Grabban and the league cup

[smooth 114]

Will we see him on the bench?

Cam and Lafferty deserve there chances in this 1

The grabban fiasco was a fiasco, with our current predicament 6 million for him may have been able to stretch a bid on a player we looked at in the summer.

But we are left with him, will grabban be in the group and get game time? If he is not there with 2 months to the transfer window you wonder if he will be here in jan.

I don''t fear selling him to Bournemouth as I don''t think he is good enough. But tonight will tell us his role at NcFC as AN sees it.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

"I don''t fear selling him to Bournemouth as I don''t think he is good enough. But tonight will tell us his role at NcFC as AN sees it."

That last sentence sums it up for me. The deal was turned down because he was deemed too good to be sold to a rival.

Most of us thought otherwise, and, although it is feasible that he may have made a telling contribution at Bournemouth, and even moreso now with their injuries, overall his presence in their line-up would have been a weak link, IMO.

Oh for that six million in the kitty to go towards a high class defender in January.

It might still happen, the Cherries must be even more desperate now, but then again might be too far adrift to view the cost worthwhile.

[morty 0]

This will be, first and foremost, a tough game tonight.The priority should be putting a team out to win the game, not getting players game time, post injury.

[ec-p 117]

I sincerely hope Lafferty starts but as Grabban seems to be a favourite of Alex can see him starting. Anyone know anything on the fitness of Hoops?

[morty 0]

[quote user="ec-p"]I sincerely hope Lafferty starts but as Grabban seems to be a favourite of Alex can see him starting. Anyone know anything on the fitness of Hoops?[/quote]I think he has been training, but if I''m honest, I can''t remember the last time I actually saw him fully fit and sharp.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of that afternoon at Rotherham before the League Cup game i really cannot get my head around accepting Grabban back in the fold. To me he let everybody connected with Norwich City down badly by walking away and for that i find it very difficult to forgive.

[morty 0]

[quote user="TIL 1010"]Whatever the rights and wrongs of that afternoon at Rotherham before the League Cup game i really cannot get my head around accepting Grabban back in the fold. To me he let everybody connected with Norwich City down badly by walking away and for that i find it very difficult to forgive.[/quote]I don''t entirely disagree with that, but ten Premiership goals would go some way to healing things[:D]

[Jacko 0]

Thing is Tilly. We don''t know the facts surrounding it and we never will. So I think we''ve just got to respect the decision Neil, undoubtedly with advice from his coaching staff (who are his eyes and ears) has come to. He will be privy to all of those facts and if he has chosen to draw a line under it then I accept that.

All we see is what happens on the pitch and that only tells you a very limited amount of the story. He''s a Norwich City player and he has my full support whenever he crosses the white line. I''ll be at Goodison tonight cheering him on if he does get on the pitch.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

The fact that Grabban has only had 90 minutes of a League Cup game since his spat tells you all you need to know about his Norwich City future.

[Woodman 92]

That''s true, its a puzzling one. He''s deemed good enough to be on the bench for WBA, ahead of Lafferty (and presumably Hooper if/when fit). Some wanted him to come on instead of Jerome on Saturday, but WBA were set up so deep defensively, meaning there was no space to do what he''s good at - running in behind defenders and stretching them out of position.

Tonight might be a good game to play him, away from home with Everton pushing forward. We do need to get players much closer to him though, otherwise he just looks isolated, and because he can''t hold the ball up like Mbokani or Jerome, we''ll lose possession.

For the record, I don''t think he''s better than Mbokani or Jerome, but he''s a different type of player.

[Making Plans 957]

He won''t be here in January and we won''t get anywhere near £6m for him.It was a total c*ck up and we should have got rid when we had the opportunity

[Sandy Shore 0]

Would prefer to see lafferty than Grabban.  Grabban to me should be last in the list for selection after his desertion.

[Chesney Hawkes 0]

Loaning out Hooper and keeping Grabban is interesting.

[Johnny Stump 1]

I agree that we should have got rid if there really was a £6m offer on the table.

Especially given that he probably isn''t in Alex Neil''s plans and not just because of the supposed Rotherham spat.

[chicken 0]

When you look at the players they signed, he was to be a direct back up to Wilson and arguably play in the hole behind him or out wide.

What he offered them is what he also offers us, the pace and movement to stretch teams, and to pin them back a bit when pushing forwards. When you play against a pacey forward line you are always a bit cautious about stepping up to high and surrendering he space in behind too easily.

That £6million is more like £9million now, in their predicament.

Again, if we sold him and he scored only one goal, a goal that had the effect of relegating us or keeping them up - it would cost us more than the £3million profit we could have made on him, and would be worth a lot more than the £6million they could have paid for him.

We now have four strikers - Mbokani, Jerome, Grabban and Lafferty. I think it is fair to say they all offer something different, they all offer a different sort of threat. And that''s what you want.

Come next summer, it may well be a very different line up. But then I suspect that with AN, he''ll push to improve whenever and where-ever he can.