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Leitner signs permanently

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Farke/Webber do look as if they know who to recruit in the way of developing them.
I expect the newer recruits will be as with Vrancic, in and out of the first team, as they look to improve and adapt to the ''rigors'' of the Championship.
For those who were expecting Farke to produce a promotion winning squad they were mistaken. Comparisons with Lambert over look the fact that he did not have the huge weight of PL contracts hanging onto his squad. It will take time. Youth players are seasons away and gone are the days when they had to be thrown in to ''make up the numbers''
By the end of this coming season will will have lost all PL levels of player contracts. It is from there that we will be able to really judge what is happening with City.
So why not enjoy what is happening and give things a chance ?

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Great news.

If he’s not an out and out number 10, then he did look like he wanted to occupy that space at times.

It would be interesting to see us without an out and out number 10, which we haven’t done for a long time.

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[quote user="king canary"]Can I ask where this is he''s a number 10 has come from? Feels a bit like something sometime said and is now a given. I''m assuming most of us hadn''t seen much of him before joining us and transfermarkt''s position breakdown has him playing as a central midfielder 88 times and an number 10 only 32 times.

He also apparently played left midfield 4 times if LDC wants to ''do a Dorrans'' with him....[/quote] Where a player actually plays is a function of more variables than the simple "his position" allows. We saw that during Leitner''s loan spell, when he, like others, was required to slot in to a side built round James Maddison. Similarly, at Borussia Dortmund, Leitner played second fiddle to Gotze and Kagawa. If he is finally given the primary creative role largely denied him in his career to date, we could be in for a real treat.

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That is a good observation WCC- perhaps he will shine higher up the pitch pulling the strings. He just never seemed to offer much in terms of grinding results when with us last season - hence my scratching my chin.

Still think forwards are the priority- and contrary to those attacking my post the lack of a pot has very definitely been made public.

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[quote user="Mr Benn"]
Farke/Webber do look as if they know who to recruit in the way of developing them.
I expect the newer recruits will be as with Vrancic, in and out of the first team, as they look to improve and adapt to the ''rigors'' of the Championship.
For those who were expecting Farke to produce a promotion winning squad they were mistaken. Comparisons with Lambert over look the fact that he did not have the huge weight of PL contracts hanging onto his squad. It will take time. Youth players are seasons away and gone are the days when they had to be thrown in to ''make up the numbers''
By the end of this coming season will will have lost all PL levels of player contracts. It is from there that we will be able to really judge what is happening with City.
So why not enjoy what is happening and give things a chance ?
[/quote]

I thought Webber said three transfer windows before he should be judged? This transition seems to get longer and longer... I will 100% enjoy it if the football massively improves and we return to an entertaining free scoring attacking side. Last year was dull dull dull (Madders apart)... Still have to address the massive lack of goals in the side and as good as Leitner could be he is not the answer on that front...

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Four windows I thought.

We get this striker stuff every year and people always think they should be the first players in the door.....this is real life, not Fifa or Champ Manager so transfers happen when they happen.

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A very good signing IMO.

A couple of people seem to be questioning his attitude but the fact that he was posting photos of himself training alone in Germany in a Norwich kit suggests to me that he really wants to be here. Surely that''s exactly what we want from potential signings. It''s also a good indication thaty things are well behind the scenes.

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Leitner started his career as a ‘deep lying playmaker’ and was backup to Gundogan and Sahin at Dortmund. He also played as a ‘10’ for them on occasions, but Klopp’s formation didn’t really play a traditional ‘10’. Kagawa operated more as a second striker and Gotze came in from a wide position.

Leitner suffered from being caught between stalls a little, not quite physical enough to play as an 8 and not quite attacking to fulfil the role of the modern ‘10’.

At Lazio he was stuck behind Biglia, Parolo and Milinkovic-Savic and never found his niche. Lazio didn’t play with a 10 either, but has down midfielders breaking from deep.

Leitner was given the chance as a ‘10’ in Farke’s Dortmund II team before moving to Lazio and did really well there. Farke doesn’t play the high press of Klopp or Wagner which suited Leitner more, as does a possession style.

Will be interesting to see how Farke sets up next season - I’m sure he’ll use multiple formations across the seasons and 3-4-3 is likely to feature, as is the 5-2-1-2 he used last season.

One of the features that Norwich’s signings in the Webber era has been flexibility, with most players having to cover more than one position. I expect Leitner will play as an 8 and a 10 at some point.

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He doesn’t have to score much to be the new Wes does he? Strange argument, almost like you’ve decided you don’t like him regardless of what he actually does.

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Leitner obviously isn’t a like for like replacement with Maddison, their games are very different.

Farke does prefer a possession based game, which has been very successful in the Championship and beyond before. No one system is inherently better than another, as long as it is executed well.

Norwich’s passing game would have probably produced better results had there been a striker capable of finishing the chances created - when Nelson was on form he had managed to score 5 goals in 434 mins on the pitch (so just over one goal per 90mins). Then for whatever reason his form plummeted and Norwich struggled for goals even more.

As with all transfer windows it is best to judge it as a whole, as well as each player, once it closes and the overall plan (or lack of it) is apparent. It could be that Buendia is actually the man who will take Maddison’s place behind the striker, or Maclean - both of whom scored well for a midfielder last season. It could be someone else will come in to fill that role - or that Farke won’t even play with someone in the same type of position.

Is Leitner going to score 15 like Maddison did? No.

Does that mean he is a bad signing? No.

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We will just have to wait and see in reality. It is obvious that any new permanent signing will be met with joy as it appears an improvement to the squad or else we would run with those we already have.

From what I saw of him he looked relaxed and looking to do something other than the five yard safe pass.

Let''s hope he goes from strength to strength.

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[quote user="Gordon Bennett"]Four windows I thought.

We get this striker stuff every year and people always think they should be the first players in the door.....this is real life, not Fifa or Champ Manager so transfers happen when they happen.[/quote]

Being as 43% of last seasons goals departed early, I would hope that we had replacements lined up to replace that pretty sharpish... if we did not it seems a slightly cavalier approach to our championship survival next year...

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No striker is going to score if he receives no passes.

All our strikers, however good, have struggled under this system.

Leitner is a quality chance creator.

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[quote user="Mike "][quote user="Gordon Bennett"]Four windows I thought.

We get this striker stuff every year and people always think they should be the first players in the door.....this is real life, not Fifa or Champ Manager so transfers happen when they happen.[/quote]

Being as 43% of last seasons goals departed early, I would hope that we had replacements lined up to replace that pretty sharpish... if we did not it seems a slightly cavalier approach to our championship survival next year...[/quote]
Hey everyone, Mike has got a stat and he''s going to use it on every thread. [:D]

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Very pleased to see such a technically gifted player sign for us.  We will need as much of his kind of quality as possible to mount a promotion challenge.   More players will sign and if they are anything as near as him in terms of ability, it will give us the best chance to do well next season.

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Would Maddison have scored 15 again? Possibly but I suspect he would have found it harder this season with teams knowing how to stop him/us better.

I''m not saying maddison is not a big loss but I think we will be better as a unit without him in terms of faster attacks. Alot of our break aways broke down with maddison as he had so many defenders around him when he had the ball he either had to try hold the ball up or we often got free kicks which slowed us down and made us more stop start....admittedly I may be trying too hard to convince myself on this....but in my head I think if we can break using wide players rather than a central figure point then we will open spaces and stretch play

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I am really pleased with this signing, for where we are right now it''s a quality signing. Last year you could clearly see his qualities and he was ring rusty.

Maybe it was all part of Farke/Webbers master plan that they told Leitner not to look too good within the season so that we could go back and sign him on the cheap LOL!

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I''m not 100% convinced we need Leitner looking at our other midfield options and his signing certainly should not be prioritised over strikers but on the assumption that it won;t be, I am happy enough with this rumoured signing because we have seen for ourselves already that he is a decent player and one would hope that with a full pre-season and if he can stay free from injury that he will offer us something. Also seemed to have a good attitude when on the pitch looking to drive the team forward, take quick throws etc.

He is not a direct Madders substitute but then we were never going to find one (which is why Madders cost £23m) and perhaps Leitner will flourish if given the main play making role.

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[quote user="glory.win or die."]Would Maddison have scored 15 again? Possibly but I suspect he would have found it harder this season with teams knowing how to stop him/us better.

I''m not saying maddison is not a big loss but I think we will be better as a unit without him in terms of faster attacks. Alot of our break aways broke down with maddison as he had so many defenders around him when he had the ball he either had to try hold the ball up or we often got free kicks which slowed us down and made us more stop start....admittedly I may be trying too hard to convince myself on this....but in my head I think if we can break using wide players rather than a central figure point then we will open spaces and stretch play[/quote]

gwod - I totally agree with this; the risk this year is that any attempt to move the ball quickly would be snuffed out with Maddison. He was beginning to look a lot like Hoolahan in his desire to keep the ball and try to create something special, rather than a simple ball out to the wing etc. As a result our movement forward was slowed. I think a lack of a focal point in that area this year will indeed help the team to share responsibility and get the ball to someone in space and keep the attack moving. the only issue is whether we have someone in the box to put a resultant cross away.

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[quote user="TCCANARY"]
[quote user="Mike "][quote user="Gordon Bennett"]Four windows I thought.

We get this striker stuff every year and people always think they should be the first players in the door.....this is real life, not Fifa or Champ Manager so transfers happen when they happen.[/quote]

Being as 43% of last seasons goals departed early, I would hope that we had replacements lined up to replace that pretty sharpish... if we did not it seems a slightly cavalier approach to our championship survival next year...[/quote]
Hey everyone, Mike has got a stat and he''s going to use it on every thread. [:D]
[/quote]

Just find it really odd that no one is worried about the lack of goals in our squad.... it''s appalling. But hey lets celebrate someone who looked ok last year as though he is Ronaldo... you couldn''t make it up

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[quote user="shefcanary"][quote user="glory.win or die."]Would Maddison have scored 15 again? Possibly but I suspect he would have found it harder this season with teams knowing how to stop him/us better.

I''m not saying maddison is not a big loss but I think we will be better as a unit without him in terms of faster attacks. Alot of our break aways broke down with maddison as he had so many defenders around him when he had the ball he either had to try hold the ball up or we often got free kicks which slowed us down and made us more stop start....admittedly I may be trying too hard to convince myself on this....but in my head I think if we can break using wide players rather than a central figure point then we will open spaces and stretch play[/quote]

gwod - I totally agree with this; the risk this year is that any attempt to move the ball quickly would be snuffed out with Maddison. He was beginning to look a lot like Hoolahan in his desire to keep the ball and try to create something special, rather than a simple ball out to the wing etc. As a result our movement forward was slowed. I think a lack of a focal point in that area this year will indeed help the team to share responsibility and get the ball to someone in space and keep the attack moving. the only issue is whether we have someone in the box to put a resultant cross away.[/quote]Have to say, I have wondered the same myself and whether we might be more effective as a team without an outstanding individual through whom everything increasingly became focussed. For all the great things he did, Madison did slow us down at times and retain the ball when a quick simple option was on - I''m sure that this is just part of his development and he will learn - especially when surrounded by better players.

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Ahahaha

Maddison was responsible for slowing down attacks? No, just no. Especially amusing coming from those who were defending Vrancic in the first half of the season who was easily the most guilty of wanting four or five touches and taking all the momentum out of attacks.

One of Maddisons best aspects was his willingness to turn, face and drive forward. Maybe if some of his colleagues had been more willing to offer support to him we might have done more.

And of course attacks broke down more with him- he was one of the few fuckers on this team interested in trying to make something happen rather than play harmless 10 yard passes right to left and back again, then back to the central defender, which I''m sure delights those who like to wank themselves silly over possession stats but doesn''t actually do anything without the likes of Maddison.

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One honestly starts to wonder if some people are paid by the board to be positive no matter what. That this thread claims we will be better without Madders just says it all. Deluded doesn’t come close.

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I do agree that Maddison could and did slow down play.

Not all the time. But sometimes he was guilty of it.

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