We need to talk about Placheta...

[ron obvious 1,514]

He always seems to be on his heels - reactive rather than proactive. One major characteristic of better teams is they always seem to know where the ball's going & anticipate accordingly. Placheta doesn't.

It's a shame because he is capable of neat turns & I think he's got a decent shot on him. And he is quick - but he doesn't use his pace effectively.

I thought he might be capable of maturing into a more effective player ( a bit of a 'weapon') but not much sign so far I'm afraid.

[shefcanary 2,462]

5 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Really good at pointing though. 

Pointing, but not mentoring, encouraging, improving, nay leading? 

Actually, he keeps getting picked, but has he ever been captain?  Hmmm, makes me think ......

[AJ 1,231]

34 minutes ago, damn that Ralph Coates! said:

How badly must Tzolis train if Placheta and Rowe are ahead of him....

Harsh on Rowe who has looked very promising so far in his cameos and for the U23s

[Ian 1,136]

24 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

I get you.  You are a fan of McLean. 

I am not, I think he really drags Norwich down, he does nothing that brings a cohesiveness, confidence or solidity to Norwich's game.  Every now and again I accept his headless chicken running about does result in a goal but it's not often enough to justify his place in the team (squad, okay, maybe).  I also think his on pitch presence is why some of the younger players do not perform.  I've been in teams where a "loud" player like McLean confuse or winds up young players, where a quiet word would have worked better.  Perhaps that is why I have such a " personal" issue with him.  I would rather he wasn't in the team.  You will not disavow me of this opinion.

You feel free to have whatever opinions you want, I wouldn't dream of stopping you.

I'm no great fan of McLean, but absolutely detest the rank hypocrisy of "supporters" who take a disliking to a particular player and seek to denigrate them at every opportunity, whilst equally tying themselves up in intellectual knots to excuse other players who have been equally, if not more, poor.

You can try and justify your cognitive dissonance with whatever psuedo-intellectual nonsense you like, but I have seen it many times over the years; for whatever reason some "boo boys" are unfairly and continually lambasted regardless of their contribution.

As I said, you and others have the right to continue voicing that opinion, but I also reserve the right to voice my own opinion that these sad, anonymous souls who spend time picking on one particular individual are probably not the great Norwich supporters they seem to think.

 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

34 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

Pointing, but not mentoring, encouraging, improving, nay leading? 

Actually, he keeps getting picked, but has he ever been captain?  Hmmm, makes me think ......

He's a decent enough Championship centre midfielder, but ideally we'd upgrade. 

Its just another case of us going for the cheap option, when we spent a few hundred grand on McLean.... Villa signed the superior Scottish midfielder John McGinn for £3m around the same time. 

Just like we paid £2.5m rising to £5m for Hugill, whilst Brentford paid £5m rising to £10m for Toney.

You largely get what you pay for in football, there are always exceptions to the rule of course, like Hoolahan.

Edited March 2, 2022 by TeemuVanBasten

[Canary dwarf 221]

4 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

He's a decent enough Championship centre midfielder, but ideally we'd upgrade. 

Its just another case of us going for the cheap option, when we spent a few hundred grand on McLean.... Villa signed the superior Scottish midfielder John McGinn for £3m around the same time. 

Just like we paid £2.5m rising to £5m for Hugill, whilst Brentford paid £5m rising to £10m for Toney.

You largely get what you pay for in football, there are always exceptions to the rule of course, like Hoolahan.

Wes has still got it , tearing it up for Cambridge United , absolute ledge 😆

[Dr Greenthumb 750]

He’s not good enough. 
 

I really wanted him to come good, but he hasn’t done anything since he scored against Preston!

[king canary 7,678]

He's not very good.

Raw pace is meaningless without any skill or trickery or even just the brain to be able to effectively watch the line and time runs and he displays none of these things. He's turning 24 this month and looks rawer (is that a word?) than Rowe.

As a winger I can't think of a single game where I've watched him and thought 'he's got this fullback on toast.' I don't expect it to happen every week but players like the Murphy brothers, Redmond, even Josh Martin all had games where you thought their fullback would be delighted to see the back of them. 

[king canary 7,678]

10 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

I think he'd look far better if we had a more traditional target man to aim at, and for him to float balls at. He's not going to hit many through balls, and fizzing low crosses isn't quite his thing either. What Smith and co. should tell him is "work yourself half-a-yard and then just float it" - put the onus on the strikers to chase it hard, with a little time to go for it.

I get the desire to see him come good but floated crosses are basically the lowest % plays and the easiest thing for defenders to deal with, unless the player is pinpoint with the accuracy so if the only way to make him usable is asking him to hit those type of balls then we shouldn't bother.

[rock bus 854]

Unfortunately, last night he was just totally ineffective (as he has been in every game I've seen him in). Doesnt use his pace at all to threaten defenders and as someone else said he is always on the back foot and reacting rather than positively influencing the game - both in attacking and defensive areas.

I've tried to give him benefit of the doubt and put it down to a confidence issue or lack of game time. But Smith has now given him plenty of time and unfortunately I just dont think he has the quality or ability for the Premiership and I seriously doubt even for the Championship. His selection at the moment is effectively wasting a spot in the team, ideally I'd like to see Tzolis given a run of games but we certainly need to try something different as it isnt working for Placheta

[canarydan23 4,060]

11 hours ago, Ian said:

I'm no great fan of McLean, but absolutely detest the rank hypocrisy of "supporters" who take a disliking to a particular player and seek to denigrate them at every opportunity, whilst equally tying themselves up in intellectual knots to excuse other players who have been equally, if not more, poor.

I think McLean irks supporters more than players like Placheta, Tzolis, Dowell, etc who look equally ill-equipped to perform at this level, is that he gets picked ALL THE TIME. He's got more appearances than all three of the ones I listed, so he will naturally frustrate fans more than them because we see it much more often. It's why Gilmour gets more flak as well. I'm **** at football, but no one is going to moan about it because they don't have to watch it. If I'd played 25 games for Norwich this season I'd be getting dog's abuse. Likewise, if Placheta has played 25 games, he'd probably be getting equal abuse; it's starting to ramp up on him after just 8.

It's not his fault, what's he going to do? Say, "Sorry Dean, don't keep picking me because I'm not very good"? Course he isn't, and the vitriol he gets is way over the top, particularly as he has played a decent role in two title-winning seasons at the level below. But he really isn't a Premier League player. I remember someone saying on here before a ball was even kicked this season that if McLean starts 25 or 30 games this season, we are going to get relegated. The blame lies with Webber and Smith, and prior to that Farke, not McLean, but expecting football fans to act rationally and not put a chronic under-performer who keeps getting selected game after game at this level in their crosshairs is highly optimistic.

And the idea that because Farke and Smith both pick him trumps the views of the majority of fans doesn't really make sense. Farke and Smith are not infallible, as evidenced by our woeful league position under both managers. So it's an absolute certainty that they have made mistakes, sometimes the same ones. It's my opinion that the repeated selection of Kenny McLean, even with the meagre options available to Messrs Farke and Smith in that position, is an example of one of them.

[Jim Smith 2,339]

In an ideal world Mclean would not be starting because we’d have a stronger midfield selection but we don’t. As it is he’s in the best 3 or 4 midfielders we have. The other reason he gets picked is because he’s good in the air and thus important to our attacking and defensive set pieces. He’s also a bit of a leader whereas some of the others in the squad are very timid. 

As others have said, it’s not his fault he gets picked so much it’s an indictment of our squad and the awful recruitment of Webber, again. 
 

As for Placheta he’s just not good enough and I don’t want to see him out there again this season. Zero end product. Supposedly quick but  isn’t with the ball and his speed of thought and decision making is non existent. I’ve rarely found a Norwich player more infuriating to watch.