Hooper rumours

[morty 0]

[quote user="Samwam27"]Morty totally agree.

I just hope we keep him. He''s a great poacher, and coming off the bench for us, can see him grabbing goals.

Unless we really invest in strikers (which I doubt and the grass isn''t always greener....) it would be crazy to get rid of him.[/quote]Depends if he would be happy in a supersub role really.Can''t work the guy out, honestly would have had him pinned down as one who would have left after we got relegated.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

When is comes to scoring - its hard to argue against Hooper.

His conversion rate from shots to goals is 40%(!) compared to Jerome''s 17% and Grabban''s 14%. (Stats don''t include the play-offs).

This isn''t just because Hooper was also only shooting from close in. From shots taken inside the 6 Yard Box Hooper was scoring 67%; CJ 42% and Grabban 50%.

In the penalty box (not including 6 yard area) Hooper was scoring at 47%; CJ at 12% and Grabban at 11%.

If Norwich were playing 2 strikers every game having someone partner Hooper would be fantastic, however I just don''t think he has the ability to lead the line on his own in the Championship, let alone the Premier League.

AN said he wanted to play Hooper off a striker and I think that could work out - it requires less work rate and GH is a very good passer of the ball and a creative player (in contrast to what many seem to believe).

Hooper had 6 assists in the season, compared to CJ''s 7 and Grabban''s 3 and averaged 1.7 key passes per game compared to CJ''s 1 and Grabban''s 1.4.

Stats can obviously only tell you so much - but it does seem that in the time Hooper was on the pitch he was contributing well and deadly when it came to finishing.

Whether he can do this in the Prem as well is another question, he certainly struggled there before (but who didn''t that season) and he never managed to secure a regular starting position this season.

What I do feel though is that all of Norwich''s strikers could struggle next season - you can''t question Grabban''s and Jerome''s workrate - but their conversion rates are low. Hard to see that improving in a higher league.

[BroadstairsR 2,162]

Being back in the Premier league we need strength in epth in all positions, but especially in the striking department.

 

If Gary Hooper started every game on the bench next season but came on and scored 8-10 goals then he will have done his job.

 

Every goal is like old dust up there.

 

Keep him.

 

Add another striker of re-known and within our cash limitations and give RVW (reluctantly) another crack at the whip as, apart from giving him away, we ould seem to have little choice as things stand at the moment.

 

I would want a punt on Berbatov, but most on here seem against this idea.

 

I have just noticed that the spectre of Quagliarella has raised it''s head again. The bizarre thought of him and Berbatov in the City startin eleven would raise more than a few eyebrows [:D][:D]

 

At least we would be unpredictable. 

[ZLF 274]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

however I just don''t think he has the ability to lead the line on his own in the Championship, let alone the Premier League.

[/quote]

Good post highlighting both his strengths and weaknesses.

I simply can''t see us starting with 2 strikers and nor can I see Neil playing Hoops in the wes role; we would have seen more of that last season if it was a viable option - and its unlikely to be better in the prem.

Realistically Neil is not going to change from 4141 as his formation - as such pitch time for Hoops is going to be limited to appearances where we are chasing the game - if not both jerome and grabban will remain ahead of him.

I think we do need at least 4 strikers; I do think we need to buy one better than all 4 currently with the club as a starter and able to play the lone role. As such the key question is whether Hoops will accept being 4th choice striker next season - and perhaps that is why teaser leaks about Bolton & Huddersfield are out there to generate higher interest?

[Tumbleweed 106]

All I would say is that when Grabban got sent off against Rotherham, Wes came off and was replaced by Hooper who led the line in a 10 man team away against a side needing a win to help survival. He linked up well with Redmond and got the goal which nearly resulted in automatic promotion.

I''d keep him.

[DEB (never forgotten) 0]

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-town-transfers-norwich-city-9414768

[BroadstairsR 2,162]

1. Thirty two games, mostly from off the bench, twelve goals and six assists does not constitute an "out-of-favour" striker. We have a squad of strikers who are available to be used by the manager as he sees fit in accord with the opposition we are to play or the situation we find ourselves in within a game. 

     2. Huddersfield and Hooper seems a bad fit. He is, with respect, a better player than that. A move to Bolton and their manager is more understandable and acceptable.  

     3. We should be looking to keep our first team players, not unloading them, unless they want away.

     4. Six million+ if sold outright. One for a season''s loan.           

[Feedthewolf 4,846]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

1. Thirty two games, mostly from off the bench, twelve goals and six assists does not constitute an "out-of-favour" striker. We have a squad of strikers who are available to be used by the manager as he sees fit in accord with the opposition we are to play or the situation we find ourselves in within a game. 

     2. Huddersfield and Hooper seems a bad fit. He is, with respect, a better player than that. A move to Bolton and their manager is more understandable and acceptable.  

     3. We should be looking to keep our first team players, not unloading them, unless they want away.

     4. Six million+ if sold outright. One for a season''s loan.           

[/quote]Agree wholeheartedly with points 1-3. However, I can''t for the life of me see him being worth £6m plus. He''s an excellent player, but I would be surprised if anyone offered more than £3m. I''d definitely be interested in seeing him play in the hole behind a number 9 next season – he loves coming deep with his back to goal to receive the ball, lay it off and link the play, and as previously mentioned his finishing is deadly. He''d probably get more goalscoring chances arriving from deeper than being the lone striker, who by definition is going to be closely marked by one or both centre backs. He''s worth more to us than we could get for him, IMO.

[mrs miggins 0]

I very much doubt he''ll go to a championship side, I think he thinks of himself as a premier league striker but realises that he has to prove it and he now has the chance. Whenever we hear him interviewed, even before he came here when he was linked to QPR, he was always on about how he needs to be playing in the PL.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

I think that was true when he was leaving Celtic, but after two seasons of non-stellar performances I doubt there will be any Premier League takers for Hooper.

I can see he either moving to a club looking for promotion - Hull, QPR and Burnley are all in the market for strikers - or going on loan to a team expecting to finish around the play-offs in an attempt to get better offers in the future.

I imagine he is on pretty decent wages so selling him outright for a large fee will be very difficult.

£3m to Burnley plus another £1m if they get promoted would be good for example.

[Highland Canary 76]

Risking £100+ million for £3m, if Hooper comes off the bench and scores a few for us next season, is nonsensical. If we are to stay up we need to score the odd goal or two this time.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

Seeing that theory through though Highland and we''d still have Simeon Jackson, Aaron Wilbraham and James Vaughan up front. Norwich can still only play with 11 men on the pitch - no matter how many they have attached to the club.

Norwich can''t keep everyone in the squad and if AN, along with the Executive Footballing Board (or whatever they are called) feel the money Norwich are spending every week on Hooper''s wages can be better spend elsewhere then so be it.

No point keeping him around on almost certainly over £20k a week if Neil doesn''t feel he is a player he will have much use for.

I very unsure about Hooper personally, his stats are great and he can score incredible goals like the one against Rotherham - but in some games you can forget he is even on the pitch with how little he contributes. I can see Norwich being able to play a system in the Prem with a striker who is relatively one dimensional.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]Seeing that theory through though Highland and we''d still have Simeon Jackson, Aaron Wilbraham and James Vaughan up front. Norwich can still only play with 11 men on the pitch - no matter how many they have attached to the club.

Norwich can''t keep everyone in the squad and if AN, along with the Executive Footballing Board (or whatever they are called) feel the money Norwich are spending every week on Hooper''s wages can be better spend elsewhere then so be it.

No point keeping him around on almost certainly over £20k a week if Neil doesn''t feel he is a player he will have much use for.

I very unsure about Hooper personally, his stats are great and he can score incredible goals like the one against Rotherham - but in some games you can forget he is even on the pitch with how little he contributes. I can see Norwich being able to play a system in the Prem with a striker who is relatively one dimensional.[/quote]Quite. A rough assumption (given that some players cover more than one position) is that we will have in the 25 three goalkeepers, four fullbacks, four or five central defenders, three or four wingers, six or seven central midfielders, and no more than four strikers. We cannot afford to have expensive  bit-part players there, which, as it happens, is why I assume we will certainly try to offload van Wolfswinkel. The arguments against Hooper apply even more to him. If Hooper goes as well that would indicate a serious striking shake-up.

[Newton 0]

Purple - Brief Consise - for once  I agree with you Wolf out the door first, failed the last 2 seasons

Hooper worth 8/10 goals at this level even if used a super sub

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Newton"]

Purple - Brief Consise - for once  I agree with you Wolf out the door first, failed the last 2 seasons

Hooper worth 8/10 goals at this level even if used a super sub

[/quote]Yes, but I only care about the judgment of my peers, so I will wait to hear what your six-year-old grandson thinks.

[BigFish 1,986]

It beggars belief that anyone would think that our current strikers (capable although they are) carry the firepower we would want in the Prem. All have weaknesses which is why they were with us last year. Likelihood is that AN will play one up front and hopefully has his eye on a big pacey goal scoring purchase to fill that place. Hooper was already third choice, it appears, so will he even want a season of being fourth choice?

And before anyone says it there is no way he is a Prem No. 10,

[Newton 0]

PurpleCanary wrote the following post at 09/06/2015 3:48 PM:

Newton wrote:

Purple - Brief Consise - for once I agree with you Wolf out the door first, failed the last 2 seasons

Hooper worth 8/10 goals at this level even if used a super sub

Yes, but I only care about the judgment of my peers, so I will wait to hear what your six-year-old grandson thinks.

Purple avoid the pompous waffle and I don''t need to ask him - theirs a good Purple

[Rich T The Biscuit 562]

Not sure I''m allowed to reply to this thread as it''s not about pies or Ipswich and is a thread for grown ups, however.....for what it''s worth I would keep Hooper, get rid of Lafferty and RVW and then look to get an experienced ''different'' style centre forward, not him but someone similar to Peter Crouch style, ie big man up top just to change things.

The problem that we face, which is the same as we have had the last time, prolific goalscorers are out of our budget unless we go ageing journeyman, ie someone like Defoe.

Would be interested to see who those with great knowledge of all things Norwich City would put forward as a suggestion, or even what 6yr old grandson has to suggest...... :-p

For the record, would also be stunned if Hooper ended up somewhere like Huddersfield, with all due respect to them of course.

[jaemae2 0]

[quote user="ReadingCanary"]We know Hooper can sore a handful of goals in the Prem

seems silly to get rid of him with no better replacement[/quote]

You mean a "handful" LIKE 3 GOALS FROM PLAY IN 32 GAMES (24 STARTS). 3 in 32 is a "handful" to you?

[jaemae2 0]

[quote user="CanaryOne"]Jerome has had enough chances in the top flight and never really made an impact , Grabban imo never really proved himself at Champs level so if we are getting rid of Hooper we better have at least two decent strikers lined up because we will need them .[/quote]

You know Cameron Jerome scored 11 goals in the Prem. in a season, right?

[jaemae2 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

1. Thirty two games, mostly from off the bench, twelve goals and six assists does not constitute an "out-of-favour" striker. We have a squad of strikers who are available to be used by the manager as he sees fit in accord with the opposition we are to play or the situation we find ourselves in within a game. 

     2. Huddersfield and Hooper seems a bad fit. He is, with respect, a better player than that. A move to Bolton and their manager is more understandable and acceptable.  

     3. We should be looking to keep our first team players, not unloading them, unless they want away.

     4. Six million+ if sold outright. One for a season''s loan.           

[/quote]

MOST WEREN''T FROM THE BENCH. 16 STARTS 16 SUBS (one of which was akin to a start)

[Herman 9,755]

Is there any chance of getting rid of this dickhead?

[clarkey1972 0]

I think he will be no.2 behind Jerome, or 3rd if we bring someone else in which is likely.  I just cant see Grabs doing well in the prem at all unfortunatley.

 

Hoops needs to stay imho

[BroadstairsR 2,162]

There seems to be an air of uncertainty amongst us regarding the credentials of our current crop of strikers as Premier League performers.

 

Yet, take Grant Holt out of the equation and the strikers we have at the moment are far stronger than anything either Paul Lambert or the Hoots  had at their disposal (Jacko, Morison, Wheelie, RVW, Becchio)

 

I think we need to invest in one proven class act (easier said than done given our relative financial restrictions.) as insurance in case the above fall short. 

 

It would seem to me clear that the next mid-winter window would be the time to decide the fate of our current strikers.

 

I feel that Jerome will succeed but that there are question marks against both Grabban and, to a lesser extent, Hooper, in some capacity. Some also feel that RVW should be given a last chance, which may or may not be the right approach to this conundrum. I would rather have the money, however little it may turn out to be.

 

Our young players, Loza and Morris are not ready for the PL. Our promotion has, in some ways, been a set-back for them as they would likely have been  given more chances if we had remained in the Championship. Loza at least.

 

December is for me the time for discussions like this. Our current strikers deserve a chance, but we need another good ''un to be added, just in case.

 

As or Hooper, I feel that there has been very little indication in his strange stop-start career to suggest whether he is or is not a PL quality striker. He has had injuries at the wrong time (the start of each of the last two seasons) and has found himself side-lined by both tactics and the form of others.

 

He remains somewhat of an enigma in many ways, but I consider him our most natural striker at least.

[xymox 7]

That''s a bit harsh on Hooper Herman.

[Herman 9,755]

 [:D]

[hogesar 9,657]

Depends on if Hooper can accept not starting majority of games really.

Don''t get me wrong, i really rate the guy, certainly more than RVW. If both leave, then there''s some serious work going to need to take place in sorting out our striking department.

We don''t know how the season will pan out. Injuries or form may dictate we play 2 up front more than usual, and therefore Hooper will get the game time he wants.

[The Great Wall Of Tettey 0]

I think he''s got a part to play.

He doesn''t suit our formation as the loan striker, but I think he does in the ''hoolahan'' position. Not going to happen to every game but would certainly be effected against certain opposition.

Also got to think there''s not many better if you need a goal in the last 30. We need a squad and he would certainly be in mine