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Russell Martin

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Apologies if this has been brought up elsewhere, but does anyone know what''s going on with him at the moment?

Daniel Farke apparently said in his press conference that Martin was fit to play, however he wouldn''t be included in the match day squad. Has anyone heard anything else about this?

He has been fit - having played in six of the u23''s recent games - so, whilst many here will be happy for him to be left out, is there any other issue that I''ve missed?

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Played for Under 23''s today

''''Norwich City’s Under-23s were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa at Carrow Road in Premier League Two Division Two. Callum O’Hare gave Villa the lead early on but Tristan Abrahams got City back into the match midway through the first half with a terrific finish.

However, Harry McKirdy broke clear in the second half to seal the points for the visitors.

Matt Gill welcomed Paul Jones and Marcel Franke to his starting eleven with Russell Martin starting his making his second successive U23s appearance – Alex Pritchard was not risked for the game after feeling a sore neck in the aftermath of his first team comeback on Saturday. Elsewhere, Todd Cantwell came back into the side replacing the injured Glenn Middleton.

Conceding early has been the U23s’ Achilles heel over recent matches and they found themselves behind yet again in a game after seven minutes. A deep cross found Jake Doyle-Hayes at the back post and he cushioned the ball across the face of goal to find O''Hare who tapped into an empty net.

Moments later, Villa went close to doubling their lead. A City free-kick was cleared and the visitors broke at pace, resulting in McKirdy hitting the post with a deflected effort.

However, City managed to get themselves level on 23 minutes. Persistence paid off for Max Aarons on the right as he beat his man and crossed to find Abrahams who arrowed the ball into the top corner.

Within ten minutes of the restart, Villa had a good chance to regain the lead. A curling effort from O’Hare was well saved by Jones and the City stopper did brilliantly to save the rebound strike by Jordan Cox.

The visitors then went close again on 70 minutes. An out-swinging free-kick from Jack Clarke was met by James Finnerty at the back post but he could only guide his header against the side netting.

Four minutes later, Villa managed to regain the lead. A lapse in concentration in the City defence allowed McKirdy to break clear and slot past Jones.

McKirdy could have added a second of his own with minutes to play when he forced Jones into a good save low to his left but it didn’t matter as Villa held on for the win''''

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[quote user="Making Plans"]He was in North Walsham last week opening a new shop (not his shop i hasten to add).[/quote]Maybe it isn''t into management he is headingbut into his sideline...................a locksmith

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To quote LDC, "Might be wrong, but suspect he is heading down the coaching route and eventually into management. May be called for in an emergency, but would be surprised to see him back in the first team."

I believe you mail well be correct LDC, that said I personally think it is a mistake not to have on the bench, he may not be everybody''s first choice but has bags of experience, which could be useful, and indeed may well turn out to be.

If memory serves we only had one defender on the bench on Saturday and against Barnsley the previous week, and no cover for full back, and against PNE that defender was Franke, who I personally do not see as a better CB than RM without the obvious advantage of being able to cover at FB either side if needed.

In fact I would even go as far to say, he may even be worth a punt up front, he''s scored some good ''uns in his time, wouldn''t be the first time a defender has morphed into a decent striker, you never know could be our saviour. A long shot I know but hey, any port in a storm!

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[quote user="king canary"]Maybe he''s not taken his benching as well as thought.[/quote]Or maybe he has just got fed up with the ridiculous negativity of a significant proportion of fans about him. It must have affected him - and the team - to have such negativity surrounding the club captain.......oh, I forgot, fans don''t affect the players, do they.........Ruddy and Bennett were often scapegoated....look at them now.  Surman used to get abuse at matches from a few "experts", whatever happened to him......oh yes, a regular at a successful PL club......

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Dont know if anyone else noticed, on Saturday Russ made a big point of being pitch side (in his civvy''s) and hugging Dean Keily, Big Frankie etc, could have been done in the tunnel, maybe looking for a move to the Lillywhites in January.

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[quote user="Lessingham Canary"]Dont know if anyone else noticed, on Saturday Russ made a big point of being pitch side (in his civvy''s) and hugging Dean Keily, Big Frankie etc, could have been done in the tunnel, maybe looking for a move to the Lillywhites in January.[/quote]

How was greeting ex-colleagues (and possibly friends) making ''a big point'', did he get the tannoy to make an announcement prior to this display?

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Dropped because he wasn''t performing well enough and is now arguably behind Klose, Hanley and Zimm for a place in the squad, and now it looks like he''s behind Franke as well.

He''s technically still our 2nd choice RB though, so he won''t be going anywhere just yet. He''s still very good and experienced back-up, but he certainly hasn''t done enough (not even for the U23''s by the looks of things) to be starting at the moment. At 31 he''ll want to be playing still, so assume a loan or permanent move next summer would be a probably option for him and the club. Especially if we are still in this division, if they''re ready it''ll be time to give players like Godfrey a chance.

Was moving to CB a mistake? Probably, but the signing of Pinto ended his rein as 1st choice RB and fan favourite all in one swipe anyway. And rightly so, Pinto is and generally always has been excellent.

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AJ,

Or possibly a loan in January? However, my concern is that we may lose a few players come January without many (if any external replacements), if the right offers came in for Klose and Pinto, I suspect we may accept them. If that turns out to be the scenario, he may well become an important player for us again, so would prefer for him to stay given his experience.

I suppose there is also the possibility that we may have a new manager by then, who may of course take a different view to DF and bring him back into the fold.

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 Lessingham Canary wrote:
Dont

know if anyone else noticed, on Saturday Russ made a big point of being

pitch side (in his civvy''s) and hugging Dean Keily, Big Frankie etc,

could have been done in the tunnel, maybe looking for a move to the

Lillywhites in January.
@TC CanaryHow

was greeting ex-colleagues (and possibly friends) making ''a big point'',

did he get the tannoy to make an announcement prior to this display?Very clever, if was on the tannoy i must have missed it. !, i like Russ, but imo he could have stayed in the tunnel or the corridor out side the changing rooms

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Can just see this happening...

Daniel Farke has been sacked as Norwich Head Coach. Norwich have named Club Captain Russell Martin as Head Coach until the end of the season...

I mean, its not like we haven''t done similar before is it?

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@AJ

Russ had moved to center half long before Pinto arrived anyway so his days of being first choice right back had ended a while ago.

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You beat me to it, Rogue Baboon, and should that day come it''d be the day I stop following my football club until the present owners and their like have been removed. Not only would it be an absolute tinpot move, it would represent all that has been wrong under the Delia regime, in the sense of the same mistakes being made time and time *and time* again and never learning from them.

Obviously this is just hypothetical, and I don''t think that would happen with Webber in charge, thankfully.

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