A squad capable of promotion?

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Norwich City tour squad -

Gallacher, Lewis, Colin, Fleming, Spillane, Doherty, Shackell, Halliday, Rossi Jarvis, Drury, Bexfield, Fisk, Henderson, Etuhu, Safri, Robinson, Hughes, Huckerby, McVeigh, Ryan Jarvis, Thorne, Earnshaw, McKenzie, Eagle, El Ouargui.

Obviously we have the wantaway Green and eternal Crock MLJ to add to the list. 

Is this a squad capable of promotion?

Likely Starting lineup with our 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 system

                 Gallacher

Fleming  Doherty   Shackell   Drury

        Hughes   Safri   Etuhu

  Mckenzie  Earnshaw  Huckerby

subs
Lewis
Spillane
McVeigh
Thorne
Robinson

[Dicky 0]

Yes.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="Dicky"]Yes.[/quote]

Shame they only managed 9th last season a massive 13 points off 6th place then Dicky.

[alex_ncfc 687]

No

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

No

[blahblahblah 2]

It''s too early to say.

However, look at our attack.

McKenzie - 15 goals a season on average

Earnshaw - averaging a goal every 2 games for us.  That converts to 20+ a season.

Huckerby - another 10 goals a season, not to mention the goals he makes.

That''s 45 goals.  If we can hold onto the ball, defend tightly as a unit, keep it on the floor and tidy up distribution (I''ll say it for you, Hughes and Etuhu), bearing in mind that there will hopefully be a couple of decent players yet to come in, I don''t see why we can''t get to the play-offs. 

And then there is the youth.  Ipswich played us off the park with their younger players last season.  But they ended 15th.  Maybe we have a better mix of age and inexperience ?  You might find a couple of them forcing their way into the first team, especially if we lose players to injury ?

 

[komakino 282]

Promotion? With that midfield...!!! :)

[ZLF 342]

Its the same set of players as last year less a few permanent faces and without the loan signings that kept us going, that only scraped to a woeful 9th.  Last seasons squad was hopelessly small and we currently have fewer players now than at the end of last season.  Key gaps that were glaringly apparent last season have not been filled - yet.

Unless the feeling is that this years league is even weaker than last seasons its hard to see how or why we should expect to improve more than 3 other teams to get the play offs or 7 teams to get automatic promotion without some significant signings.   As it stands it is almost impossible to see this squad gaining promotion.

What we do have is a strong backbone to a side, but too many gaps remain in a starting 11 to move from being uncompetetive when it counts last season to being a real force this. We have too many squad players who are not up to appearing week in week out but will be excellent cover when needed.   Get those gaps filled with quality - experienced or not -and delivering performances through solid tactical approach thenthis league is for the taking. 

[The Voice of the Thorpe Area 0]

No.

[EadiesRight Foot 0]

* COUGH *

Computers says no.

[Canary02 0]

On paper. Earnshaw, Huckerby, Green, Gallacher, Drury, Shackell, Doherty, Safri, McVeigh, McKenzie and potentially Etuhu, Colin, and Spillane are all capable of playing in a Championship winning side.

The problem is that the squad is hoplessly unbalanced, the faith has gone, both from the fans and the players and the right players won''t be selected in favour of less gifted, but more workmanlike scrappers.

The reason we''re all so tense and tetchy is that YES we could gain promotion, but we all know NO we won''t, because the manager, tactically at least, is the equivalent of a beered-up Kevin Keegan.

 

[Salopian 1]

No! We may score some goals, but the leaky defence let us down last season and so far does not seem any better. The defence needs strengthening, but weven more we need a midfield which will not be overrun!

By design, or by the fact that Hux is not a defensive player, we shall be playing 4-3-3, if we play both strikers, and a midfield which may have Safri but has little else, provides little protection for the defence. We played last year against a number of teams that had more effective midifields, although in a number of cases we were let off because they could not finish.

Perhaps we shall play 4-5-1, but then some of the goals you have totted up would not apply. Ditto if we played Hux up front in 4-4-2.

The problem is the midfield, and even if we signed a wide right player, as most of us want, unless he was good defensively the problem would not disappear.

 

Sorry but the central midfield is not good enough.

[beelsie 0]

ZLF wrote:

Unless the feeling is that this years league is even weaker than last seasons its hard to see how or why we should expect to improve more than 3 other teams to get the play offs or 7 teams to get automatic promotion without some significant signings.   As it stands it is almost impossible to see this squad gaining promotion.

What we do have is a strong backbone to a side, but too many gaps remain in a starting 11 to move from being uncompetetive when it counts last season to being a real force this. We have too many squad players who are not up to appearing week in week out but will be excellent cover when needed.   Get those gaps filled with quality - experienced or not -and delivering performances through solid tactical approach thenthis league is for the taking. 

---

I would agree with most of your remarks and would back the demand for a more spirited performance when the chips may be down.  There has been so many times when heads easily go down and we have shown a lack of determination you could expect from men in well paid employment.

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Capable - yes.  Likely to - no.  However, play-offs are a distinct possibility.

[percyvarco 0]

yes with the right management

no as we are

 

[nolegs 0]

No! squad too small, too many journeymen in the squad   we have ,and a manager who appears bereft of any tactical ideas!!

 

 

just all a bit sad ain''t it

[ZLF 342]

Agreed beelsie - as well as work ethic I want to see some passion when we are being over run showing a desire to turn the tide.  No shows such as at burnley preston qpr luton etc etc are not acceptable once in a season, let alone as frequently as we got them last year.

[Ginja 43]

[quote user="blahblahblah"]

It''s too early to say.

However, look at our attack.

McKenzie - 15 goals a season on average

Earnshaw - averaging a goal every 2 games for us.  That converts to 20+ a season.

Huckerby - another 10 goals a season, not to mention the goals he makes.

That''s 45 goals.  If we can hold onto the ball, defend tightly as a unit, keep it on the floor and tidy up distribution (I''ll say it for you, Hughes and Etuhu), bearing in mind that there will hopefully be a couple of decent players yet to come in, I don''t see why we can''t get to the play-offs. 

And then there is the youth.  Ipswich played us off the park with their younger players last season.  But they ended 15th.  Maybe we have a better mix of age and inexperience ?  You might find a couple of them forcing their way into the first team, especially if we lose players to injury ?[/quote]

Mckenzie 15 goals a season? where did you get that idea from? he hasn''t even

come close to that amount. Fair enough he scored plenty for Peterborough but

unless he does it at this level with us it means nothing. On average of 10

seasons he''s been playing and 84 goals that about 8 goals a season max and 55 of those goals were at Peterborough. Let’s not

forget he has to stay fit and injury free, fingers crossed. Fair point on

Earnshaw though he''s been an excellent investment so far, now all we need is

the team to play to his strengths and we should have a goal machine. Agreed

with Huckerby, a solid goal scorer and the goals he creates they are just as

important.

Overall There isn''t too many complaints with the front line or the back, our

main problem is the midfield which is an absolute shambles. We don''t hold onto

the ball well, we don''t keep it on the floor and the distribution is dire. All

these suggestion you''ve made are very correct and I don''t doubt if we fixed

them we could make automatic promotion, but the real problem is will these

problems be fixed come the new season and with Hughes, Robinson and Etuhu I

have sever concerns they will not.

[Hairy Canary 773]

I''m afraid no.

A good proportion of the first 11 is good enough, if they play to their full portential, but the squad has nowhere near enough strength in depth. I can''t see us coping with injuries, suspensions, lack of form or a woeful centre midfield with the squad we have.

Sad but no, no chance.

 

 

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote]Mckenzie 15 goals a season? where did you get that idea from? [/quote]

Ok, a little generous, but there is 40+ goals in a season there before you look at contirbutions from midfield, defenders at corners etc.

[quote]We don''t hold onto the ball well, we don''t keep it on the floor and the distribution is dire[/quote]

We managed to get promoted with Gary Holt in midfield, and he was frustrating with distribution at times too.  We do need to keep it on the floor.  Maybe Safri will get a decent run in the team this season ?

We also need another playmaker to cover Safri in case of injury.  Rumours suggest we''re after a player from Rotherham.  Could be a real find, could be another unsubstantiated rumour.

[Saint Canary 0]

I think we have the makings of a decent squad but there are clearly areas that need improving and tweaking because the squad is thin in certain area’s and unbalanced. 

There are 27 players listed by Paul and 8 of them are strikers.  Almost one third of our squad are strikers too many of them are so similar.  Out the 8, Thorne is the only player that gets close to being considered a target man and to say he was disappointing last year is being kind to him.

We desperately need some wide midfielders in the squad to allow Worthy to play and have any success with his favoured 4-4-2 formation.

There is a lot of youth in that squad which is a good thing but it''s a big ask to expect them all to suddenly become Championship standard if they are required to play regularly.

There are some decent players in our squad and a play-off position is not out of the question.  For me though to have a chance at promotion we are reliant on a couple of good signings in the right area (I don''t see we need a fourth right-back), for the players to show more passion and for Worthington to be more decisive.

 

[apprentice 0]

Absolutely NOT quite frightening actually looking at the tour squad written down.

[allways travelling 0]

[quote user="komakino"]Promotion? With that midfield...!!! :)[/quote]What midfield theres only safri .

[We need a Manager 0]

This squad top 6 ...not a hope in hell .

[Rotherhithe Canary 0]

replace hughes and bobs your uncle

[Northern Canary 0]

We would only really have a possible chance if the whole team stayed fit all season which is unlikely. Unfortunately, our squad has not much depth to provide quality cover for many players. The midfield is also very weak, and Safri only plays half the season.

[Old Yella 0]

substitute Earnshaw for Ashton and we have substantially the same squad, with a few more youngsters, as this time last year, when many of us thought that we were certs for immediate promotion If the attitude is right (and it wasn''t last year) and one or two judicious signings are made we ought to to challenge for the top six. No doubt Birmingham and West Brom are favorites but they can have the same hangover that we had last year and there is no one else whose squad should terrify us

[Canary Poirot 1]

Three points:

1. Norwich finished 4th in the old first division in 1989 and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup with virtually the same team which almost went down the year before.

2. Norwich finish 3rd in the Premiership in 1993 after finishing 18th the season before in the old First Division and almost went down with virtually the same squad as the year before, but with Mark Robins instead of Robert Fleck up front.

3. Norwich win promotion to the Premiership as Champions in 2004 after making no signings of any note during the summer after finishing 8th the season before. Cue 3 players on loan in September... And the rest is history.

Worthington is waiting for the Premiership clubs to work out what they need for next season and who''s surplus to requirements, and then I think he''ll try and do what he did in 2004 again.

We have the nuclues of a side good enough for a top 10 finish and higher, add one or two more quality players and play-offs and promotion become far more likely. I haven''t ruled us out yet.

[FU MAN SHOE 0]

No, definitely not.

The Championship is going to be a tough place this season. Our squad has a lacklustre look about it. Earnie will get poor service and fail to convert too many rare chances and no doubt get a lot of stick. Hucks will do what he has always has done and most teams will deal with him. Leon will get injured within 2 months (he cant help it he puts so much effort into chasing lost causes. We shall probably take a couple of desperate loans in January and finish just outside the play-offs again.

However, we will continue to fill CR all season and no doubt a good following will be infuriated at away games. We  will continue to develop our facilities and not until this steady little ship gets close to the rocks again should we expect any shift in ambition.

We''ve had our crest this decade...now let us ''enjoy'' the trough.

That''s life...at NCFC

[Sing up the river end 0]

If we get a new right side,a big centre forward and a playmaker then yes.That aint going to happen so NO!

I fear it is going to be a very,very,very long season.Would love to be proved wrong though.