Leitner and Roberts

[rock bus 1,059]

Just to be straight from the off... I’m a big fan of Farke and think he’s a great manager who also perfectly fits the club BUT

The situation with Leitner and Roberts does seem a bit strange. Both apparently very talented players but can’t even make the bench of a team that is really struggling. In particular you’d think that even if there is doubts over their work rates they are both players capable of ‘changing a game’ something we’ve been desperate for in a few games this season.

Does anyone actually have an idea of what is going on behind the scenes (has a journalist even  actually asked direct and got a straight answer?). It’s particularly odd how leitner has been frozen out when he seemed very much a ‘Farke’ style player last year.

i dont think either should be brought into starting 11 but not having either ever available seems odd. 

[lake district canary 4,830]

First of all they have to show good ability in training and a good attitude and if they do the first thing would be to put them on the bench to wait their chance.....but then who do you leave off the bench to accomodate them?  Look at the bench yesterday, it was strong. Yes Leitner and Roberts are good players.....but they are behind in the queue, probably for a mixture of reasons. Their job is to get themselves to the point where the manager can't ignore them - they obviously haven't done that yet.

 

[Pugin 601]

We have become a better side without Moritz. There were terrible instances earlier in the season of him taking too many touches and slowing us down. I a thinking of Palace away in particular. Technically great, but if he doesn't see the simple early pass then the Premier League is not the place to be. 

Patrick Roberts is a different story altogether. I don't know how he has blotted his copy book, but he wil be out to another loan cub very shortly and we will then see if he have mis-handled his situation.

 

[Cantiaci Canary 610]

Are they both too lightweight?

We already look like a team of pixies without them in the squad!

 

I also sense that Roberts has irritated Farke somehow and don't expect to ever see him in a canary shirt again.

[Indy 3,471]

At this point we’re not missing either of them, but we are missing a quality striker as an option for Pukki who has all the pressure on his shoulders......time to give Idah a go?

[Jobsworth Canary 168]

A couple of experienced defenders wouldn’t go  amiss either

[East Rider 589]

Moritz Leitner was one of those I thought would excel in this league. However, almost every time I have seen him on the pitch in the PL his performance fluctuates from scintillating to vulnerable and we need consistency in his position. 

Shame as in the Championship he often looked like a world beater.

Roberts? No idea. 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

Leitner over rated by our fans, too many weaknesses for this league. Would probably excel in South Europe though where you get more time and space and  football is more like a game of chess. 

Not sure about Roberts, if it were an attitude or training problem Farke probably wouldn't tell us in public as it would upset Man City by devaluing their asset. 

[wcorkcanary 4,784]

9 minutes ago, East Rider said:

Moritz Leitner was one of those I thought would excel in this league. However, almost every time I have seen him on the pitch in the PL his performance fluctuates from scintillating to vulnerable and we need consistency in his position. 

Shame as in the Championship he often looked like a world beater.

Roberts? No idea. 

There, you have the nub of it, it's very hard to tell who is able to handle the step up to the Premier league, and who isnt. Mo Leitner is undoubtedly a talented player, but once identified and targetted as such by better( than last season) midfielders, he has found it a struggle to find time and space to.play 'his game'. Roberts , again ,who knows.

[ZLF 335]

Who knows what the story with Mo is;   at times he was the best player in the early part of the season and seems to have been the one sacrificed as we sought two DCMs who offer more protection - which does seem to have worked.    However given the lack of impact from Vrancic from the bench it may be time for mo to make it that far again.  And whether the alleged training room bust up is playing a part we simply wont know.

 

As far as roberts is concerned he is very much living off his reputation from 3+ years ago.   he scored 18 goals & made 21 assists in something like 67 appearance for celtic. He suffered a hamstring injury in Nov 17 and since then  he has no goals  (excl 1 for us with the u23s) and just 3 (2 in scotland) assists from 41 appearances at Celtic, Girona and now us - where all of his appearances have been underwhelming.   Unfortunately Roberts does not look like fulfilling his early season potential,  which is what webber / farke would have been hoping to spark.   Onel & Todd are comfortably ahead.   My impression is capability is the issue rather than attitude but who knows.

 

CB strengthening is a must as we are a further injury away from disaster,  while cover for Teemu, and improvements at no 10 (steipi & mclean are just not quite there) and at dcm (no tettey no protection) are needed.

Edited December 27, 2019 by ZLF

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

I think Leitner's had plenty of chances already and not taken them. With Vrancic back from injury and pushing for a starting place, I think that makes Leitner's position in the squad much more auxiliary. At the moment we're performing relatively well with two 'destructive' DMs, so there's not going to be room for two playmakers on the bench. There's obviously something happening behind the scenes with Leitner, I've heard a couple of second-hand rumours (not from sources I can vouch for, though, so don't see the point in sharing them).

As for Roberts, I'd guess it's more an attitude and application thing. My guess is that, having played for Man City and Celtic in recent years, he's used to being on the front foot and doesn't have the stomach or versatility to adapt to a relegation scrap.

[Dame to Blame 108]

I heard from a very good source , a guy who sponsors one of the players that Leitner had a major fallout with farke  after the Brighton  game, and basically told Farke his tactics at  Brighton were ****e . And since then he has been frozen out . I have no reason to believe he is lying but it seems feasible to me 

[curious yellow 184]

I hope that they can resolve the problem with Leitner. We have become a more defensive side since the home defeats against Villa and Man U. They had worked how we play, we still haven't found an alternative that works. 

If Pukki is misfiring we have to rely on Cantwell, not enough players are scoring. Leitner was excellent when he came on at Liverpool and Pukki thrives on the passes he can provide. 

Roberts perhaps is too much of a one trick pony and Premier defences would suss him out immediately. The game he started was not a great success. 

Perhaps the FA Cup game could help the fringe players. 

[Clint 221]

I find it interesting that people are saying things like ‘we don’t need these players’ and ‘we’re a much better team without them’ and ‘our bench is really strong’ etc etc.

Really? We’re bottom of the league on 12 points and won one match since early September. 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 4,616]

Leitner was very much hit and miss in the early part of the season. There were some games when he seemed to be our best player in midfield but there were others that completely passed him by. It's very hard to comment on Roberts as he hasn't really been given a chance.

I'd hazard a guess though that something is going on that we don't about because otherwise it seems very strange that they've been completely frozen out for footballing reasons. The rumours of attitude problems and/or bust-ups may well hold water.

[Michael Starr 571]

I suspect it's something to do with their defensive duties not being tight enough. It seems that Farke rightly demands defensive play from his players. I look at Hernandez and Buendia's improvements at tracking back in recent times. Perhaps that's why they aren't in the squad.

[kingsway 101]

Liker others have said in previous posts, Leitner is way over rated by many Norwich fans. Yes hes technically very good but hes not mobile enough, strong enough in the tackle and generally too slow to be effective enough in the Premiership. Cause of these factors he lessens the effectability of the team and we become very unbalanced. Leitners best (only viable position) position is in front of the back 4 alongside a physical midfielder but cause he gets easily brushed of the ball it makes him something of a liability as this would put the back 4 under pressure.

 

What I've seen of Roberts is that again like Leitner hes technically very good but lacks the physicality required. - I can see why hes not featuring.

 

Also factor in possible fallouts with Farke and you come to our current situation.

Edited December 28, 2019 by kingsway

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

Roberts is a loan signing that didn't work. Leitner imo is not suited to the British game; too slow, too lightweight, a 'sitting duck' player who will always get knobbled by a half decent DM. 

[king canary 8,757]

I have to believe the Leitner rumour is true as it came out straight after the Brighton game and he’s not been seen since.

Roberts is another example of how poorly we’ve used the loan market of late. Him, Fahrmann, Amadou, Passlack, Edwards all made zero impact on the team.