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I realise opinions differ but mine is basically that next season, for a start off at least, we start with what we have.

Clearly it would be foolish not to strengthen the squad, but deadwood needs to be unloaded first.

I feel that it is imperative that any 'strengthening' does not involve massive fees and wages contracts.

Being financially secure is the foremost requisite of our club, imo. Previous opportunities have been "pissed against the wall" apparently, but we must not that mistake again.

We do need an extra, and probably expensive striker. We probably need defensive mid-field and 'keeper backup. Another wide player would not go amiss.

That's my limit as long as we stick to the proven policy of very well researched and appropriate value aquisitions.

However, we have a very talented manager, a well integrated squad who appear to be fully behind the cause and deserve to be appreciated at the highest level and the prospect of millions in the club's bank account.

If it doesn't work then there is the next window. If that fails to work then we will surely be in an imperial position to rule the Chumps once again.

I realise that I am a bit of an Ebeneezer in all this, but noises from the club suggest that they (Webber) think along my lines.

We have won the lottery "Spend, spend, spend" is not for me. "Humbug."

 

 

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I agree with the approach you suggest, as I did when the figure of £20m was initially being thrown around as a potential budget. Indeed, we need to strengthen a couple of areas, mostly to add depth in cover more than anything else, which is a nice position to be in.

 

Giving this squad (bolstered by the aforementioned couple of additions) the opportunity to show they can handle this level is something I really would like to see.

 

With the transfer window closing BEFORE the season starts this summer, the previously ever-constant risk of 'slow start, let's panic buy someone' which all clubs have fallen foul to in the past has been removed, and we are certainly no exception to that. Whether or not that panic will just shift forward a few weeks is yet to be seen, but at least it won't be down to the possibility of opening with a couple of less than positive results.

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Ignoring the financial reasoning, which, is clearly a valid reason. I think purely on the basis of sentiment, these boys have given me the best season I have ever experienced, they deserve a go at the top. All of them. Buy the players we all want (DM, Winger, Full back Cover etc) but don't start them, give these boys a chance. It's been special, don't disrupt that.

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Awesome Broadstairs, you managed to get "pissed" through the swear filter, good work!

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I think you build the team for day 1, January is there for potentially if injury or future planning is needed. I am sure youngsters may join in Jan. Or be lined up for the summer.

This window is critical, some of the deadwood leave at the end of their contract. Yes there are still a few players that we would like to move on.

But I believe you start your best players and we will bring in players in position to challenge our championship winning team. I believe we will bring in new 'starters' in the DM position. We should bring in a new winger, number 10, 2nd choice keeper and 2nd choice right back that will give us a squad for the season.

I can see, in the summer pre season, that new winger and number 10 challenging Onel and Marco and their positions seriously under threat. 

We need that competition in our squad, we need cover that we saw was lacking in some positions. Often on our bench the game changers were Rhodes, vrancic and leitner. Well we need more than that.

So I disagree due to us needing high calibre cover and which in turn can be upgrades. But I understand the sentiment, the team ethic is there and understanding is there. But these players need to still push themselves, work harder, study harder as lack of concentration is more key here.

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Btw that is a positive constructive point at the end. The guys have proven that they had it this season. They will be prepared and I know the training also now raise their game.

You want to be the best you can be, so keep moving forward to do that

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As much as I like the reasoning behind it , I think we have to put the message SW shared into perspective. He can't outspend any of the Premier league clubs. So it is reasonable for him to say that he will not throw the bank at any player. 

Yet I think it would be foolish to think that we do not need strengthening. 

We have seen our defense being bailed out by our forwards many times the last season, which means they need help. Same can be said for the DM midfield spot ... I have to say that I am convinced that we will have to make signings ... signing players who can come in and do a job immediately. I shared the sentiment for the slogan "go with what we have" , but realistically we can agree that, to be able to stay in the division, we will need some help.

Spend , spend , spend ? No we can't ... Do we have to spend : Yes , we do , we most definitely have to, ...but wisely...

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You bring people in to challenge for a first team slot and Farke decides who he gives that slot to.

I understand the sentiment but signing “backups” is mainly throwing money down the toilet, the bar has been set, you bring people in you expect to raise it.

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Agree with the sentiment but we do need reinforcements. Additional striker, I like Rhodes and he fits in with the ethos so would be happy with that. Not too much money  either. The other one is a bit left field but if Mikel leaves M'Boro I think he could do a job. We need experience, the team is quite young, and someone to sit in front of the CBs and just read the game for us in the middle. Its not where we need pace, just a well positioned "disruptor".

 

Big thing for me though is tactics. We can't push Lewis and Aarons so high. We'll get destroyed on the break and down the wide mid channels.  They will need to sit deeper and rove forwards more sparingly.  That means that for me we need more pace to complement Buendia and Hernandez through the middle. An energetic AM who can cover the ground well. Not necessarily the most creative but just fast and an ability to play a quick ball into space.

 

Thats it. Keep the spirit at all costs.

 

 

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If we add to the squad you can be sure those additions will be an active part of the first team squad but nobody will come in and be an automatic selection. Farke uses his squad differently to any other City manager I've known. In fact every day of every week throughout the season is about the squad. Nearly to the point where the eleven selected is an incidental. He sets targets for the squad and not individuals. He charged Rhodes, Pukki and Srbenny with scoring 25 goals between them. And obviously credited them with the goals we scored which, again incidentally, most of which were Pukki's. The result of this is a happy squad all ready to step up when needed. We have to keep that mantra where all signings are neither more or less important than any other squad player.

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10 hours ago, Tumbleweed said:

Agree with the sentiment but we do need reinforcements. Additional striker, I like Rhodes and he fits in with the ethos so would be happy with that. Not too much money  either. The other one is a bit left field but if Mikel leaves M'Boro I think he could do a job. We need experience, the team is quite young, and someone to sit in front of the CBs and just read the game for us in the middle. Its not where we need pace, just a well positioned "disruptor".

 

Big thing for me though is tactics. We can't push Lewis and Aarons so high. We'll get destroyed on the break and down the wide mid channels.  They will need to sit deeper and rove forwards more sparingly.  That means that for me we need more pace to complement Buendia and Hernandez through the middle. An energetic AM who can cover the ground well. Not necessarily the most creative but just fast and an ability to play a quick ball into space.

 

Thats it. Keep the spirit at all costs.

 

 

I agree with everything bar Obi Mikel. I think we do need pace in the DM role; we basically need a younger Tettey with small improvements - better positional awareness as he has a tendancy to wander and better technique - control and passing range. I would suggest Mikel has that but not the pace of Tettey, which I think will be key. I think the DM role is by far our most needed position and something we should spend a good chunk of whatever budget we have on.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Monty13 said:

You bring people in to challenge for a first team slot and Farke decides who he gives that slot to.

I understand the sentiment but signing “backups” is mainly throwing money down the toilet, the bar has been set, you bring people in you expect to raise it.

I'm sure we will bring some new faces in but I hope that those 'backups' will be young players with big potential who might raise the bar in a year or two's time rather than the supposedly experienced players with Premiership pedigree who frankly often don't raise the bar anyway.

That seems to be the SW & DF way, and long may it continue.

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I think we should go with the current squad. They've shown enough when played against PL opposition - & they've improved since then.

It is impossible to overestimate the effect  of the cohesion & trust built up amongst our players.

It will be glorious.

 

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4 hours ago, ron obvious said:

I think we should go with the current squad. They've shown enough when played against PL opposition - & they've improved since then.

It is impossible to overestimate the effect  of the cohesion & trust built up amongst our players.

It will be glorious.

 

You must have a pretty low opinion of Webber and the recruitment team if you don’t think they can add to the squad, without breaking the cohesion, with an extra £100m in the club’s turnover. 

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Money can't buy you cohesion but it could sure help loosen it. My bet is on us going into next season with the same main players as we have had with some brought in as back up and I would put money on us not spending more than three or maybe four million on any one player. 

Continuity is the name of the game. Keep the players we have now settled and included and anyone that comes in will have to battle to get in ahead of any of them. We did not buy success this season so why should that change? 

Edited by lake district canary

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7 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

My bet is on us going into next season with the same main players as we have had with some brought in as back up......

I often see that comment Lakey but in truth, it makes no sense.

Surely when you buy new players they have to be an improvement on what you already have, especially as we will now be playing teams of a higher standard.

Players need serious competition for their places and players brought in as back up wouldn't give them that.

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Maybe 'back up' is the wrong word. Strengthening is the better way to put it - getting in players that are able to challenge for a first team place, but not so good they walk straight into it. 

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Players who fit our style and could be starters is the way forward obviously. We have a very balanced team now and you look at it and say, where can we add depth to cover for injuries and where can we add more (pick a skill) to compliment what we have as a team. 

Aaron’s is one player that we’d struggle to compensate for if he’s out, same for Pukki and Krul. We may be able to adapt if Buendia  is out, and also Trybull and Hernandez.

On the more skills front we probably need to inject some more defensive steel in midfield and another option for pace up front who can take some of the load off Pukki. 

So my add add list is GK, RB, DM, RW/CF

 

Edited by Surfer

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42 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Maybe 'back up' is the wrong word. Strengthening is the better way to put it - getting in players that are able to challenge for a first team place, but not so good they walk straight into it. 

I'm sure we'd take players good enough to walk straight in if we could.

At least we haven't seen the word 'upgrade' mentioned too often this summer.

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1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Money can't buy you cohesion but it could sure help loosen it. My bet is on us going into next season with the same main players as we have had with some brought in as back up and I would put money on us not spending more than three or maybe four million on any one player. 

Continuity is the name of the game. Keep the players we have now settled and included and anyone that comes in will have to battle to get in ahead of any of them. We did not buy success this season so why should that change? 

Farke is responsible for cohesion and he’s done a pretty good job. Pukki, Buendia, Krul and Aarons all hadn’t played a second for Norwich before this season and all played a in nearly every game with crucial contributions. 

There is no reason new signings can’t be brought into the group to improve the team. Like new signings such as Pukki and Buendia improved Norwich from the previous season. 

Norwich were good this season, but probably not good enough to survive in the Prem, where the quality level has improved significantly since Norwich were last there. 

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7 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Farke is responsible for cohesion and he’s done a pretty good job. Pukki, Buendia, Krul and Aarons all hadn’t played a second for Norwich before this season and all played a in nearly every game with crucial contributions. 

There is no reason new signings can’t be brought into the group to improve the team. Like new signings such as Pukki and Buendia improved Norwich from the previous season. 

Norwich were good this season, but probably not good enough to survive in the Prem, where the quality level has improved significantly since Norwich were last there. 

I would disagree with the last bit. if we play as well as we have this season we would be at least 16th in the prem. Obviously it is a tall order to even repeat that so wherever we can strengthen the better but it has to be the right signing. The wrong signing rather than no business at all could be the difference between 17th and 18th next year while the right one could transform us into a top half side.

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4 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:
2 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Money can't buy you cohesion but it could sure help loosen it. My bet is on us going into next season with the same main players as we have had with some brought in as back up and I would put money on us not spending more than three or maybe four million on any one player. 

Continuity is the name of the game. Keep the players we have now settled and included and anyone that comes in will have to battle to get in ahead of any of them. We did not buy success this season so why should that change? 

Farke is responsible for cohesion and he’s done a pretty good job. Pukki, Buendia, Krul and Aarons all hadn’t played a second for Norwich before this season and all played a in nearly every game with crucial contributions. 

There is no reason new signings can’t be brought into the group to improve the team. Like new signings such as Pukki and Buendia improved Norwich from the previous season. 

Norwich were good this season, but probably not good enough to survive in the Prem, where the quality level has improved significantly since Norwich were last there. 

Getting the right kind of players in is key to it - the right characters. The point I and others have been making recently is that spending big to get better players is not going to happen, so how do we get those players that are good enough to walk in the first team if we aren't spending big?   A couple of loans maybe, but no big signings.  And if we did spend big, would that not tisk upsetting the balance of the squad?

The sensible approach is imo to keep things as they are and try to strengthen areas of the squad where cover is needed - and then if that is not good enough to stay in the league, so be it.  We obviously want to stay in the league, but not at the expense of buying in better players which would inevitably cost a lot of money  - and we are not going to find it that easy to pick up players cheaply or free next season.

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13 minutes ago, Tetteys Jig said:

I would disagree with the last bit. if we play as well as we have this season we would be at least 16th in the prem. Obviously it is a tall order to even repeat that so wherever we can strengthen the better but it has to be the right signing. The wrong signing rather than no business at all could be the difference between 17th and 18th next year while the right one could transform us into a top half side.

Norwich may have survived this season, but I think next season will be considerably harder. Especially if Villa go up. There is no Premier League team I can currently point to and go ‘they have no plan’ which is the first time I can remember that happening for a very long time. With Hughes and Hughton gone, there isn’t a team now who look fundamentally flawed. 

 

13 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Getting the right kind of players in is key to it - the right characters. The point I and others have been making recently is that spending big to get better players is not going to happen, so how do we get those players that are good enough to walk in the first team if we aren't spending big?   A couple of loans maybe, but no big signings.  And if we did spend big, would that not tisk upsetting the balance of the squad?

The sensible approach is imo to keep things as they are and try to strengthen areas of the squad where cover is needed - and then if that is not good enough to stay in the league, so be it.  We obviously want to stay in the league, but not at the expense of buying in better players which would inevitably cost a lot of money  - and we are not going to find it that easy to pick up players cheaply or free next season.

Buying ‘cover’ is rarely a sensible move, it generally doesn’t cost significantly less, you end up with a player who isn’t good enough and isn’t fussed whether they are playing or not. 

It depends what you mean by ‘big signings’, there won’t be and Fulham style signings of guys like Seri for £20m+ but I’d expect at least one £8m - £12m player in. As you say character is important and I see no reason why the club would 180 on its current work in making sure that signings are good on and off the pitch. But just because a player has a large fee attached to them doesn’t mean they have poor character. 

I think the players would become slightly disillusioned if Norwich only signed a bunch of average players to be back up. This is a big opportunity for all of the Norwich squad and they wouldn’t want to see the club hamper their chances of starting up by being timid in the transfer market. 

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It's not about signing average players! it's about buying the right kind of players who can come into the team at some stage once they get a chance.  Being in the PL means clubs know we have money to spend and prices will be high - higher probably than we will be prepared to spend.    Therefore, our best bet is to contiunue as we are with the players we've got and try to get in good young players to develop the squad.  

Also, last season it took quite a few games to get going because of the new players we brought in - we cannot afford to be like that next season. So continuity and momentum are what will help us and that means stiucking largely to what we've got, bringing in players who can be assimilated in the squad and/or challenge for the first team at some stage.

 

Edited by lake district canary

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I think there's a lot of spin coming out of Colney with players and staff all singing from the same "we won't do a Fulham" hymn sheet.

Some fans are trying to make a virtue of the fact that we will have the least money to spend this summer with all the talk about maintaining team spirit and cohesion etc. The fact that expectations around transfer spend were being lowered almost immediately means the club aren't prepared to gamble on us staying in the PL for more than one season. Given that we don't have moneybags owners that's sensible enough, but let's not pretend it's anything other than financial necessity. For all Webber's talk of not doing a Fulham, you can be sure he'd much rather he had £100 million to spend.

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"For all Webber's talk of not doing a Fulham, you can be sure he'd much rather he had £100 million to spend."

 

But we have a history of being a yo-yo club and a history of big money/high wage signings therefore coming back to bite us in the bum.

Any sizeable expenditure must be mostly on youth with an eye on sell-on value. An approach that has been mooted from the top and from most views on this forum.

There is no one way alone that will dictate success though so we have to trust the current regime to continue with the mix of experience, youth and past under performers.

 

Yes we would all prefer £100m over £20, but I'm not sure that Webber would want to splash it all in one go and the Fulham reference merely indicated that this single method need not always bring success.

 

 

 

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The links with Connell and Mair, suggest there's more than one eye on the longer term, as opposed to reports of Mikel or Mignolet which would be expensive and comes with no guarantees of survival or resale value. 

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