SAFRI...OPINIONS PLEASE...

[Matt Morriss 69]

Right..Im getting increasingly edgy about the prospect of Saf leavin. In my opinion he is as equally important to our success this season as Huckerby and Dion..Last season the difference in performance when Safri was there and not was extreme. Without him we were devoid of any passing creativity whatsoever and failed to utilise our attacking players at all. Safri''s strengths are enormous and i cant beleive the opinions of some of the posters on here, i think there based solely on his injuries and african duty and ramadan stuff.Granted, theses issue''s are negative but thats why we have a squad, to cover when your best players arent available. Saf''s contribution to the cause is immense, it was so noticeable last season when he wasnt playing, especially at home, and when he came back i noticed it even more. He breaks up play like no one else at the club, if you watch him closely, almost like Sky Player Cam, his movement is brilliant and will often break up play without actually needing to tackle as such, rather just reading the player with the balls movement and nicking it away. He does this so often during a match and it really breaks down the oppositions attacks. On top of this excellent reading of the game and ''spoiler'' ability, his passing his top notch and keeps the ball moving, in an attacking fashion for us. Matches without him have been devoid of any passing game whatsoever and used to rely solely on a ball out to Hucks to run at the defence. Remember the 1st half of the season with Robinson and Etuhu? shockingly bad creativity, and no attacking tactical game of any real note.Safri provides the passing that our natural attacking tactic requires. Without his passing ability and spoiler tactics we looked decididly below average last season and never used our great attackers to the best of there ability. Unless there is a ready made replacement for Saf (and the jury''s still out on Fotheringam) we should not be letting him go at all costs. I think a Brellier/Safri midfeild two would run things in this division. From what ive seen from the youtube video of Brellier that he is a box to box worker rather than just back four protector, this will allow Safri to play his natural game, just sit in midfield, win the ball back and start attacks again. This is his game and he does it very well.One last point is that there is no point bringing anyone in if players of the quality of Safri are allowed to leave. We should be building a SQUAD to win the league. The African cup, injuires and Ramadan are non issues as far as im concerned. Dion wont play 46 games, does that mean we shouldnt have kept him? No, not in the slightest, as with Saf, both are quality players who will contribute so much to the season as a whole if they are here, whether they play 46 games or not.OTBC

[Cobain18 0]

I agree that Saf is a good player BUT he is currently ruining the balance of our team - last season you could see that the central midfield were weak as Etuhu and Saf could not play in central midfield on their own - a 3rd central midfielder may have solved this but i think Breiller is a better solution. I do not think that Saf is as crucial to the team as people seem to think although as i say i do like him as a player but i feel Etuhu will be more important to us if we can ensure his consistancy

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

Quite frankly, I think that Grant should build the team around Safri.........and I have argued this before....but he won''t.

So?

He''s still the best midfielder we''ve got by a country mile........................His country knows his value, but we don''t.

Fit him in and trust him Peter. You''ll be more than pleasantly surprised.

Keep him!!!

OTBC

 

[Gingerpele 0]

i like him as a player, he is very talented, but his age and fittness are a worry, i i think are new french player will fill his boots well

[In Dubious Battle 0]

since peter grant took over we have only won one game when safri was not playing, after huckerby he is easily or best player and grant must do everything he can to keep him at the club.

[ZLF 274]

Safri does not cause our midfield problems,   in a central pair he comfortably fills the deeper holding role (Holt/Makelele) to a more offensive partner (Francis/Lampard).   Our midfield mis-balance problems stem from Hux who does cause us problems!   Safri is the one who regularly covers left after a hux attack to fill the void left behind when Drury is left 2 v1.  This leaves bigger gaps to the right, with typically just Croft and Etuhu covering where three players should be. Teams have been exploiting that huge space for two seasons.

Thigs looked far better once Lappin went left as the midfield had a structure that our midfield was more comfortable with and opponents had to work harder to break down.  

The stats are clear,  3 seasons on and no safri tends to mean no wins (0607 1 win from 11 without Safri (15 wins in 35 with) , 0506 2 from 16 without safri (16/30 with) 0405 2 wins in 20 without, 5 in 18 with).   Thats just  5 wins in 47 league games (win 10.6%) over three seasons that we have won without him against 43% with him (36/83) - letting any player leave when we win 4 times as many games with as without him is s decison that needs carefully consideration.

[Matt Morriss 69]

BUT he is currently ruining the balance of our teamWhat a ridiculous statement, so wrong Cobain. Safri makes the balance of team tip in our favour as his break up play and passing ability utilises our attacking players to their fullest and keeps the team on the front foot and able to counter attack when the opportunity arose. When he was out and it was Etuhu and Robinson, the lack of vision for the quick pass to get an attack going sharpish was shockingly evident thruout the 90 mins. There was simply no one at the club last season that made us tick like Safri did. This is more fact than opinion.I do not think that Saf is as crucial to the team as people seem to

think although as i say i do like him as a player but i feel Etuhu will

be more important to us if we can ensure his consistancyAnd perhaps i should have been more clear in this posts title...any chance of some REASONED OPINIONS, rather than just ......'''' I like Saf but he''s not good and Etuhu is good and is better ''''Thanks for the insightful opinions Cobain18...Anyone else care to offer something substantially better?

[Wings 0]

Give it a rest BarclayMan. If you feel Cobain is wrong, say so and state your opinion otherwise. Don''t act like some spoilt brat who just spilt his milk. Cobain is just as entitled to post his opinions, most of which he makes with decent substantiation (ie he likes him but feels he doesn''t give the side a natural balance). How the hell you can''t see that, I''ll never know.

It is also not fact that no one made the club tick last season. Was Safri involved in our period of good form towards the seasons end? No. Did we do well with him? No. Did we do worse without him? Yes; but not by much.

My own opinion is that Safri is among the best midfielders in this league. But that''s only when he''s not off to the African Nations. Or playing for Morocco (where one international takes a week of hard work to regain proper fitness). Or in the period of Ramadan (sorry, but his game does suffer for it!). Or injured (which is quite alot). He also doesn''t offer us as much offensively as he should and towards the end of last season made a number of mistakes.

Let''s not forget the amount of money being bandied around here; £1.5million. For a 30 year old midfielder. That''s going to go missing for at least a month, probably more. For a player we''ve got a decent replacement for. That''s alot of money for us, and if used wisely could be used to bring in someone to replace him who''s younger, won''t disappear, isn''t injury prone and more importantly doesn''t make our supporters make self righteous "I''m better than you" statements towards fellow fans like you''ve done to towards Cobain.

Also don''t post your titles in capitals; makes the poster look like a moron.

[Northern Canary 0]

Our reliance on Safri to run the team would be a major weakness this year as it would leave to many inconsitent performances by the team as he would be absent so often. No doubting he has quality, but i dont think we should depend upon it. I would like cover for the midfield and depth to the squad, but if an offer as much as 1.5m came in I don''t think we could turn that down.

[Hairy Canary 698]

Firstly we must build up a squad of quality players not only to cover for suspensions and injury but also to achieve competion for every place and to allow different formations to be accomodated depending on the oposition. The squad does not have another player who has time on the ball and who can pick a promting forward pass like Safri and this will be missed.

I can see that Brellier has been brought in to provide a defensive shield in front of the centre halves and I think it is clear that this has been missing in the past few seasons. However I would not be surprised if Grant is thinking that he can''t accomodate both Brellier and Safri in the same team as they both sit deep and concentrate on breaking up play rather than supporting the front guys.

When we were promoted we often used a 4-3-3 system with hucks wide and Robberts in the middle. With the new additions we have the chance to do this again with a midfield of Etuhu, Safri and Brellier providing defensive cover and Dave Striker/Cureton providing a mix of forward options to put away the chances Huckerby creates. Thats just one example of a system that we would not be able to employ if Safri left and I for one desperately hopes he stays.  

[One Flew Over... 33]

In agreement with BarclayMan.

If Safri has not proved his worth, or will not be value for money this season then why is he values at 1.5 million by WBA - 3 times what we payed for him, for a player 3 years older?

 

[Shack Attack 0]

I agree that we should keep Safri as I think it will allow us to change our system.

From what I''ve read on here over the past week it seems accepted by most that we will be playing a 4-4-2 next season with Brellier replacing Safri and Hucks playing wide left. Personally I don''t think this works, as it means we have to rely on Hucks to do some defensive work, which is something we shouldn''t be asking him to do, and it makes us quite predictable as the opposition always know where he is. Playing him on the left worked in our Championship winning season, but this was down to two reasons in my opinion. Firstly the two other strikers (McKenzie and Svensson) were real grafters who did their fair share of defending and secondly, the system took most other teams by surprise. Nigel Worthington is often held up as an example of a negative manager, but that system was quite innovative and attacking in my opinion.

For me the answer to this problem is to play a 4-3-2-1 system. Your midfield three (Safri, Brellier & Etuhu) need to play quite narrow with two of them sitting quite deep and allowing the third to join the attack. Your full backs (Otsemebor & Drury/Lappin) provide the width, knowing that their positions will be covered by the defensive midfielders when they go forward. You then have two quick and mobile forwards (Hucks & Cureton) behind a target man (Dave the Striker/Brown).

The big benefit of playing this system is that because we have two defensive midfielders it means that Hucks doesn''t have to track back which leaves him to do what he does best. Safri would have a massive part to play in this system as he would get the ball off our defnders and keeper and set the tempo of our play.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,023]

He is a class player, keep him.

[Steve Mortlock 0]

    I defintely thin we whould keep him.  His contribution is immense and he is by far the best passer and user of the ball we seem to have at the club.  His vision and calmness under pressure would be a real blow to lose.  I hear people slating him about Ramadan and African nations etc, but find this out of order.  HE has every right to follow the beliefs of his religion and the club knew of his religion when he came in to the club.  Also it is not Safri''s fault he goes on African Nations duty and wants to represent his country, again this was known when he came to the club.  I think Safri is being hounded out be be honest and being made a scapegoat.  If these issues were apparent when he signed, why sign him in the first place (although we all know what a proactive forward thinking club we are)  Safri to me is by far the best passer of the ball we have had for over a decade.  Like Brellier, he appears to bust things up and get things moving.  What would be so wrong in keeping the pair of them.  when Saf is away on Af Nat Duty, Brellier comes in.  Its all about strength in depth and this would not be achieved by culling him.  If the worst does happen and we do get rid, who else will slide in when injuries set in (fotheringham, Hughes) leaving us with a depleted light weight midfield.Use your head here NCFC and keep him on board.  Even if he does not play every game, you need a fighter and an excellent passer in your weaponry.  He may be one of the highest earners at the club and I feel they will cull him purely because of this.  Disgusting if the case. KEEP SAF AT ALL COSTS

[blahblahblah 2]

1 year left on his contract. Unavailable for 4-6 weeks due to international commitments, has played the following amounts of games in the last 4 seasons :03 / 04 - 31 league games for Coventry04 / 05 - 13 league games for Norwich05 / 06 - 25 league games for Norwich06 / 07 - 29 league games for NorwichTo be honest, I can''t remember if these low numbers were down to fitness, or just not being picked.  But we need 2 rocks in midfield that will give you the consistency that comes from playing 40+ games in a season, week in, week out.  We were getting that from Etuhu, and his performances improved throughout the season as a result.  If we can get the same from Brellier, touch wood, we''ll start to be more cohesive as a team.Safri has never been in a championship winning side.  I''d like us to sell Safri, and it looks like he is going now to West Brom if reports from Birmingham are to be believed, and use some of the money to bring in a veteran midfielder with the experience of promotion / winning the championship, to give us another option in the middle, to provide the benefits of their experience to Brellier and Etuhu.

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote]I think Safri is being hounded out be be honest and being made a scapegoat. [/quote]Grant says that he wants to the player to stay and be a part of next seasons'' squad.  Safri''s agent is the one doing the deal.

[nutty nigel 7,531]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

Safri does not cause our midfield problems,   in a central pair he comfortably fills the deeper holding role (Holt/Makelele) to a more offensive partner (Francis/Lampard).   Our midfield mis-balance problems stem from Hux who does cause us problems!   Safri is the one who regularly covers left after a hux attack to fill the void left behind when Drury is left 2 v1.  This leaves bigger gaps to the right, with typically just Croft and Etuhu covering where three players should be. Teams have been exploiting that huge space for two seasons.

Thigs looked far better once Lappin went left as the midfield had a structure that our midfield was more comfortable with and opponents had to work harder to break down.  

The stats are clear,  3 seasons on and no safri tends to mean no wins (0607 1 win from 11 without Safri (15 wins in 35 with) , 0506 2 from 16 without safri (16/30 with) 0405 2 wins in 20 without, 5 in 18 with).   Thats just  5 wins in 47 league games (win 10.6%) over three seasons that we have won without him against 43% with him (36/83) - letting any player leave when we win 4 times as many games with as without him is s decison that needs carefully consideration.

[/quote]

ZLF - I agree with your points about Safri and the stats are quite damning for when he doesn''t play. We have to address the problem of being unable to pick up points without him. I don''t expect Safri to start more than 25/30 games for us next season. If we don''t find somebody to replace him then thats probably 1 win in about 20 games if the trends continue. We cant have any kind of succesful season if there are 20 games like that.

 

[FilletTheFishWife . 0]

Too many people are rejecting Safri to be replaced by Brellier on what basis? Most of them probably hadn''t even heard of Brellier before we were linked with him and have based their opinions on hearsay and astonishingly Youtube highlights. I''m sure if you''ve got the patience you could manage a 1 minute clip of Peter Thorne highlights in a Norwich shirt.

Are these the same people who became moist when we signed Jonson, Jarrett, Robinson, Hughes, Fotheringham (he''s got his flick so he must be good)?

I hope Brellier comes good but let''s wait and see.

There are undoubtedly issues with Safri but better the devil you know , he is a valuable squad player and we don''t need the money (we don''t spend it when we get it)....we need the players so he must stay.

 

[ZLF 274]

My stats were based upon the pinkun on the front page who record 15, 30 & 35 appearances per season since he joined, I guess the difference being sub appearances.   In the prem he was basically ignored but did have an injury too,  which he absences since are more around unavailablity rather than not being chosen. 

But what do you want - someone who could play every game but have no impact (jarrett amongst others signed recently) or one who makes a difference when he does play?    Ideally we all want Safri to play 46 games,  but I would take 25 games of him starting ahead of 46 with Robinson/Jarrett etc.  It was the same with Francis,  he may have only turnd up for some games but his contribution was better across a season than 46 full games of 100% committment from say an Andy Hughes.

Staying fit and having committment isnt enough;  ability and influence is needed too,  and Safri is the our key central midfielder on his,  even over just 25-35 games per season.   

 

[ZLF 274]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

ZLF - I agree with your points about Safri and the stats are quite damning for when he doesn''t play. We have to address the problem of being unable to pick up points without him. I don''t expect Safri to start more than 25/30 games for us next season. If we don''t find somebody to replace him then thats probably 1 win in about 20 games if the trends continue. We cant have any kind of succesful season if there are 20 games like that.

[/quote]

I agree NN, we do have to learn to win games without safri and thats what makes Brellier such a good purchase;  when safri isnt there no one else does the dirty work;  buying brellier gives us that cover;  but letting safri go puts us back to square one.  Even if Brellier is as effective as Safri what happens when HE isnt there?  There is no evidence that Brellier will suit the champs game or be able to stick a full season (his tackling will earn him as many suspensions as Safri,  and possibly an injury too) having made less than 100 professional appearances despite being 25.  

Having both TRULY strengthens the squad in terms of depth of quality and succession planning for when Safri does eventually leave;  that time should not be now as we dont know if Le Juge can be as good as we hope he may be.  Safri leaving now would leave the central midfield in far worse a position that the start of the close season as we swap an effective player for an unknown and have not improved the depth of talent in the squad..   

Blahx3 - as far as Grant wanting to keep him I recall similar words about Earnshaw and from numerous other players set for departure under other managers,  so chosing to blame a player or his agent without any evidence is pure speculation that would inflame you had smudge & co made similar accusations about the board,  and discredits your normal high standard of posting.  

 

[Ginja 26]

Safri is a good player, but is he worth it when he most likely will be out, unfit or away for many games, its a dangerous thing to build the team around a player that is guarenteed not to be there for a considerable amount of games. I''d quite happily let him go for a million so long as we get a replacement, which I''m confident would happen. Clearly there are some issues between Grant and Safri and it may be best for the team for Safri to leave if this cannot be resolved.

[Syteanric 1]

we dont know that Youssef Safri is leaing, all we have is rumours from people who seem to want him to leave.

 the club have not come out and said that we are selling Safri, and Grant has said that the player is staying.

We will never acheive anything if we sell our best players. Earnie is gone, should we lose Safri then we lose the lynch pin of the team.

hugely popular with the fans and someone who makes a difference to the team, we are a better team with Saffers than we are without.

ZLF is right, what happens if Brellier is suspended, injured, not up to the standard of championship football and needs dropping?

 we can accomodate both into the team easily, either side by side int he midfield or one on the bench ready to come on. Brellier suspended, Safri plays. Saf away at the ANC Brellier steps in. they could manage 25-30 games each should we progress well in the cups, get to the playoffs etc.

 Also, take into account an injury to Eboohoo or Fozzy, who will fill in? A loan who doesnt really care about or fortunes or put his heart into it? or someone already at teh club, Brellier or Safri. who know what its all about.

 We need to keep Youssef if we harbour serios promotion hopes. i would be questioning ambitions if he is sold.

jas :)

[Le Juge 0]

Think he''s quality and would like him to stay ideally but a year left on contract, big earner (I would assume), international duties, fitness issues, ramadan etc etc. If they offer us 500k tell them thanks but no thanks, 1 million or more and you have to be looking at it seriously and 1.5 and it''s in my opinion not much of a decision to make other than saying thank you very much youseff and I hope you''re happy in the rest of your career.

[sunset 0]

Some great posts on this subject and I totally agree with the majority. We have to keep Youssef Safri at Carrow Road. Any Club that is to be promoted to the Premier League this season will have to demonstrate a lot of strength in depth. This was sadly lacking last year and on some occasions we were down to the bare bones of the squad! We have to learn from this and make sure that we have a strong and deep squad. Players will obviously get injured and suspended especially in the midfield so we need players of equal class and talent to step in and fill the void as well as creating competition for places.

 

Youssef loves the club and the fans and he still has a lot to offer on the pitch, I feel his best is yet to come, lets just hope that it is not in a West Brom shirt!

 

Keep Him!!

 

On The Ball City

 

S

[Chip20 69]

Personally, I would be disappointed to lose Safri. As has been mentioned before, could he not at least be cover for his position even if he''s not first choice? We need competition/cover for all places and I''m sure we''d be better off retaining a player with Safri''s qualities and attributes than losing him to one of our rivals.

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote]Blahx3 - as far as Grant wanting to keep him I recall similar words about Earnshaw and from numerous other players set for departure under other managers,  so chosing to blame a player or his agent without any evidence is pure speculation that would inflame you had smudge & co made similar accusations about the board,  and discredits your normal high standard of posting.  [/quote]Apologies ZLF, I thought I''d read something from Grant that suggested that the deal was going on without his involvement, but on further inspection all I can find is this link from Waghorns'' site (2nd July), which makes the implication that Safri had been approached before Grant without being concrete, and was probably early doors in the negotiations :[quote user="Peter Grant"]"I''ll be delighted if Youssef decides to stay - that means you''ve got competition, that you''ve two excellent midfield players," said Grant, at pains to point out that some stage someone is going to have to make him an offer for the player. Safri is, after all, still under contract at Carrow Road."But if he decides pastures new, that''s a decision that I will make at somewhere along the line as well because nobody''s spoken to me about it - and Youssef is still in contract."[/quote]

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote user="ZLF"]My stats were based upon the pinkun on the front page who record 15, 30 & 35 appearances per season since he joined, I guess the difference being sub appearances.[/quote]The stats I found were from soccernet, and on further inspection were games started, not games played, so don''t include substitutions.[quote user="ZLF"]someone who could play every game but have no impact (jarrett amongst others signed recently) or one who makes a difference when he does play?[/quote]Ideally, someone who can make an impact in 46 league games.  If Etuhu and Brellier aren''t those players, then we need to buy someone who is.  Grant seems to think that they can be.  I believe that with Brellier covering deep, Etuhu and the wingers will have more freedom and confidence to attack.

[ZLF 274]

[quote user="blahblahblah"]

Ideally, someone who can make an impact in 46 league games.[/quote]

 

Nobody can but agree with this - but even hux does not do that hence the need for strength in depth.

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote]Nobody can but agree with this - but even hux does not do that hence the need for strength in depth.[/quote]I agree that we need strength in depth.  But I can''t see Safri being willing to sit on the bench to provide it, even if he does start 25 games a season anyway. If you believe some reports his move is a done deal.  I think we should replace him with a midfielder from a recently promoted team (not that I have anyone in particular in mind), who has been there and done that in a championship dogfight, and wouldn''t mind helping to provide that strength in depth.  Maybe a veteran from Sunderland, Birmingham, Derby, Reading even ?  Bearing in mind that I haven''t been bothered to check to see if such a player exists yet... [:o]

[Yellowfuture 71]

If we can get a good fee for him then let him go, as long as, we can spend the money on other players. He has been great for us but recently injuries, Africa Cup, Ramadan, tiredness, all seem to have lessened his effectiveness. He was nowhere near his best for most of last season.In fairness he has suffered because our defence has been so crap, it`s made whoever has played in mid field look poor.I think now would be the time to sell, he has a good reputastion and should get a good price.