Player Watching - it's an eyeopener!

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

It can be an interesting exercise to just watch one player at a time and pointless exercises like last night (which I was bullied into buying tickets by my kids before Michael Owen was sidelined!) are a good opportunity to “Player watch”

 

I started with Andy Hughes. In the first half he hit as many passes backwards as forwards. His control was awful (although he did get some pig balls thrown at him) and he seemed as out of touch as he did last year. Even more so now as the message about hoofing it has clearly got to him. His one saving grace is that he seems to have realised that he is unlikely to ever win the hearts and minds of the Carrow Road faithful any more than he did at Reading. He may be a nice guy but his biggest flaw is that he is a poor footballer. Which is a big disadvantage when you are a footballer! For the older faithful looking for a comparison – how about Drazen Muzenic?

 

Dickson Etuhu – what can you say? Except that he is undoubtedly the laziest player I have ever watched in a Canary shirt in over 40 years (he even beats Laurie Sheffield!). Not only does he rarely run more than a few yards at a time (having been billed as a big box-to-box player) if you watch him closely he actually moves out of a position to where a pass cannot be played to him. He moves behind opposition players making it impossible to give him the ball. There were numerous occasions last night where Safri or one of our BIG strikers were about to give him the ball and he moved to a position where they had to look for other options. In the second half he was given a few minutes and moved deeper where there was no where to hide and he did get some good interceptions before being taken off. What was really worrying was that any exertion over ten yards saw him standing, hands on waist, getting his breath back!

 

Carl Robinson – clearly he has been told to keep it on the ground at all times. He did that very well. Next teach him that the pitch runs lengthways from the N&P to the Barclay not the City Stand to the Jarrold Stand. He seemed to be playing at 90 degrees to everyone else and hardly hit a ball forward all second half. To be fair he rarely gave it away but that was because he never threatened Newcastle Reserves with any through balls.

Jurgen Colin – Poor boy! Being played out of position. What is his best position? – Anywhere in Holland.

 

One last chance to “Player Watch” on Saturday – but with no Michael Owen ever likely to be on the pitch I am spared that one!

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Yup! Just about sums that lot up.

[Evil Monkey 52]

I wasn''t at the game, so can''t dispute your evaluations of how those players performed last night.

But I do wonder whether you watched any of the players you didn''t already dislike...

[Bernard Robinsons Paperboy 0]

What a good post!

May I just add one or two other observations?

I wasn''t at the game last night so these are based on last season.

I totally agree with the comments concerning Etuhu, a six foot plus athletic midfielder who totally fails to stamp any authority on a game and gives very few passing options because he doesn''t do the basic "pass and move into space". A player with the ability to disappear in a game. Coaching staff really do need to address the issue of hiding behind players, is this a self- confidence/motivation problem?

Hughes, huff and puff, bad career advice? should have chosen another profession? just doesnt seem to have any vision about where to be, where to go and what to do with the ball when he has it.

Robinson, two areas of concern for me, firstly, playing first time passes blind, not being sufficiently aware of players around him, own and opposition. Most obvious in the game against Wolves at the end of last season. Also allows attacking players too much room, failing to close down quickly enough in the final third, if he can get back in time. Encouraging that his passing is now more on the floor though.

Lastly, Drury, good defender, appalling distribution and frustrating when he makes a good forward run and then loses confidence, either to take the players on or cross the ball.

Player watching can be extremely enlightening, especially during poor games, more people need to do this.

[Huddy 0]

I was sitting  with a good view in the city stand, ands was in line with Jurgen Colin in the first half, and i was keeping a close eye on his marking of solano and it was truely awful. He was never within 25 yards of him and when solano got the ball we were in trouble as had space to run into. Colin seemed as if he wanted to be playing centre half or centre midfield becauuse he was running headlessly everywhere apart from where he should have been - the left hand side. Lets hope drury will be fit or we are in trouble!

[Rossi 0]

SNOB

"Dickson Etuhu – what can you say? Except that he is undoubtedly the laziest player I have ever watched in a Canary shirt in over 40 years (he even beats Laurie Sheffield!)."

At least Sheffield scored a hat trick on his debut!

Excellent piece that confirmed the worst - we are crap in too many areas of the pitch. Maybe Rossi Jarv may get a shout in the middle of the park?

[Yellow Rages 0]

I think Etuhu''s refusal to become an available option can only hinder the likes of Hughes and Robinson if they are expected to pass the ball better.

We want them to play more football and achieve a better pass success rate but with one less option available it''s a tough ask at the moment.

Confidence is key all round. It''s something I repeatedly said last season and the fact that it is the root cause of the long ball.

It is also a point that Craig Fleming picked up on in his email session on the main board.

Confident players show for the ball and confident players aren''t afraid to make the pass into feet over ten yards and show again.

As you can imagine with the ball at feet and no short option the panic measure is to go long.

This lack of confidence culture needs breaking fast, but with lazy players such as Etuhu in the side, it wont happen.

[Mook 0]

Player watching can be a good and a bad excercise. These are my reasons:

1, If you are watching the player with the ball, then you are not seeing the passing options available to him - so Robinson passed it sideways a lot. Perhaps there were no options to feet up front??

2, That player won''t play like that every week - if you watch them once you can make your mind up about them forever, and it''s not fair. They may be feeling ill, tired, their wife may be having an affair or they may be carrying a knock.

3, If you like a player, you will always see their good points - if you dislike one, you will always see their bad points.

I would stick to watching the game as a whole!!

[Balham Yellow 0]

That''s heresy.  You shouldn''t criticise.  You should just blindly cheer on the team no matter how dire the players are.

People will just not accept what is in front of their eyes.  All the players you mention are rank average when playing at their best.  The amazing legacy of our time in the Premiership.  Still, seems Nigel is happy with last night.  No surprise there then.

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

Good point DoC - but I can''t say I "dislike" any of them. I only looked at those players in detail as they are the normal subject of critisism. Last season, when watching the game in it''s entirity, as we all normally do, I thought Etuhu might be being misjudged. Watch him youself if you gop on Saturday and see if you agree with my assessment. Hughes, I felt sorry for last season as he tried everything to get people on his side and to make endevour triumph over lack of basic skill.

[huck tastic<IMG src="http:new.pinkun.comforumsimagesline.gif"><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Bryan Hamilton could turn this around...<BR><FONT> 0]

[quote user="South Norfolk Old Boy"]

It can be an interesting exercise to just watch one player at a time and pointless exercises like last night (which I was bullied into buying tickets by my kids before Michael Owen was sidelined!) are a good opportunity to “Player watch”

 

I started with Andy Hughes. In the first half he hit as many passes backwards as forwards. His control was awful (although he did get some pig balls thrown at him) and he seemed as out of touch as he did last year. Even more so now as the message about hoofing it has clearly got to him. His one saving grace is that he seems to have realised that he is unlikely to ever win the hearts and minds of the Carrow Road faithful any more than he did at Reading. He may be a nice guy but his biggest flaw is that he is a poor footballer. Which is a big disadvantage when you are a footballer! For the older faithful looking for a comparison – how about Drazen Muzenic?

 

Dickson Etuhu – what can you say? Except that he is undoubtedly the laziest player I have ever watched in a Canary shirt in over 40 years (he even beats Laurie Sheffield!). Not only does he rarely run more than a few yards at a time (having been billed as a big box-to-box player) if you watch him closely he actually moves out of a position to where a pass cannot be played to him. He moves behind opposition players making it impossible to give him the ball. There were numerous occasions last night where Safri or one of our BIG strikers were about to give him the ball and he moved to a position where they had to look for other options. In the second half he was given a few minutes and moved deeper where there was no where to hide and he did get some good interceptions before being taken off. What was really worrying was that any exertion over ten yards saw him standing, hands on waist, getting his breath back!

 

Carl Robinson – clearly he has been told to keep it on the ground at all times. He did that very well. Next teach him that the pitch runs lengthways from the N&P to the Barclay not the City Stand to the Jarrold Stand. He seemed to be playing at 90 degrees to everyone else and hardly hit a ball forward all second half. To be fair he rarely gave it away but that was because he never threatened Newcastle Reserves with any through balls.

Jurgen Colin – Poor boy! Being played out of position. What is his best position? – Anywhere in Holland.

 

One last chance to “Player Watch” on Saturday – but with no Michael Owen ever likely to be on the pitch I am spared that one!

[/quote]

superb summary of Etuhu...major reason why we resort to long balls forward imo 

[jetstream 0]

Like SNOB I too do a bit of player-watching and I think he''s got it spot on. It doesn''t stop you looking around at passing options, nor taking in the rest of the game too.

I watch players I like as well as dislike so that ''s a bit of an irrelevant point.

I find it amazing how Etuhu can "disapear" for 5-10 mins at a time and it''s easy to forget he''s on the pitch and he DOES hide from the ball - you watch him. This does indeed lead to hoofball tactics. When Hughes or Robinson partner Safri in midfield they adopt a similar role and are too quick to pass the ball sideways or backwards like it is a hot potato.

How often do you see Hughes/Robinson/Etuhu receive the ball and make a darting run forward into the opposition half  with the ball at their feet, drawing in defenders before laying a ball into the channels for Earnshaw or McKenzie? Very, very rarely.

I would suggest that these three players are the nub of the problem with the current team. And if Safri is injured and two of them play centre mid (like last season) then it''s going to be "deja vu" all over again this season.