Big Dave: Will He Encourage Hoofball?

[First Wizard 0]

Well not him personally, but more the manager and players?.

I don''t think so myself, although with his height it must be a big temptation to ''go long''. I don''t have a problem with the ''hoofball'''' tactic myself, even though its not the Norwich way, but if its used like the way the Wimbledon of old used it, it can be really effective, athough not pretty to watch I''ll grant you!.

So, do you think we will be seeing a lot more footy amongst the clouds from City this season or not?.

[blahblahblah 2]

The suggestion seems to be that he''s more of a Peter Crouch than a Dion Dublin type of big forward.  Good technical play, capable of getting behind defenders too, as Cureton is.  I''d expect his height and ariel ability to encourage more wing play to be honest, Brelliers'' defensive  prescence giving Chadwick / Croft and Huckerby the confidence to get forward and launch crosses into the middle, something that didn''t work with Earnshaw and Safri.

[Yellow Rages 0]

I don''t think so Wiz.

Dave seems to be a ground player who likes the channels and running with the ball. From what I hear, he finds space well and appears in wide positions as well as down the middle, which means he is going to try and find space, IE an easier target for a ball on the deck.

Also, with Brellier breaking up play and giving the ball short and wide, I see us using the wings more and getting the most out of Hucks/Chadwick/Croft/Lappin and Ostenboor in wide positions

[mbncfc 1]

I think what we will do next season is mix it up.

PG was busy fannying around changing things left, right and centre with a bunch of players who couldn''t really cope. This season he has busily armed himself with players who do different things to what we already have. That balance and flexibility will help PG get results from his instructions and be our most dangerous weapon next season.

At least I guess that is the plan.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

I don''t think so Wiz. But we have to be pragmatic to get out of the Chumionship.

Maybe we''ll see Liverpool style. Mix it up.

That would be good.

OTBC

 

[lobster catcher 0]

Hoof ball is a much used term but in todays football , but not so much played.It seems any team with a tall striker are accused of it but in fact very few team play it,and in any case any style of football that gets us promotion will do me

[Dame to Blame 95]

If it meant winning i doubt fans would care too much it''s when you lose that everyone will start moaning.

[a1canary 0]

It''s a good point Wiz, but i think Grant recognises the need to be able to ''go long'' as an option as well as to keep it on the deck and find the channels. And besides, ''hoofball'' is only called as such when it results in losing posession and the ball coming straight back. Then it''s hoofball. But kick it long for Drogba to control on the chest, swivel, and hit the top corner, and it''s world class! Granted, but it''s worldclass hoofball, make no mistake! Chelsea do it, as do the Liverpools, Boltons, Pompeys and many others.If we can do it well, (ok, maybe not quite Drogba style but at least keeping posession and joining up play from the front) as part of our overall play, i''m all for it and what''s more we will NEED to have the ability to do it.

[O.T.B.C 0]

[quote user="1st Wizard"]

Well not him personally, but more the manager and players?.

I don''t think so myself, although with his height it must be a big temptation to ''go long''. I don''t have a problem with the ''hoofball'''' tactic myself, even though its not the Norwich way, but if its used like the way the Wimbledon of old used it, it can be really effective, athough not pretty to watch I''ll grant you!.

So, do you think we will be seeing a lot more footy amongst the clouds from City this season or not?.

[/quote]

Dont think he will Wiz, McGrant said that he was not in the Dublin style which to me suggests that he will not be used that way, I think and hope that he will be the wing play man, by that I mean that he will get crosses from the wingers and either be a ''target man'' that way or be a lay off man a bit like Berbatov.

[Tom NCFC 0]

Although he is tall, he is a very good doing what a smaller striker does. He''s been compared to Berbatov of Spurs, and he''s one of the best players in the premiership.

I dont think you need to worry about hoofball, but I think the opposition should worry about him, he''s give us a new dimension, hucks or croft/chadwick now have a quick,tall striker to aim the crosses for.

He is going to be a good good signing!

[Stevo 0]

[quote user="mbncfc"]

I think what we will do next season is mix it up.

PG was busy fannying around changing things left, right and centre with a bunch of players who couldn''t really cope. This season he has busily armed himself with players who do different things to what we already have. That balance and flexibility will help PG get results from his instructions and be our most dangerous weapon next season.

At least I guess that is the plan.

[/quote] Spot on! Gives us options. If we can''t play our way through / round a team and we''re losing out in the midfield then there''s an option of hitting it long. PG has always talked about bringing different types of players in - presumably so that he can react to the game and have options to change things off the bench rather than bing forced into like for like substitutions

[beelsie 0]

Nice post Wiz! I would like to think that football needs to be played at all times with the opposition in mind and our side should be able to adapt to all situations that are met with on the pitch.  We should be able to play long, short, ugly, or pretty, and win.  Above all IMHO we, with P G at the helm will have the will to win and adapt to whatever is necessary to do that, and play further up the field as much as possible and put the opposition on the back foot, as he has many times said.  With the players that we had on board this last three seasons there has been a lack of bite mid-field  and a lack of cohesion.  Again in MHO there is always going to be a defensive hole created  with Hucks  playing and we did not seem to be able to have the nous to deal with that problem, we always seemed  not to be willing to do the extra work necessary to play our one line of attack and remain a defensive side to be reckoned with.  In my opinion we now have the make-up of a side with a much more varied attacking options.  This hopefully will allow  us to be a more formidable side to play against and therefore harder to beat.  I look forward to us rolling out the the first five matches on a winning not, whether we play attractive football or not that alone will will give us fans something to be happy about. OTBC!! 

[Shack Attack 0]

I see your point Wiz. If you''re a defender or keeper with the ball at your feet and you look up to see a 6''2" striker there''s always going to be a temptation to go long. It''s one of the main problems England have when Crouch plays, in my opinion.

The secret I guess is to mix things up a bit. There''s nothing wriong with the odd long ball but we can''t afford for them to be aimless punts. A long pass to Dave the Striker for the likes of Hucks and Cureton to feed off should work well but do it to often and you become predictable.

Somebody started a thread yesterday regarding the loss of many star players (Earnie, Koumas, Nugent etc.) from The Championship. We''re lucky in the fact that we''ve still got a player who is a genuine star at this level in Hucks. If we play long ball all the time we''ll lessen his threat, but if we mix it up it should leave the opposition unsure of our next move and hopefully free up some space for him.

[Tumbleweed 106]

One problem last season was that we still hoofed it long even though often Earnshaw was the only option. It made our play one dimensional, made Earnie look poor and resulted in balls pinging back at the feet of the opposition. At least with a target man you have a chance of retaining the ball in the top third more often.

[Tufnell Park Canary 0]

Norwich have always seemed to hoof the ball up field regardless of the size of the striker / forward player!

The amount of times I saw the ball fly miles over Eadie''s head used to make me wince.

 

[Unlucky Fried Kitten 0]

To my mind there is nothing wrong with the hoofball strategy, as long as it''s effective and is not the only tactic employed by a team. If your attack consists of nothing but a series of long hopeful balls throughout a match, it can become somewhat boring, as well as rather predictable and easy for your opponent''s defence to deal with. A mixture of short and long passing and some good wing play can be very effective and good to watch as well. The old Wimbledon team of the 80s and 90s used the long ball game with great success and were much maligned by most pundits, but I thought they could play some attractive exciting stuff at times (stands back in readiness to be shot down in flames!). If Dave the Striker is anything like as good as the great Iwan, he will become very popular with the fans and enjoy a long productive career. Fingers crossed!