League 1/2, a youngster/fringe player from the Premier League or a signing from abroad.

I guess much depends on what function you want to Kyle Lafferty perform at Norwich City. If you think he''s going to be the prolific front line striker to compete with Jerome and fire us to promotion then I think that''s foolish. However, as 3rd choice striker I honestly don''t see who the club can recruit who''d be better in that role. I''d much prefer us to retain him and concentrate our energies into signing 1 top rank forward. And whilst, he''s here at the club it seems kind of perverse not to use him when we only have one other striker. So I wouldn''t be adverse to him getting 10 mins here or there in matches rather relentlessly flogging Jerome into ground as he tires - a player who we simply cannot afford to lose through injury.

He''s stopped caring about being a serious professional footballer the day he left Sunderland to play in the UAE. I wouldn''t welcome him at Norwich and feel he''d offer very little attitude wise.

The main thing is that we have a lot of players - Ruddy, Olsson, Dorrans, Pritchard, Pinto, Jarvis who are currently injured or have picked up knocks. With the exception of Jarvis, who is longer term, I am hoping we can get all of those players fit for after the international break. In particular, Jarvis, Olsson, Dorrans and Pritchard all could have all potentially contributed to that game on Sunday in very different ways had they been available.

There were a lot of sub par performances yesterday from too many players. However, I''m finding myself more and more inclined to agree that I struggle to see the value of Naismith to us as a player. His linkup play is very sloppy (particularly in comparison to Hoolahan), he also doesn''t seem to compensate for this by bursting beyond Jerome that often to get into goalscoring position in and around the opposition penalty area. Surely a number 10 must contribute at least one of those things? Considering that the whole balance of the team effectively has to be compromised to include him (i.e. Hoolahan on the left, which has never been satisfactory in the 8 years he''s been here) then you need to see a significant output from him to justify that. He''s simply not delivering it. I''d much rather see Pritchard and Hoolahan share the workload in the central position for the whole season. Given the issues at Sunderland and the lack of depth in their squad it isn''t inconceivable that they''ll return with an offer, particularly if some panic sets in. We''d be well advised to take that money if offered it, particularly as it would free up wages of one of the top earners at the club.

We definitely do not need a centre back. I would actually venture to say that is the area of the squad for which we have the most cover. Klose and Bennett are a very strong partnership. Contrary to popular opinion Martin and Bassong are excellent cover to have at this level and would get into most championship sides.

Worth remebering that UEFA currently rank the Eredivisie as the 13th strongest league in Europe. That is a damning indictment of the quality of the league which Van Wolfswinkel is now plying his trade in.

Given that the going rate for a top Championship striker seems to be in excess of £10 million then if Bamford (17 goals in 2014/15) is available for that sum then we should be in there straight away. That''s a punt well worth taking but I can''t see Chelsea selling him that cheaply.

[quote user="Huckerbys Boots - Matt"][quote user="Clint"]Trying to shoe horn Naismith in last season at the expense of Wes was part of our downfall.[/quote] Spot on We down because of the Klose injury and Naismith being used ahead of Wes central.[/quote] I am one of Hoolahan''s biggest fans but he didn''t have a particularly great time of things just before Naismith signed. So I think that''s an unfair stick to beat Naismith with. Two of our most enterprising attacking displays last season were Watford and Liverpool where Naismith played at 10 and Wes from the left. I''d have no issue with seeing that at times this season particularly at Carrow Road.

I fully expect him to start the first game of the season at Blackburn. He''ll probably play in the number 10 role with Wes playing notionally off the left hand side. To be fair, given our limited resources on the left, Wes will pretty much have to play out there by default at the moment. The time to judge Naismith is after a decent run of games in the Championship. If he isn''t producing the goods after a full pre season and a drop down in level then it would be time to give Maddison a go or move Wes back centrally (if alternatives on the left are available by then). By all accounts he was excellent in the game against Rubin Kazan and took his goal very well. So he''s not been horrific during pre season by any stretch of the imagination.

Disappointing result today but I wouldn''t be too concerned just yet. If you look at Burnley last season they lost (4-2) to Accrington Stanley and Chesterfield (3-2) in pre season. And though results came deep into pre season - not at the beginning. They also failed to win any of their first 4 competitive matches which included being dumped out of the league cup by Port Vale. It shows the need for people to keep their heads and not panic. We have strong squad of players for this level and we have a strong manager for this level. This has been proven on various occasions before. I am confident that we will achieve a top 6 finish this season.

Rudd is at a major crossroads in his career now. I very doubt he''s going to be number 1 this season. Barring any major disasters I think McGovern is going to get the gig full time eventually. This leaves Rudd with a stark choice - is he happy being 2nd or potentially 3rd choice or will he leave permanently to get first team football somewhere else? I''d expect it to be the latter. It has to be really for the sake of his own career. Amazing to think that once upon a time we had Lewis, Rudd, Steer and Gunn within our youth ranks and I thought we wouldn''t need to buy a goalkeeper for years!

Once upon a time he clearly had something about him. You don''t get 68 goals in 3 seasons and 2 Dutch caps if you are complete crap. Even if Portugal and Holland are weaker leagues in comparison. However, there''s no denying how woeful he''s been in the last 3 years. He has scored 7 goals in 70 league matches and shown very little sign of life in that time. People can blame Norwich for not getting the best out of him, but he''s been passed over by 3 different managers here (Adams, Neil and Hughton) each with very different methods. He''s also been passed over by 2 foreign managers as well. I find it hard to believe that all of these people have got it wrong. He was also very poor in this pre season campaign against indifferent opposition. The excuses have run dry for him. It''s very hard to put this down to a temporary loss of form or confidence after 3 years of struggle. I really hope the guy comes good again for his own sake. Otherwise I can''t see him having much of a top flight future anywhere in Europe.