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With one foot in the Premier League, Keith Scott evaluates the squad to see who can make the grade next season. Let's look at the main players

Tim Krul. Yes

Max Aarons. Yes but unlikely to be here.

Grant Hanley. Getting better all the time so every possibility.

Ben Gibson. Every possibility.

Christophe Zimmerman. Not convinced.

Jacob Sorensen. Too early to say.

Dimitris Giannoulis. Every possibility.

Oliver Skipp. Every chance but unlikely to be here.

Kenny Mclean. A very decent championship player but as seen before not at the level required for the prem.

Lukas Rupp. Still think there's more to come from Rupp but right now the jury's out.

Mario Vrancic. No. Too slow.

Kieran Dowell. Doesn't look good.

Onel Hernandez. Can't see it, massively overrated by a section of our fan base.

Przemysław Płacheta. Too early to say.

Emi Buendia. YES. Pure class. Have to hope and pray he stays on next season. The stats don't lie. If we can't win in the championship without him we have zero chance in the prem. Irreplaceable.

Todd Cantwell. Has shown he can do it in glimpses. Needs to be far more consistent.

Mario Stiepermann. No.

Teemu Pukki. Has shown he can score goals in the prem but his finishing and composure often leave a lot to be desired. Will need proper competition next season.

Jordan Hugill. No.

Adam Idah. No.

So there you have it. Hopefully this gets passed on to Farke and the board and they act upon my words of wisdom accordingly.

All the best. Keith Scott.

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2 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Astonished to see you here tonight, Keith - must be feeling a bit sad at how things are going.

I think you need to give credit where its due @Branston Pickle ...he has found quite a few negatives in the list which is some feat after our match tonight.

Still, I can see the gist of the post. The trouble is, according to Keith anyway, it looks like we will need a whole new team!

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19 minutes ago, Keith Scott said:

With one foot in the Premier League, Keith Scott evaluates the squad to see who can make the grade next season. Let's look at the main players

Tim Krul. Yes

Max Aarons. Yes but unlikely to be here.

Grant Hanley. Getting better all the time so every possibility.

Ben Gibson. Every possibility.

Christophe Zimmerman. Not convinced.

Jacob Sorensen. Too early to say.

Dimitris Giannoulis. Every possibility.

Oliver Skipp. Every chance but unlikely to be here.

Kenny Mclean. A very decent championship player but as seen before not at the level required for the prem.

Lukas Rupp. Still think there's more to come from Rupp but right now the jury's out.

Mario Vrancic. No. Too slow.

Kieran Dowell. Doesn't look good.

Onel Hernandez. Can't see it, massively overrated by a section of our fan base.

Przemysław Płacheta. Too early to say.

Emi Buendia. YES. Pure class. Have to hope and pray he stays on next season. The stats don't lie. If we can't win in the championship without him we have zero chance in the prem. Irreplaceable.

Todd Cantwell. Has shown he can do it in glimpses. Needs to be far more consistent.

Mario Stiepermann. No.

Teemu Pukki. Has shown he can score goals in the prem but his finishing and composure often leave a lot to be desired. Will need proper competition next season.

Jordan Hugill. No.

Adam Idah. No.

So there you have it. Hopefully this gets passed on to Farke and the board and they act upon my words of wisdom accordingly.

All the best. Keith Scott.

Giannoulis and Gibson will be signed if we go up you tool. 

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3 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

I don't think he's far out to be fair.

Agreed, I thought he was fairly on the money too. Certainly by the standards of his usual posts on here.

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Evaluating our "fans"

Keith Scott : It's a NO from me 😛 (sent to Ipswich at the earliest opportunity)

Edited by Icecream Snow

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Agree with a lot, but disagree with Idah, Sorenson and Dowell. Not to say they'll be regular starters but they're sure to be young and hungry and I'd love to see them have a shot.

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9 hours ago, Keith Scott said:

With one foot in the Premier League, Keith Scott evaluates the squad to see who can make the grade next season. Let's look at the main players

Tim Krul. Yes

Max Aarons. Yes but unlikely to be here.

Grant Hanley. Getting better all the time so every possibility.

Ben Gibson. Every possibility.

Christophe Zimmerman. Not convinced.

Jacob Sorensen. Too early to say.

Dimitris Giannoulis. Every possibility.

Oliver Skipp. Every chance but unlikely to be here.

Kenny Mclean. A very decent championship player but as seen before not at the level required for the prem.

Lukas Rupp. Still think there's more to come from Rupp but right now the jury's out.

Mario Vrancic. No. Too slow.

Kieran Dowell. Doesn't look good.

Onel Hernandez. Can't see it, massively overrated by a section of our fan base.

Przemysław Płacheta. Too early to say.

Emi Buendia. YES. Pure class. Have to hope and pray he stays on next season. The stats don't lie. If we can't win in the championship without him we have zero chance in the prem. Irreplaceable.

Todd Cantwell. Has shown he can do it in glimpses. Needs to be far more consistent.

Mario Stiepermann. No.

Teemu Pukki. Has shown he can score goals in the prem but his finishing and composure often leave a lot to be desired. Will need proper competition next season.

Jordan Hugill. No.

Adam Idah. No.

So there you have it. Hopefully this gets passed on to Farke and the board and they act upon my words of wisdom accordingly.

All the best. Keith Scott.

I agree with most of your points, although we are possibly writing off Kenny too easily, with more experience and an injury free run in the side he will be more effective.

Also I think Todd is good enough.

 

It will be interesting to see what the club do.

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Farke and Webber rate Kenny very highly. In fact they were astonished that a Premier League club didn't try to buy him in the summer. 

I'd be surprised if we don't get Skipp for another year. He would struggle to get on the Spurs bench. 

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49 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Farke and Webber rate Kenny very highly. In fact they were astonished that a Premier League club didn't try to buy him in the summer. 

I'd be surprised if we don't get Skipp for another year. He would struggle to get on the Spurs bench. 

Skipp struggle to get on the Spurs bench? You must be joking. He is better than players like Lo Celso and the like that are regular subs there already. I'd have him here like a shot if we are in the PL next year and Spurs let us have him

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4 minutes ago, Don’t be Krul said:

Skipp struggle to get on the Spurs bench? You must be joking. He is better than players like Lo Celso and the like that are regular subs there already. I'd have him here like a shot if we are in the PL next year and Spurs let us have him

Do you think Mourinho (or whichever high profiled manager succeeds him), will play anyone who doesn’t have an established reputation?  I am still hopeful that Spurs and Skipp will think next year will be more productive for Skipp at Norwich rather than at Spurs - I think it would be the best all round.  My own preference would be for us to be giving this experience to someone we own, so we see the financial benefits of someone developing into a premier league player.  The problem is finding that player, and then accepting they are unlikely to be the finished article whilst playing here, so we are back to the promotion / relegation cycle.

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After the Covid restart Onel was by far our best player. And I really don't see the point of writing off players like Idah before they have even had the chance to show what they can do. 

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50 minutes ago, Don’t be Krul said:

Skipp struggle to get on the Spurs bench? You must be joking. He is better than players like Lo Celso and the like that are regular subs there already. I'd have him here like a shot if we are in the PL next year and Spurs let us have him

Better than Lo Celso? They're completely different players

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Skipp's competing with players like Winks, Sissoko and Hojbjerg. He's probably not getting past Hojbjerg yet.

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Out wide is definitely an area that will need strengthening.

Be amazed if we kept hold of Emi, if we cant agree a new contract with Cantwell then he would probably go. Placheta and Hernandez arent good enough to be premier league starters. 

I'm not just saying this but another loan would be good for Skipp, he has alot of players in front of him at Spurs and will be hard for him to play 20+ games. More beneficial for him playing week in week out in the prem than league cup and Europa league games for Spurs. 

Aarons will be tricky to replace. That will cost quite a few million. 

Certainly think a new striker will be needed and a No10.

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This entire topic has been discussed a few times before already. The OP has virtually repeated previous views which are, as usual, open to a tweak or two here and there. 

No doubt this will all will be raked over and over again ad nauseam. We'll all be going around in circles with it all for a couple of months or three now, and so much so that dizziness will likely replace repetitive thought syndrome.

Nothing wrong with that, its a discussion forum after all and last night's result does, imo, virtually seal the liklihood of a season at the top table for our club next time around.

This means that the matter can be addressed early in the boardroom and, although I am quite sure its members will find imput from this forum invaluable, they have the know-how, purse strings, lessons and, equally importantly, time in abundance to assess and address the matter with a fine tooth comb.

We all know the basics. One two three or four or more players will be deemed not up to the challenge. It is necessary to find a good home at a good price for these. Attending to the basics is still vital even whilst in the land of milk and honey.

Certain players need holding onto and we know those to be Aarons, Buendia and possibly Cantwell. We could end up cash-rich, but player poor. 

Another one-season wonder approach to the promotion would not go down well in the stands it seems.

Ideally we need to hang onto our best and sensibly proportion expenditure into areas where we are likely to be suspect on the field of play. It was attempted last time but floudered on the rock of failure due to a combination of poor personnel and our selective injury crisis. We were also a bit too frugal with the dosh.

This is all stating the obvious, as is the fact that Webber, Farke and the team will approach the new challenge better than they did last time around. It's less easy on the coalface though, even if basic survival need be the order of the day.

I believe in Gibson, Gianoullis and (hopefully) Skipp they have started to show that they are capable of this. Sorensen seems equipped to me, whilst Placheta might, in horse racing terms, make that 'jump from a two-years old to a three-years old and become a revelation.' Mumba and Martin could as well. It's circling with Idah, Situ, Sinani?

The likes of McClean, Rupp, Hernadez and Hanley (especially) make for good mid-Premier League stalwarts. 

I'm hopeful for progression whoever we keep or attain.

 

Edited by BroadstairsR

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If we sell Buendia and Aarons I can’t see us staying up. No player is irreplaceable but we are certainly unlikely to find their replacement in the summer and them hit the ground running in the Prem.

Krul, Aarons, Gibson, Cantwell, Buendia and Pukki are all PL quality IMO, Skipp as well if we could somehow keep him. Decent core of a prem team so we need to keep them.

I think we have other players showing their quality who will do a good job. McClean, Hanley, Giannoulis being the ones standing out for me.

Who knows who may explode after the summer like Cantwell last time.

I feel we will be stronger next time, this year’s performances are much more mature and controlled. But we need to keep our best and invest better than last time this summer.

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25 minutes ago, Move Klose said:

Placheta and Hernandez arent good enough to be premier league starters. 

Again, Onel was by far our best player after the Covid restart and certainly showed he was capable of cutting it in the premier league. And I don't understand this desire to write off very young players like Placheta, Idah, Dowell etc before they have had a genuine chance to show what they are capable of. The Norwich recruitment strategy rests fundamentally on buying talented young players and developing them into very talented players capable of competing at the highest levels. That strategy can't possibly work if they are not given the chance to develop those talents. Assuming we go up I'm sure Webber and Farke will have a a pretty clear view on which players they think would benefit from going out on loan and which will they think show enough ability to potentially flourish in the more refined arena of the premier league. As Monty13 just pointed out, Cantwell was not even a certain starter in our previous championship season, the very next season in the premier league he proved to be a star player. 

Edited by horsefly

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Can't see any reason as to why we or Spurs wouldn't snap up a Skipp loan extension option for next season. Although I think Skipp is good enough to make the Spurs bench now, he does have serious competition ahead of him there, and we all know that Jose prefers established players ahead of youngsters.

Edited by Michael Starr

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1 hour ago, Don’t be Krul said:

Skipp struggle to get on the Spurs bench? You must be joking. He is better than players like Lo Celso and the like that are regular subs there already. I'd have him here like a shot if we are in the PL next year and Spurs let us have him

You think Skipp is better than a current Argentine international!? Unbelievable. 

Bear in mind that Skipp is a defensive midfield player. He has 3 very good players in front of him at Spurs. If he was good enough to play for them, or even be on the bench he wouldn't be here. 

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Write off as many as you like and make arguments for buying replacements for those you have written off.  The most pointed argument to be made is WE CANNOT AFFORD to buy the quality PL standard players required to compete.  Another argument is we cannot recruit from Europe as we have done in the past due to new rules.  We will have to fill missing spots in the squad from loanees relegated clubs, championship and lower status UK clubs and out of contract players at fees we can afford..  Marque signings will be thin on the ground.  Luxuriate in what is happening now but in the PL we shall have to require on some of those players written off by the OP just hope they can step up to the challenge and we can scrape 17th or a little better.

 

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Keith

"With one foot in the Premier League, Keith Scott evaluates the squad to see who can make the grade next season. Let's look at the main players"

..........I think you mean with one foot not in the Premier League surely!

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TBH I don't think Keith is too far wrong. Far too early mind you to write off Idah/Dowell and Hernadez though. Its a shame we dont have more depth up front / Idah has been injured, as could of really kicked on this season on a loan. Dowell has been injured and failed to push on since his return. He hasnt looked great albeit from very small cameos. Hernadez has shown glipses of what he is about and just needs to find his sharpness again. Think he will be handy come the Prem, if thats how are destiny pans out 🙂

We do need to trim the squad down significantly and be pretty ruthless. We still need to get rid of Trybull/Leitner/Drmic and then you need to put players who arent capable of playing prem football on that list too. For me thats Vrancic and some others. 

If we are gonna stand any chance of premiership success we need to invest heavily and good rid of a number of players who just arent capable of making the step up. Reasonably big investment is hard for any club at the moment after COVID, especially Norwich who dont like 'gambling' on investing heavily. One may argue the outlay on Gianni and Gibson is probably more than we spent already on Prem when we were up there last time.

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18 minutes ago, pete said:

Write off as many as you like and make arguments for buying replacements for those you have written off.  The most pointed argument to be made is WE CANNOT AFFORD to buy the quality PL standard players required to compete.  Another argument is we cannot recruit from Europe as we have done in the past due to new rules.  We will have to fill missing spots in the squad from loanees relegated clubs, championship and lower status UK clubs and out of contract players at fees we can afford..  Marque signings will be thin on the ground.  Luxuriate in what is happening now but in the PL we shall have to require on some of those players written off by the OP just hope they can step up to the challenge and we can scrape 17th or a little better.

 

Spot on Pete! And as for those "marquee signings", they frequently prove to be a disastrous gamble that a club of our size and finances should never even contemplate as a strategy. To take one example: Joe Linton (Newcastle United) £40m, 53 appearances 3 goals (wins 16, losses 26). A signing like that could very easily sink a club like City. Imagine the consequences of getting relegated with a £40m player you can't sell for half your outlay (£18m is his rather optimistic transfermarkt value) and who undoubtedly would be on crippling wages. Indeed we don't need to imagine it, there is an abundance of examples of clubs who made precisely that sort of foolish gamble and have suffered dreadfully as a result. Until we uncover a truly benevolent billionaire who wants to throw money at the club with no expectation of a return on her outlay (good luck with that) I shall remain very happy with the present regime's determination to progress City as a top 26 club ensuring that it never imperils its financial viability.

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13 hours ago, Keith Scott said:

Tim Krul. Yes

Max Aarons. Yes.

Grant Hanley. Yes.

Ben Gibson. Yes.

Christophe Zimmerman. Yes.

Jacob Sorensen. Yes.

Dimitris Giannoulis. Yes.

Oliver Skipp. Yes.

Kenny Mclean. Yes.

Lukas Rupp. Yes.

Mario Vrancic. Yes.

Kieran Dowell. Yes.

Onel Hernandez. Yes.

Przemysław Płacheta. Yes..

Emi Buendia. Yes.

Todd Cantwell. Yes.

Mario Stiepermann. Yes.

Teemu Pukki. Yes.

Jordan Hugill. Yes.

Adam Idah. Yes.

I've fixed it for you Keith, if they weren't at least in contention for the Premier League then we wouldn't be 10 points clear in the Championship. There's no way half these players aren't good enough to compete with the current bottom 3 in the Premier League, we have a much stronger squad than we did 2 years ago.

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1 hour ago, Monty13 said:

If we sell Buendia and Aarons I can’t see us staying up. No player is irreplaceable but we are certainly unlikely to find their replacement in the summer and them hit the ground running in the Prem.

Krul, Aarons, Gibson, Cantwell, Buendia and Pukki are all PL quality IMO, Skipp as well if we could somehow keep him. Decent core of a prem team so we need to keep them.

I think we have other players showing their quality who will do a good job. McClean, Hanley, Giannoulis being the ones standing out for me.

Who knows who may explode after the summer like Cantwell last time.

I feel we will be stronger next time, this year’s performances are much more mature and controlled. But we need to keep our best and invest better than last time this summer.

I think they're nailed on to go. It's simply down to wages.

Replacing Buendia can only be done with ... er ...Buendia. However we couldn't possibly have replaced Maddison...

Over to you (again) Mr. Webber  🙂

And I honestly believe Max's replacement is in the building 🙃

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