Taking Things Forward - The Agony Of Choice

[Indy_Bones 444]

Hi All,

I''ve been thinking about what I personally see this club as needing to

do to move forward, and get that promotion back into the Prem.

Do I think we need a new manager - No. An answer that may baffle some,

but let''s be totally fair here despite recent form not being as good as

we have hoped, Worthy has made some cracking signings in his time at

the club. 00/01 - Drury, Holt, Notman, 01/02 Nielsen, Rivers, 03/04

Brennan, Francis, Hucks, McKenzie, 04/05 Ashton, Safri, Doherty,

Bentley (When in right frame of mind), 05/06 Earnie, Etuhu (Will come

good I think).

Yes, we''ve had some poor signings as well, but if you look at the

majority of Worthy''s ''bigger'' deals, almost every one of them has

proved to be a good signing.

My main concerns have always been about the defence, and the lack of 2 top

strikers. I think the basic ''spine'' of the team is pretty decent,

Greeny and Gallacher are both good keepers and Joe Lewis could easily

mature as well.

Drury has been arguably one of our best signings ever, and is probably

our most consistently good player (Was great to see him mark Rooney out

of the 2-0 Man Utd game). Shackell is developing well and if he stays

injury free could be a huge asset to the team. However that''s where my

good feelings about the defence end. Flem is just getting too old to

truly hack it against many quicker players even though I have a lot of

respect for what he has brought to the club during his time here. I''ve

not seen a really good right back since Kenton left, and seeing has how

Leicester just signed him on a free, i''m amazed we didn''t go back in

for him. I''m also yet to be convinced about Doc, Some games he looks

top class, as if he''d get into most mid-table prem teams, but in

others, he''s bloody awful and is often responsible for us conceeding.

If he could get some consistency going, he''d be a great player, shame

really.

Midfield wise, Obviously Hucks on the left wing, is a no-brainer, and

if he''s fit, Safri in a defensive midfield role. But where''s the

attacking midifelder and right winger? Etuhu could be the attacking

player we need, he just needs to really settle in and get his

confidence back and if he does, I think we could see some screamers

from him. For all his hard work and effort, Andy Hughes for me will

never be a right winger, he just isn''t fast enough or skillful enough.

Mcveigh could play there, let''s face it, the guy was banging in 10

goals plus a season for us at one point. Personally I can''t think of

much good to say about the rest of the midfield, as it''s all much of a

muchness, Henderson has got potential for the right wing if Worthy

doesn''t want to play Mcveigh, but he''ll need to find more than 1 goal

every 10 months or so.

As for the strikers, again, Earnie, total no-brainer obviously our best

chance of getting goals. But I just can''t see where the support will

come from. Thorne is past it, McKenzie has never truly convinced me

he''s got the goals in him, but if he can just do enough to take the

defenders away from Earnie and Hucks, he could perform an invaluable

job. I would like to see more of Jarvo this season, I think now is the

time for him to come good, get over the injury problems and make people

say ''Wow, who''s this Jarvis lad at Norwich?''. I''m not expecting Wayne

Rooney, but he really has got the potential to be a top goalscorer, he

just needs the minutes to do so.

So, what do I think we need? Well, I want to see what Louis Jean can

offer at right back, or whether Colin can start to perform. Chances are

one of them will do a fair job and at least we''ve got cover. And I want

some damn consistency from Doherty for a change. In fact,

from a signings point of view, I don''t think we need much. I''ll be

happy if Lee Croft signs, as he again has great potential and could

give us the right wing option we''ve lacked for a while.

The main thing I think we need is to provide the club, manager, and

players with the sort of support we''ve traditionally offered, as no

matter what we as fans may think about the quality of the manager or

some of the team, if we don''t give them support how will they ever

perform? Imagine as a player walking out there in front of 25,000 fans

only to hear half of them start cursing or grumbling that you''re

playing...My motivation would be in the bin and there''s only so long

you can have the self-confidence to try to prove people wrong before it

all gets a bit much.

All we need to do now is convicne Worthy to stop this silly ''Target

Man'' idea, get back to playing passing football and concentrate on

defending better. Look at Arsenal, they play the passing game to

perfection (when on form) and I don''t see Arsene Wenger demanding a

burly target man to help Henry out, reason being that they just don''t

play long balls or go for lots of crosses, and neither should we. Take

a leaf from their book and play to our advantages, use Hucks speed and

skill, give Earnie the balls to feet he thrives on, don''t have 8 men

behind the ball all the time, let''s get attacking and really have teams

worried about who on earth they need to mark as we''ve got threats

coming at them from all sides. They stand off, we take a few long range

efforts from players like Etuhu, Safri, Mcveigh, we make defenders go

back by letting Hucks scare the life out of them on the wing.. And give

the players the best support so that even if we go 1-0 down, all the

opposition can hear is a wall of sound of OTBC etc.

Apols for the essay, just thought i''d make the first post meaningful (At least in my eyes [:)])

[Baldyboy 1]

thanks for the essay but you lost me in the first paragraph with some of the unreal things you said like we dont need a new manager cos his bigger signings have ome off! do you not consider 500k on hughes and etuhu or 900k on jonsson to be bigger signings? yes he has made some good signings but the truth is he has made many, many poor ones alng with some awful loans, that is what he is judged on

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Welcome to the land of outright pessimism Indy - that sort of viewpoint won''t go down very well around these parts I''m afraid........

I have to say, I enjoyed reading it though, well thought out, balanced and optimistic.  Makes a nice change.

[Indy_Bones 444]

I guess i''m in the minority that don''t think Etuhu and Jonson were bad signings.

I don''t think the majority of fans have given Etuhu a fair chance yet

and i''m hoping this season he''ll be able to prove he does have the

qualities we are looking for.

As for Jonson, it was simply a case of not performing in the English

game. He was oustanding in Sweden before signing for us, he was playing

regularly for the national side and now he''s returned home, he''s yet

again getting rave reviews.

Sometimes some players simply don''t adapt as well as the manager would

hope for. I don''t think there''s a manager out there who hasn''t made a

mistake or two in the transfer market, even legends such as Ferguson

and Wenger (7 million for Francis Jeffers anyone?) I suppose this does

technically make him a bad signing as he didn''t perform as hoped, but I

really don''t see this as Worthy''s fault, with hindsight, no-one would

ever sign a bad player.

I''ve not been impressed with Hughes as my original post states, but

again Hughes was a player who was performing well at his previous club

and Worthy thought he may be the player to solve our right midifeld

problem.

I think that if we went into this in more depth, I probably rate some

of the players more than you do, but I think with what Worthy has had

made available to him in funds, and with who he could convince to sign,

he''s done a fair job..Let''s face it, we were out of the top flight for

a decade, how many ''top'' players do you think any manager can convince

to sign following this? I think Worthy''s error was to not spend a bit

more when we were in the Prem, to get the players in whilst we had

chance, but then he''d likely have been critiicised for overspending and

leaving the club with a massive financial burden on relegation.

I''d rather have a manager who takes a few chances on signings hoping to

bring in some rough diamonds (Damien Francis anyone) than one who sits

there simply tinkering with tactics, blithely hoping that he can get

his squad to perform, as a number of Championship managers do.

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Well, if you''re in the minority, I''m in there with you.  Ok, so far Etuhu hasn''t performed particularly well for us, but a lot of fans were advocating his signing for a good 18 months before he arrived and I also think with more time to settle (and less boo boy treatment) I think he can be a good player for us.  Let''s face it, it wasn''t a great environment to come into when he signed, was it?

As for Jonson - under rated and poorly used player in his time with us.  I have always rated him, and enjoy watching him.  Looked a little like he may be on the wane during the World Cup, but an honest player with more than a little bit of ability.  Another one that the fans never really seemed to take to.

[Indy_Bones 444]

And to follow on from this. I have say that I hate the idea of Sutton

returning to the club, as it really does suggest a season of simply

pinging it forward in the hope that Sutton can find his form of 5 years

ago+ and get some headers in for us.

WE DON''T NEED A TARGET MAN!, we just need to play the football style

that suits our players - basically, pass the damn thing short. It''s not

rocket science.

[We need a Manager 0]

Most managers can make the good signings if they are given 2 or 3 million to spend .

[Ian 1,201]

[quote user="We need a Manager"]Most managers can make the good signings if they are given 2 or 3 million to spend .[/quote]And by the same token, even the best managers can make terrible signings. What''s your point?