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Our master tactician

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I was doing a little research on the manager that is ours and I came across somethinge which is only just ever so slightly worrying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Worthington

Nigel Worthington''s managerial career started unspectacularly as player/manager at Blackpool at the beginning of the 1997/98 season. He soon retired from playing to take on sole managerial duties, but two and a half seasons in charge ended with his resignation following a worrying dip in form that saw the club lying in the thick of the Second Division relegation battle. He had little sympathy from the fans on his departure who accused him of adopting a long-ball game.

Would I be alone in thinking that history is repeating it self?

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Worthington... long ball tactics... no surely not. Must be someone else. This is becoming a very sticky situation. Infact its so sticky its stickier than when Sticky the Stickinsect got stuck on a sticky bun. So very sticky if you get my drift.

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We do not play a long ball game. 

You lot keep telling me how great a player Safri is.  When he is directly involved in a goal I will apologise.

I though Play Makers made the play.

Ian Crook was a playmaker because he could pass it forward and he also crossed the half way line.

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Sorry Nobby but we do play a long ball game of sorts. As soon as Green gets the ball he hoofs it straight up to Ashton. Very rarely do we roll the ball out to the defence and play it through midfield to the strikers.

We''ve bene doing it since the promotion season, when Svensson was knocking it down for Hucks to run on to.

I''d also like to defend Saffri, who is an excellent player who contributes largely to the goals we score and also provides defensive cover for our hapless defence. You can''t get more directly involved than the screamer he scored vs Newcastle btw!!

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How many times has NW talked of playing the ball to the big man? When our backs are against the wall what is NW''s predominant strategy - stick Doherty and/or Thorne up front alongside Ashton. How many times have Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd & Chelsea kept passing the ball right into extra time - loads. And look at their trophy cabinets. Check Norwich''s goals in the last 7 games of last season - most were through quick, slick passing and movement off the ball. Even Deano''s header from Helveg''s cross was more of a quick breakaway move than merely wellying the ball hopefully in Ashton''s general direction that we have witnessed recently.

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"Norwich have never ever played the long ball game, they have always played the ball along the floor from the back.   The boys played fantastically and deserved to get a result for all the effort they put in - me, under pressure?  Why?"
 
Oh excuse me, I had this horrible dream that I was Nigel Worthington doing an interview with the EDP shortly after a 4-0 drubbing by Northampton....

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Apart from anything else, it doesn''t work.  Have you noticed how few long balls in air Deano won against Leeds and Plymouth?

I wasn''t counting but I bet it was less than 1 in 4.  The others were won by the centre back and came back our way.

It is surprising given his size and the fact that he his good in the air in attack.  He does not do well at the long boot up field.  Whatever else Deano is good at and there is plenty, this is not it.  He is much happier with throughballs on the ground where he can use his quick feet.

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[quote]Sorry Nobby but we do play a long ball game of sorts. As soon as Green gets the ball he hoofs it straight up to Ashton. Very rarely do we roll the ball out to the defence and play it through midfield ...[/quote]

I''m sorry but that 1st paragraph  is a complete pile of poo...do you actually go to games and if you do what the hell are you watching!!

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Having watched the Plymouth match I would say that we are not predominently a long ball playing  team, in fact I would say that most of our players do prefer to try and pass the ball out of tough situations.

Collins hardly played any long balls against Plymouth. Although I will say that it is instinctive for players under spells of pressure just to get rid of the ball rather than start knocking it about. Do defencive clearences that allow time for our defence to shape up and a possible counter attack really count as a deliberate long ball?

When Safri is in a game where play revolves around him I don''t understand how anyone can claim we are long ball specialists.

I would say that a couple of players seem to look for the long balls before the passes and they tend to be the players that have played league football in that way for years. Yes, one of these is Fleming.

But still I would say that when the team do what they are meant to do we do actually knock the ball around one hell of a lot.

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[quote]I''m sorry but that 1st paragraph is a complete pile of poo...do you actually go to games and if you do what the hell are you watching!![/quote]

I obviously go to more games than you nolegs......

Its there for all to see.  We''re defending, Green gets the ball.....hooof.

Sure if Green doesn''t get it then we try and pass our way out but theres a definite tactic there to try and catch the oposition out.  Trouble is, we use it all the time so its predictable.  Ashtons not as good in the air as you''d expect and it ultimately leads to us being on the defensive.

Now, I wonder whos telling Green to hoof it....oh yes, that would be the manager with a history of this sort of thing!!

Open your eyes man!!!

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[quote]"Norwich have never ever played the long ball game, they have always played the ball along the floor from the back. The boys played fantastically and deserved to get a result for all the effort they...[/quote]

hmm, "Iwan Roberts" comes to mind........

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" How many times have Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd & Chelsea kept passing the ball right into extra time - loads. And look at their trophy cabinets."

Silly old me was thinking it was something to do with them having exceedingly large sums of money.

However do explain why Chelsea''s passing game did not produce much to disturb the dust in the trophy cabinet for nigh on thirty years yet coincidently when Mr Abramovich appeared said cabinet started to appear crowded.

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I disagree rieg77, most keepers hoof the ball upfield to relieve pressure if the ball can''t be safely collected, but Greeno often picks the ball up and bowls it wide IF the option is open to him. After all, who can forget the way the goal against Palace was conceded earlier this season.

I suspect this is a case of noticing the hoof more, because that''s what you are looking for. In the same way that some fans can tell you exactly how many times Fleming gives the ball away in a match, but wouldn''t have a clue if you asked them to provide the same stat for any other City player!

In case it matters, I DO go to games (though I don''t claim to get much benefit from it at present)

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[quote]I disagree rieg77, most keepers hoof the ball upfield to relieve pressure if the ball can''t be safely collected, but Greeno often picks the ball up and bowls it wide IF the option is open to him. Afte...[/quote]

Fat Barman, I couldn''t care less whether you go to games or not - I don''t want to become embroiled in a class debate about supporters. I''ve no interest in that.

IMO it is a definite tactic to try and catch the opposition on the break and not just Greeno releiving pressure.

Countless times in 2003-2004 we adopted the strategy of leaving Svensson/Roberts/Mckenzie upfront with Huckerby whilst defending a set piece in the hope that Green would hoof it up to them and we would get a breakaway goal. To a certain extent it worked which is why we carried on trying it last season where it didn''t work at all.

Theres no denying that Worthy likes this approach otherwise we wouldn''t do it. I''m not saying we are not a football team, or that we are predominantly long ball merchants but it seems to me that this option is selected too often.

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[quote]I disagree rieg77, most keepers hoof the ball upfield to relieve pressure if the ball can''t be safely collected, but Greeno often picks the ball up and bowls it wide IF the option is open to him. Afte...[/quote]

I suspect this is a case of noticing the hoof more, because that''s what you are looking for. In the same way that some fans can tell you exactly how many times Fleming gives the ball away in a match, but wouldn''t have a clue if you asked them to provide the same stat for any other City player!

That is right on the money, Fat Barman.

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[quote]I was doing a little research on the manager that is ours and I came across somethinge which is only just ever so slightly worrying. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Worthington Nigel Worthington''...[/quote]

Just thought I ought to add my own tuppence as I was actually the person who started the Wikipedia article and wrote that bit.

I based it on the fact that when I was writing Canarycorner.com I got an email from the guy who ran the Blackpool site on Rivals.net saying how worried he was for our club when Worthington joined as assistant manager. He went on to explain how he''d ruined Blackpool, but I responded by saying that he probably wouldn''t become manager and we''d all be safe.

I was terrified when the club initially appointed him manager, but as time went on I think he''s learnt a lot and proven himself to be a much better manager than we could have hoped for compared to our usual failures, especially in his abilities to work with the board, attract and deal with players and work successfully as a team with his more experienced coaching staff.

Also in defence of Worthy, there are a number of other good managers out there didn''t necessarily make the best of starts to their careers - look at Steve Bruce''s relegation escapade at Huddersfield for example - one that they still haven''t recovered from, unlike Blackpool.

Also on the "history repeating itself" note, even if Worthy was to leave us now in the position we''re in, we are actually 3 places ABOVE where we were when he took over from Hamilton 5 years ago.

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