Questionable substitution...

[Splendid Rush 0]

Can anyone tell me why Worthington initially brought on Rossi Jarvis instead of McVeigh?  Jarvis got sent on in a pretty important match with no experience to back him up, playing on the right wing, out of position.  Eventually, when McVeigh was introduced, Jarvis slipped into his familiar central midfield role.

Why didn''t Worthy send McVeigh on initially, a) as a more appropriate alternative and b) to try to do some damage to the (seemingly cracking) Birmingham defence?  I think Jarvis'' poorly hit shot sums it up.  Perhaps a more confident player would have done much better.

Sometimes I can''t work Worthy out at all...

[Mouse 0]

You have to give him his chance sometime. Would you rather he played in a league game which is probably more important than a distracting cup game? Being out of the cup isn''t a problem, i no its what''s always said but now we can concentrate on the league and try not to get relegated for the second season in a row

[Old Boy 0]

1) It wasn''t really an important game - it was really a chance to look at options in a competitive match. We don''t need a long run in the Carling Cup, we need another shot at the Premiership. It was therefore a good match to blood Jarvis.

2) He brought Jarvis on to replace Marney because Marney was pretty ineffective.

3) He moved Jarvis to central midfield when McVeigh replaced Jarrett so that he could have a look at him as a candidate for that position.

4) He didn''t bring McVeigh on until late on because McVeigh was crap against Luton and crap against QPR.

All IMO, but logical and plausible.

[Tim Allman 1]

Playing out of position for Norwich is all part of the initiation process. Sven Goran Worthington, Norwich''s Manager wants all the new players to play out of position - especially if they are players from the youth team or reserves. It shows whether they are prepared to work hard and show commitment without actually showing any skill.

All the younger players, ie Hendo & Jarvis, get told play in a position that they don''t want to play, but as they are so desperate to play in the first team they''ll agree to anything.

The older pros, ie Charlton or Brennan get actually get to play in the their preferred "out of position" place in the team. This is still not much use to the team, but at least the older, more influential players in the team are happy.

The same sort of thing happens when a new player wins a first cap for their country. Nigel Eriksson, the under pressure England manger gets Sean Wright-Phillips and Andy Johnson to agree to anything to get in the side. Wayne Bridge even got a go a left-mid. Joe Cole is now a specialist "out of position player". Wayne Rooney, as the new-boy (but still the best player, by far) in the team, still found himself at left wing in the 4-5-1 fiasco. Beckham however, as senior pro gets to play in his preferred "out of position" place in the team at centre midfield.

Or am I making too many comparison between that dullard Eriksson and our diamond geezer Nigel ?