Nigel's Long Ball game

[Garth Crooks is a 0]

It seems as though the tide has turned against Nigel. But i believe it would be less so if they style of play was better. In the premiership we heard that Nigel was sticking to his guns and was attempting to play the beautiful game. It wasn''t that beautiful though and was more revealing that Worthy lacked a plan of action.

The reason he was got rid of from Blackpool was due to his long ball game.

With all of Norwich''s decent passers of the ball (there are a few) Nigel is stuck to a long ball game which is awful to watch and not producing results.

This supports the belief that the coaching is not up to standard.

What are your opinions on this - do you agree and even though football is results driven at least if we got to see some decent football along with some passion (I know that Hughes is only capable of passion) there would be less pressure on Worthless.

 

[Rasputin was a C... 0]

When I go to football I want to see us win, but I also wouldn''t mind being entertained. If we did play the passing game and the players showed real fight and passion I''d certainly say give the manager more time. Sadly we''ve not been winning and not been entertaining. As you say we have got players who can pass the ball which makes me think its the manager who''s at fault.

[Ken Aries 0]

To be fair I thought we played some decent football at times last season - we just didn''t achieve the results we deserved at times. It''s only comparitively recently that Worthy has resorted to virtually all long ball football - probably through desperation in a vain attempt to win games. You may have noticed, even the best teams resort to a series of long balls when chasing a game in the final few minutes. I don''t mind the occasional long ball when used judiciously, it''s just that when it is the only style on offer and it''s totally ineffective anyway, I start to become very bored and frustrated.

[ManchesterCanary 0]

Both Chelsea and Liverpool use the long ball game, but as part of a varied strategy. They have good target men in Drogba and Crouch respectively. Norwich used it to some effect with Ashton, but they now only have Thorne. Is he a target man with Earnie and McVeigh feeding from him?. The long ball is okay if not used all the time, defences eat up the regular and hate the variety and unknown. Therefore Worthy should use the long ball occasionally but should intersperse this with the passing game on the ground, open up defences with incisive passing from midfield. At the moment I think the long ball is an easy option for a player low on confidence. For me its not Worthy dictating the long ball game but the lack of confidence and players taking the soft option. The supporters can help by not groaning in unison so easily every time a player makes a bad pass, it happens, lets allow the players to feel their way into a game. At the moment there is too much barracking, any player in the world will make a mistake when that is happening.

[beelsie 0]

I personally, do not think that Worthy is an exponent of the long ball game . He repeatedly asks his team to get in the face of the opposition.  "Win the ball and keep it, by passing to one another, as we know we can".  I am sure that his team is doing what they feel able to do on the pitch, and that is all about confidence as you say and taking the easy long ball option.

[LinkNR9 0]

Despite being a WO, I genuinely don''t believe that he does not set out to play hoof-ball. However, it is the players in midfield that he has bought - poor players such as Hughes, Etuhu, Robinson and Jarrett - who are unable to pass the ball (or find space to receive it), which is why the back four are forced into by-passing them.