Can we give some credit to Hernandez?

[cambridgeshire canary 6,720]

Not sure how I only just noticed but he just flat out bodied that defender, was he at the gym all spring?

 

[Monty13 2,234]

Was vintage Onel, and what’s more perfect an actual end product which has always been the question mark about him.

Sounds like Smith is giving him a chance, I think he’s potentially still a useful squad player personally but not a regular starter. There is a lot of competition though.

[Canary dwarf 221]

Hopefully he can make an impact this season , likeable guy and loves the club , not sure about his Norwich tattoo ,I'd like to find out where he had it done , so I can avoid that place when I have mine done.😆

[Dr Greenthumb 749]

57 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not sure how I only just noticed but he just flat out bodied that defender, was he at the gym all spring?

 

He is like a new signing, looks like we have a better right hand side now than last season!

[Capt. Pants 4,234]

2 hours ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

He is like a new signing, looks like we have a better right hand side now than last season!

Hopefully that means Sargent won't be playing there then.

[Petriix 2,835]

In my opinion he's better than any of our signings from last summer. Far better than Placheta too.

[Iwans teeth 18]

Id have argos in the squad all day everyday. 

If he'd had not been farmed out last season I'm sure smith would have found a place for him instead of Sargent. 

[WD40 720]

Was he playing right wing back when he came on?

[Dr Greenthumb 749]

30 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Hopefully that means Sargent won't be playing there then.

He did well up top, didn’t stop harassing the defenders in that heat. He’s not a right sided attacker/winger by any stretch

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

3 minutes ago, Petriix said:

In my opinion he's better than any of our signings from last summer. Far better than Placheta too.

Think it's easier for traditional wingers to look good when there's a big lad or two in the middle to aim at. Most of our wingers have suffered a bit that Pukki's the man in the middle - unless they're getting to the bye-line and hitting a cut-back or skidding one between the goalie and the opposition defence as whilst Pukki's great for us, he's never going to be a consistent aerial threat.

Unless said wingers can consistently hit a through ball, their primary attacking method is blunted a bit if Pukki's the sole man up top. Also means plan B doesn't get much time together in competitive matches too. No surprise that Dowell looked the most likely to create for Pukki last season as he's not really a winger. Rashica and Sargent make a more likely combo, not just because they played at Bremen too, so it's easy to see why Hugill could look better than when he's got Cantwell, Dowell and another attacking midfielder behind him. By extension that also reflects on Hernandez if Hugill's sitting in the middle too.

[Worthy Nigelton 1,048]

He's always had good strength but that was mainly because the defender's position was all wrong, even wee Billy Gilmour could have used his body on that one. Well played Onel though! 

[chicken 2,625]

4 hours ago, Monty13 said:

Was vintage Onel, and what’s more perfect an actual end product which has always been the question mark about him.

Sounds like Smith is giving him a chance, I think he’s potentially still a useful squad player personally but not a regular starter. There is a lot of competition though.

I think most of the issue is that under Farke he was often deployed as an inverted left winger... when he was deployed on the right... well, he gave us "that" game didn't he? From the bench.

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by chicken

[Chelm Canary 404]

Outstanding play to set that up. 

He's a weapon. 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Chelm Canary

[repman 635]

1 hour ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

He did well up top, didn’t stop harassing the defenders in that heat. He’s not a right sided attacker/winger by any stretch

I'm not sure he's cut out to be a striker in this country either. 

[Monty13 2,234]

25 minutes ago, chicken said:

I think most of the issue is that under Farke he was often deployed as an inverted left winger... when he was deployed on the right... well, he gave us "that" game didn't he? From the bench.

 

I get your point, although hard to make judgements on individual performances.

If you could get performances like that out of Hernandez regularly he’d be a nailed on starter.

I do agree, to my admittedly amateur untrained eye he looks better on the right rather than cutting in on the left.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

1 hour ago, chicken said:

I think most of the issue is that under Farke he was often deployed as an inverted left winger... when he was deployed on the right... well, he gave us "that" game didn't he? From the bench.

 

To be fair he also had Rhodes and Srbeny to aim at, not to mention Pukki was there too. I'll keep saying it, traditional wingers will always look more dangerous the more guys they have to aim at who are either great in the air, or good at getting into that gap between the goalie and the opposition defence. Onel should be better at lower balls skidded in as he's good at turning in tight spaces.

None of our wingers have looked that good over the last few seasons, whether Onel, Rashica, Placheta, etc. simply as in Pukki, we've got a very good striker who's better suited to having through balls fed through to run on, not to compete in the air. The only exception would be a cut-back from the bye-line or thereabouts, Stiepermann seemed to have a knack of pulling those out on occasion.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

12 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

To be fair he also had Rhodes and Srbeny to aim at, not to mention Pukki was there too. I'll keep saying it, traditional wingers will always look more dangerous the more guys they have to aim at who are either great in the air, or good at getting into that gap between the goalie and the opposition defence. Onel should be better at lower balls skidded in as he's good at turning in tight spaces.

None of our wingers have looked that good over the last few seasons, whether Onel, Rashica, Placheta, etc. simply as in Pukki, we've got a very good striker who's better suited to having through balls fed through to run on, not to compete in the air. The only exception would be a cut-back from the bye-line or thereabouts, Stiepermann seemed to have a knack of pulling those out on occasion.

👆 top post. I’m looking forwards to us having a more direct route to goal this season, Pukki’s a brilliant striker but he thrives on one type of service only, now we have the ability to mix it up.

[hogesar 9,674]

3 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Think it's easier for traditional wingers to look good when there's a big lad or two in the middle to aim at. Most of our wingers have suffered a bit that Pukki's the man in the middle - unless they're getting to the bye-line and hitting a cut-back or skidding one between the goalie and the opposition defence as whilst Pukki's great for us, he's never going to be a consistent aerial threat.

Unless said wingers can consistently hit a through ball, their primary attacking method is blunted a bit if Pukki's the sole man up top. Also means plan B doesn't get much time together in competitive matches too. No surprise that Dowell looked the most likely to create for Pukki last season as he's not really a winger. Rashica and Sargent make a more likely combo, not just because they played at Bremen too, so it's easy to see why Hugill could look better than when he's got Cantwell, Dowell and another attacking midfielder behind him. By extension that also reflects on Hernandez if Hugill's sitting in the middle too.

Agreed, but Placheta has rarely shown an ability to beat a fullback and get a cross in, even under DS. Which is probably why he's out on loan.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

4 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Agreed, but Placheta has rarely shown an ability to beat a fullback and get a cross in, even under DS. Which is probably why he's out on loan.

Largely agree, I'm saying that if there's a big lad to aim at instead of Pukki, someone like Placheta won't have to muddle around as much, and we've all seen he seems to freeze a bit, or overthink things. All he'd need to do is work himself half-a-yard and wang a cross in - or even play a very simple pass inside. Essentially, I think Placheta suffers more than the other wingers from Pukki being the main man and would be more dangerous if we had an old-school target man up top.

Prime example, the FA Cup tie against Coventry. First goal came down his side but he played an easy ball in to Cantwell, who sent a through ball in to an onrushing McLean who buried it. Second one - slowed his man down, got half-a-yard, winged a cross in, and Hugill climbed all over it at the near post to flick a header across the goalie and in at the back post.
 

 

[Capt. Pants 4,234]

4 hours ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

He did well up top, didn’t stop harassing the defenders in that heat. He’s not a right sided attacker/winger by any stretch

He didn't have the service Hugill got that's for sure, but then we were playing a different way first half.

It will be interesting how we can accommodate our 4 strikers!

 

[Dr Greenthumb 749]

29 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

He didn't have the service Hugill got that's for sure, but then we were playing a different way first half.

It will be interesting how we can accommodate our 4 strikers!

 

Id imagine we will Go with two up top Each game 

[hogesar 9,674]

22 minutes ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

Id imagine we will Go with two up top Each game 

Very much doubt it. 433 seems to be Smiths preferred.

[Dr Greenthumb 749]

22 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Very much doubt it. 433 seems to be Smiths preferred.

Neither of us know. I was just giving an opinion 

[hogesar 9,674]

2 hours ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

Neither of us know. I was just giving an opinion 

I know, I'm just saying your opinion is unlikely because every article from those who have watched us have said that Smith has built a team around his preferred 4-3-3, and Smith has primarily set us up in that shape in pre-season too. So whilst none of us know, I'm simply using the evidence we have to date.....

[chicken 2,625]

58 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I know, I'm just saying your opinion is unlikely because every article from those who have watched us have said that Smith has built a team around his preferred 4-3-3, and Smith has primarily set us up in that shape in pre-season too. So whilst none of us know, I'm simply using the evidence we have to date.....

First half Vs Marseille was actually quite fluid. At times we looked like a 4-2-3-1 and others 4-3-3. That could just be the way that the 3 CM have been told to operate, sometimes two will hold, sometimes one. But it seemed that there was some method in there, which allowed for them to rotate a tad.

At least it did to me. It was usually one of McLean or Sorensen that held back a bit with Cantwell more license to get forward, though he did defensive work too. 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

20 hours ago, Canary dwarf said:

Hopefully he can make an impact this season , likeable guy and loves the club , not sure about his Norwich tattoo ,I'd like to find out where he had it done , so I can avoid that place when I have mine done.😆

Will you be getting the new badge or the old badge though? Risky business. 

[Canary dwarf 221]

2 hours ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Will you be getting the new badge or the old badge though? Risky business. 

Probably the new one , I've started to like it.

[AJ 1,221]

Onel has always had good ability at this level, and in our first promotion season under DF was absolutely brilliant down that left side before the emergence of Todd. The only downfall to his game was he wasn't capable of playing a more "intelligent" game that Cantwell and Buendia could offer by supplying all those throughballs and touches in tight spaces which is why he dropped down the pecking order, coupled with probably not being quite good enough for a PL starting XI. Onel can be a big asset at this level if in form, at looks more likely to cause teams problems than Tzolis or Placheta

[Erraticus 55]

21 hours ago, Petriix said:

In my opinion he's better than any of our signings from last summer. Far better than Placheta too.

I couldn't agree more with this. I expect Smith to give Hernandez the opportunity to re-establish himself with Norwich in the Championship. Onel is clearly fully fit and ready to prove himself. He has a point to prove and I believe he will. 

[lake district canary 4,531]

His contribution to promotion has been immense - his goals as important as Vrancic's (Notts Forest and away to Middsbro to mention two). Hope he has a role to play this season, a real handful when fully fit and on form.