Norwich 'Utility' City

[ruthers1 0]

So Lafferty ''our left winger'' continues to bang in important international goals for fun in his proper position as a striker.

All this against the backdrop of Grabban''s injury and embarrassingly losing out to Forest for an unproven Arsenal starlet.

You just couldn''t write it.

Anyway, rant over my question is - Why oh why do we consistently play players out of position? Managers have come and gone, some good some bad but one thing remains constant - our love of a utility player. Off the top of my head just over the last couple of years:

Lafferty, Whittaker, Martin, Hoolahan, E Bennett, Snodgrass.

If you go back over the last 20 years or so the list is endless but why do we seem to do it far more than other clubs?

[lake district canary 4,530]

                

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Please do take the time and list the players over the last 20 years, that you speak of.....................

[damn that Ralph Coates! 47]

[quote user="lake district canary"]                

[/quote]

lol LDC

[Herman 9,691]

It needs a muck-spreader, but I like it ldc.

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

Wes playing on the right for Ireland tonight.... On topic?

[Carrow89 0]

[quote user="ruthers1"]So Lafferty ''our left winger'' continues to bang in important international goals for fun in his proper position as a striker.

All this against the backdrop of Grabban''s injury and embarrassingly losing out to Forest for an unproven Arsenal starlet.

You just couldn''t write it. [/quote]Whereas you just have.By the way what is the difference between banging in goals for fun, and not for fun ? Is it the way he celebrates afterwards ? And one for your list is that young centre half Chris Sutton who some clown of a manager put him up front, and look where that got him.

[Gordon Bennett 780]

Not embarrassing that Akpom chose Forest over us, or the league leaders for that matter. Just common sense as thats where he will start games #notrocketscience

[quentin 0]

[quote user="Gordon Bennett"]Not embarrassing that Akpom chose Forest over us, or the league leaders for that matter. Just common sense as thats where he will start games #notrocketscience[/quote]What is embarrassing is how many fans wanted him so badly when we already have capable players either here or out on loan.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="quentin fulcher"][quote user="Gordon Bennett"]Not embarrassing that Akpom chose Forest over us, or the league leaders for that matter. Just common sense as thats where he will start games #notrocketscience[/quote]What is embarrassing is how many fans wanted him so badly when we already have capable players either here or out on loan.[/quote]because he''s an average player at Arsenal.. can you imagine the disappointment if he''d been a good player but from someone like WBA?

[Mr Angry 1,542]

Lafferty-yes, played out of position as far as I''m concerned-he has been played out left in his career but in a more attacking role than here-obviously prefers playing up front as he stated that he was going on loan to do just that.

Whittaker-has been playing at right back apart from the Brentford game so no, not being played consistently out if position.

Martin-been played at either right back or centre back, which seems to be his preferred position so another no.

Hoolahan-has been played on the left where he hasn''t performed that well-a yes, but you can see why managers would want to include the most creative player somewhere-and every manager has eventually worked out that he needs to be played in the middle.

E Bennett-has been played mostly on the right wing, only occasionally on the left because we didn''t have anyone else-so another yes but you can see why.

Snodgrass-played on the right wing where he had played virtually his whole career so another no.

[Feedthewolf 4,844]

Also, haven''t heard too many people complaining about Bradley Johnson, who has played practically his whole career in central midfield, being played ''out of position'' on the left. As best exemplified by Chris Sutton, it can cut both ways.And some players are just that versatile that they can fill in anywhere - didn''t Rob Newman start on the left of midfield in one (or more?) of our European away-days? [:)]

[nutty nigel 7,506]

Loads of them through the years FTW. A couple more from further back Dave Stringer for years a right back was moved to centre back by Ron Saunders where he played beside Duncan Forbes in what is probably our most famous partrnership. And Greg Downs, a goalscoring centre forward as he came through the ranks made his name for himself at left back. 

[Carrow89 0]

What about the Ginger Pele  ?Started up front for Luton and Spurs before the latter put him (out of harm''s way) in the defence. When he signed for us the talk was of having a striker, if my memory serves me right, who could play in defence when needed.