Another superb Michael Bailey article

[Terminally Yellow 2,477]

Another superb Michael Bailey article has just gone up on the Athletic. 

The long and shorts of it;

1. Two priority positions are athletic DM (Hayden) and athletic, goal scoring box to box no 8

2. Beyond that squad needs to be trimmed. 35 professionals currently under contract for current season.

3. If players can be moved on, left back, left center back, creativity in middle, wide forwards on both flanks but particularly right.

4. Interest in Pukki from England and abroad. But no firm offers for him or anyone yet. Hoping for a big sale to fund more moves. 

5. Dean Smith leading recruitment so far. His template is for English/Scottish experience, ideally including Premier League football. Players must be peak age or below and ideally possessing athleticism that Smith believes squad sorely lacking.  

6. Smith also acutely aware that team needs better ability to score goals. This isn't elaborated on further (whether a deficiency of creativity or goal scoring).

7. Webber thinks squad has plenty of proven and well regarded championship players who just didn't develop in time for premier league. Smith has sown some doubt into this view, believing squad in its current form may not have enough for push on top 2. 

Would encourage you all to read if you can. 

https://theathletic.com/3352936/2022/06/09/norwich-transfers-isaac-hayden?source=user-shared-article

[Nexus_Canary 1,024]

Webber : Look Deano, id love to shell out £10m on a new player but Oxygen tanks, altitude training, tents and other protective gear costs. I dont intend to become the new "Green Boots" although i admit the attention and folk legend thing is quite tempting. Cant you make do with Toddy and that Greek lad we signed for £10m? I mean when i signed it off i didnt see the 10, I saw a 1 but still you can make it work. Ill give Wee Billy a call again as well, apparently Omo has met a real cracker out on the town and Wee Billy is interested. Right ive got a game of golf, f**k off and do some work.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Nexus_Canary

[king canary 7,669]

27 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

4. Interest in Pukki from England and abroad. But no firm offers for him or anyone yet. Hoping for a big sale to fund more moves. 

Just to clarify in case anyone misreads- MB says the idea is the big sale is Aarons.

[TIL 1010 4,791]

Looks like we need to sell to make changes to the squad despite PL and parachute payments.

[vlad666 203]

23 minutes ago, Terminally Yellow said:

Another superb Michael Bailey article has just gone up on the Athletic. 

The long and shorts of it;

1. Two priority positions are athletic DM (Hayden) and athletic, goal scoring box to box no 8

2. Beyond that squad needs to be trimmed. 35 professionals currently under contract for current season.

3. If players can be moved on, left back, left center back, creativity in middle, wide forwards on both flanks but particularly right.

4. Interest in Pukki from England and abroad. But no firm offers for him or anyone yet. Hoping for a big sale to fund more moves. 

5. Dean Smith leading recruitment so far. His template is for English/Scottish experience, ideally including Premier League football. Players must be peak age or below and ideally possessing athleticism that Smith believes squad sorely lacking.  

6. Smith also acutely aware that team needs better ability to score goals. This isn't elaborated on further (whether a deficiency of creativity or goal scoring).

7. Webber thinks squad has plenty of proven and well regarded championship players who just didn't develop in time for premier league. Smith has sown some doubt into this view, believing squad in its current form may not have enough for push on top 2. 

Would encourage you all to read if you can. 

 Chttps://theathletic.com/3352936/2022/06/09/norwich-transfers-isaac-hayden?source=user-shared-article

Not subscribed to the athletic so appreciate that. My guess is that Smith doesn’t rate the majority of this squad. Obviously finances dictate how much change there will be but give the chance I suspect he’d make wholesale changes. 
No 3 is an interesting one. Think he’d love to move Gibson on and also bring in a proper left back as our options are basically wingbacks with a lack of physicality. 

[Midlands Yellow 4,076]

7 minutes ago, king canary said:

Just to clarify in case anyone misreads- MB says the idea is the big sale is Aarons.

I hope he get a decent move and fulfills his true potential. The poor lad is going backwards now stuck here. 

[Yellow Wal 314]

A truly good summary. The biggest problem, as I see it, is how on earth do we trim the overly big squad of too many average, and in some cases, poor players.

How are we going to move them on?

[cambridgeshire canary 6,795]

"Hoping for a big sale'

 

If Pukki goes we are not going up, it's promotion off. Hope Webber knows this. Hillarious to say we need more goals when he's the only one on our team that scores them then go on about wanting to sell him

Edited June 9, 2022 by cambridgeshire canary

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

23 minutes ago, vlad666 said:

Not subscribed to the athletic so appreciate that. My guess is that Smith doesn’t rate the majority of this squad. Obviously finances dictate how much change there will be but give the chance I suspect he’d make wholesale changes. 
No 3 is an interesting one. Think he’d love to move Gibson on and also bring in a proper left back as our options are basically wingbacks with a lack of physicality. 

If true the interesting omission is any mention of the need for another striker. Myself, I believe none out of Sargent, Hugill  and Idah is top six of the Championship level. But there is the perennial question of who you could attract, given they might spend most time on the bench. It seems the idea is to provide goals from players in other areas. But if Pukki, assuming he stays, which he will, get injured or loses a bit of form...

 

PS. Looks potentially more extensive than the tinkering Smith seemed to suggest a while back.

Edited June 9, 2022 by PurpleCanary

[Midlands Yellow 4,076]

9 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

"Hoping for a big sale'

 

If Pukki goes we are not going up, it's promotion off. Hope Webber knows this. Hillarious to say we need more goals when he's the only one on our team that scores them then go on about wanting to sell him

Agreed, I’m sure we’d love to keep him but does he want to stay? All will be revealed soon enough. 

[lake district canary 4,545]

9 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

If true the interesting omission is any mention of the need for another striker. Myself, I believe none out of Sargent, Hugill  and Idah is top six of the Championship level.

I think the opposite. Idah, when fit I believe will become a prolific striker, we saw what he is capable of in glimpses last season once Smith/Shaky got him going. Sargent will also improve as he settles - it was always a big ask last season. Hugill, just a back up, but then we need back ups....

[Mason 47 1,398]

I'll preface this by saying I want Pukki to stay, he's a massive goal threat in the Championship and it'll be hard to come up with better.

But, I remember feeling like the only player we had that could score goals was Maddison, and he left. And then we improved as a team and won the league

It's not as simple as all that but almost all of our goal threat comes from Pukki Tactic #1 and then after that we're a little stumped. A change in tact doesn't necessarily precede doom and gloom.

[AJ 1,224]

Agreed on Idah, I'd say he's ahead of Hugill who is a still a very solid Championship forward as he proved on loan last season at times. I hope we are not planning to sell Pukki as the OP implies in the bullet points. I think the sale of perhaps Aarons is a much more sensible option, with Bali and Byram already on our books as solid replacements. The idea of NCFC without Pukki scares me more than NCFC without Buendia did.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,795]

4 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

I think the opposite. Idah, when fit I believe will become a prolific striker, we saw what he is capable of in glimpses last season once Smith/Shaky got him going. Sargent will also improve as he settles - it was always a big ask last season. Hugill, just a back up, but then we need back ups....

Thowing Idah and Hugill on in the 70th minute up top in a two against tired legs would be a fun watch

Edited June 9, 2022 by cambridgeshire canary

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

17 minutes ago, Yellow Wal said:

A truly good summary. The biggest problem, as I see it, is how on earth do we trim the overly big squad of too many average, and in some cases, poor players.

How are we going to move them on?

Exactly, the problem with trying to 'trim' a squad is that on the whole the deadwood you want to get off your payroll aren't the players that other teams want at their current salary level. Only hope we'll have of shifting many is to continue to pay part of their wages I feel. 

Suspect if anything we'll see a fair number of outgoing loans to trim to wage bill, rather than transfer fees.

Notice also that it seems to be easier to generate a fee for domestic players (see: Husband, Watkins) and that when we sign players from Bundesliga 2 we have the issue of wages in England being higher so struggling to sell back to Germany, that may be one flaw in the model we had of trying to save money shopping overseas, that you might pay it at the other end when you can't reclaw any of your transfer fee.

[Fr. Chewy Louie 137]

Make or break season for Idah I reckon, he's been "potential" for a long time. Not sure what to do with Sargent, he's sort of ok as a striker or wide forward, but not great at either. Hugill surplus to requirements for me.

[sgncfc 1,253]

5 minutes ago, Mason 47 said:

I'll preface this by saying I want Pukki to stay, he's a massive goal threat in the Championship and it'll be hard to come up with better.

But, I remember feeling like the only player we had that could score goals was Maddison, and he left. And then we improved as a team and won the league

It's not as simple as all that but almost all of our goal threat comes from Pukki Tactic #1 and then after that we're a little stumped. A change in tact doesn't necessarily precede doom and gloom.

Absolutely agree with this. Pukki is and has been fantastic for us. But because of that our tactics are very one dimensional and we have never had players good enough to effect any kind of Plan B. Finding a creative player to set up Pukki seems to be everyone's concern. I'd prefer it if we found a creative player who could do some other stuff. Rashica could be that in the Champs if he stays, and if he were to practice more with his weak foot.

[TheGunnShow 5,995]

44 minutes ago, king canary said:

Just to clarify in case anyone misreads- MB says the idea is the big sale is Aarons.

Exactly my thought. Byram and Mumba are already there.

[TheGunnShow 5,995]

15 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Thowing Idah and Hugill on in the 70th minute up top in a two against tired legs would be a fun watch

Throwing those two and Placheta on as well sounds like my idea of late-match carnage. Especially if there's already a winger on the pitch.

Edited June 9, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[shefcanary 2,448]

This is what currently faces Smith in terms of squad development and EFL squad rules (I've posted in another thread but think it useful here as well).

As I said on the other thread I do think there is a lot of churn from hereon in, with at least 7 being moved on. Bailey is very much on my page!

[Danke bitte 967]

Point 7 is worrying in that Webber felt the squad was capable in this league and Smith feels otherwise. As others have said, bigger changes than what were alluded to. 

[Yellow Wal 314]

18 minutes ago, Fr. Chewy Louie said:

Make or break season for Idah I reckon, he's been "potential" for a long time. Not sure what to do with Sargent, he's sort of ok as a striker or wide forward, but not great at either. Hugill surplus to requirements for me.

Fully agree with this. Hugill is surplus, I don't think Sargent will make it but Idah, at last, has shown what he can do when playing to his strengths.

In the few games just before his injury last season he really showed up and worked well with Teemu who played a slightly different role than his normal game. I thought it worked well then and hope it will be even better in the Championship.

[canarydan23 4,060]

16 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Exactly my thought. Byram and Mumba are already there.

I met Byram at Gatwick Airport last week and he was a top bloke. Didn't look miffed at some random stranger interrupting him and happily let me take a photo of him with my son, who now says that Byram is his favourite football player. Take that Mbappe.

[essex canary 505]

The recipe going forward then is fewer players, more robust and athletic, more focus on homegrown and experience, hopefully fitter.

Sounds good to me. Raises the question though of why we haven't got there sooner and has the Director of Football really added such value to the equation? Surely he will be gone soon without too much of a pay off and takes his other half with him. Hopefully still a role for Neil Adams though not least in relation to improving the dead ball.

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,386]

Cos Point 7 isn't worrying at all from Webber 😒 *sarcastic voice* 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by GodlyOtsemobor

[hogesar 9,742]

1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

"Hoping for a big sale'

 

If Pukki goes we are not going up, it's promotion off. Hope Webber knows this. Hillarious to say we need more goals when he's the only one on our team that scores them then go on about wanting to sell him

We didn't go on about wanting to sell Pukki - maybe read the article first?

[shefcanary 2,448]

Update after Hibs took up option on Bushiri.  No idea what the option fee was, but unlikely to have troubled the transfer budget.

[Yellow and Green 335]

1 hour ago, Terminally Yellow said:

1. Two priority positions are athletic DM (Hayden) and athletic, goal scoring box to box no 8.

3. If players can be moved on, left back, left center back, creativity in middle, wide forwards on both flanks but particularly right.

Sorting out the central midfield areas is obvious but I'm glad they're addressing it early. Hayden looks to be ideal, injury record aside.

In regards to point 3, I think Giannoulis and Gibson are excellent in the Championship. I'd hope for upgrades if/when we get promoted though.

I'd prioritise a right winger and a number ten. I don't think we actually have a right winger at the moment, and a Todd Cantwell type player to link everything together would be grand...

[vlad666 203]

1 hour ago, PurpleCanary said:

If true the interesting omission is any mention of the need for another striker. Myself, I believe none out of Sargent, Hugill  and Idah is top six of the Championship level. But there is the perennial question of who you could attract, given they might spend most time on the bench. It seems the idea is to provide goals from players in other areas. But if Pukki, assuming he stays, which he will, get injured or loses a bit of form...

 

PS. Looks potentially more extensive than the tinkering Smith seemed to suggest a while back.

Yeah I agree. Whilst I rate Idah I don’t see him ever being a natural goal scorer. Especially at the top level. Sargent I don't even see a footballer. 
We definitely need to improve on our goals from midfield. Whilst I thought Rashica was poor in his first season I think, provided he stays, he’ll hit close to double figures. He was often pushed so far back last season that he was ineffective in most games. Given that we’ll hopefully be on the front foot he’ll get into much more dangerous positions.

[Danke bitte 967]

Wonder where Bailey is getting his info from? Surely this with irk Webber even more?!