Norfolk Mustard 94 Posted May 30, 2011 At first consideration I’d be a little surprised if we didn’t look to acquire one or two players with true Premiership experience. Yes, we bucked the trend last year by winning promotion from the Championship with the majority of the team running on enthusiasm and commitment – but we all know next season will be a much sterner test.Seeking characters that have sufficient experience with a workmanlike approach to the task in hand (the running through brick walls scenario) is a tough challenge. There are very few about like that, but PL will accept nothing less – I think he’d rather go with what he has got than bring in a piece of jigsaw that belongs in someone else’s box. Bowyer, Bullard and numerous others can do a job, but we will not be building a team around them will we? IF we go for players with Premiership experience they will be to give the others a hand – calm leadership in unchartered waters. But then we did just fine last year without recruiting too much ‘Championship experience’.The more I think about it, competent young hungry players who can run and still expect to score in the 93rd minute may be the best way forward. Recruiting experienced Premiership players who have simply not ‘thought’ like winners for many seasons represents a huge training need. Given we start all over again in August, converting those individuals is a far tougher job than working with competent youngsters oozing with raw spirit with high expectations. After all, using that approach has done well to get us this far!Alan Hansen said of the Man Utd team when Beckham, Giggs, Neville and Scholes where introduced; “You’ll never win anything with kids!” – Well that turned out to be quite untrue didn’t it?We have generated momentum and should be aiming to finish in the top 15 this season; to do that maybe it’s best we avoid recruiting any old lags (by that I mean those that have become too comfortable with losing) in favour of those who are young and technically gifted, but more importantly possess high expectations and a winning mentality! What type of player recruitment policy do you favour? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptnCanary 0 Posted May 30, 2011 Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salopian 1 Posted May 30, 2011 I used to think that we were a team with one or two outstanding and the rest making up numbers. I am not sure now. True, we have only a few capable of setting up chances with sheer brilliance - Wes and Surman particularly, but the rest are able to pass reasonmably well and to control quickly any pass to them. We are a team of commitment, but at our best we play with slick, one-touch football. Perhaps we struggle with over physical, muscle men, but some Premiership teams struggle against direct teams like Stoke.It is true that other Premiership teams will contain more players with individual skills, pace and certainly better finishers from 25 yards.Having seen Manure and Arsenal a few times, their game depends on the creativity of one or two players and the whole hearted pace of others. Only Barcelona can claim that they have superlative kills in most positions.My fears are two-fold:1) Our defence, with present players, could be overrun by pace.2) It may be diifcult to maintain our non-stop commitment if we lose a run of games.We shall not score so many goals, because defenders and goalkeepers are that much better, but I am confident in our ability to create chances. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted May 30, 2011 [quote user="CaptnCanary"] Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled.[/quote] It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted May 30, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="CaptnCanary"] Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled.[/quote] It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. [/quote] How do you know he "wasn''t allowed"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted May 30, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="CaptnCanary"] Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled.[/quote] It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. [/quote] How do you know he "wasn''t allowed"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thecanaryfan 0 Posted May 30, 2011 [quote user="CaptnCanary"]Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled.[/quote]Worthington, bless him, made some awful aquisistions between seasons. Helveg (though he showed improvement later on) and Charlton top my list.Lambert is a more equipped man than Worthington, mainly because he has the funds in place to support his needs. His first signing already shows that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted May 30, 2011 [quote user="Webbo118"][quote user="nutty nigel"]It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. [/quote] How do you know he "wasn''t allowed"?[/quote] Nigel - I was knocking on the door to the board saying can we get Ashton and to be fair the price for Ashton in the summer was 2 and a half million,i was told we couldn''t afford that at the time and i remember stating very clearly to the board please don''t come back to me in December saying can we go get Ashton! And that''s exactly what happened. I was delighted when they said that we had him, as he was on the radar right from the start,could we of bought Dean right from the first day of pre season, then got him fit prior to the start of the season,if we had Norwich City would have stayed in the Premier League. Check out the whole excellent interview here : - http://www.dh6.co.uk/s6a1n77p1/Nigel-Worthington.html Worthy said all this publicly in 2006 when the board wouldn''t back him over Hulse or Howard. Nobody listened then either. Preferring to take the word of Munby and Doncaster who were basically saying we couldn''t afford players good enough to take the club forward. Loads of stuff was made up to discredit Worthy after that Prem season. Read the whole interview and revisit the period with an open mind and you will see how disgracefully Worthy was treated. A club legend in my eyes. We may have the best fans in the world but many of those fans are pispoor at choosing scapegoats. Thank goodness it seems we now have people willing to back the manager. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted May 31, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="Webbo118"][quote user="nutty nigel"] It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. [/quote] How do you know he "wasn''t allowed"?[/quote] Nigel - I was knocking on the door to the board saying can we get Ashton and to be fair the price for Ashton in the summer was 2 and a half million,i was told we couldn''t afford that at the time and i remember stating very clearly to the board please don''t come back to me in December saying can we go get Ashton! And that''s exactly what happened. I was delighted when they said that we had him, as he was on the radar right from the start,could we of bought Dean right from the first day of pre season, then got him fit prior to the start of the season,if we had Norwich City would have stayed in the Premier League. Check out the whole excellent interview here : - http://www.dh6.co.uk/s6a1n77p1/Nigel-Worthington.html Worthy said all this publicly in 2006 when the board wouldn''t back him over Hulse or Howard. Nobody listened then either. Preferring to take the word of Munby and Doncaster who were basically saying we couldn''t afford players good enough to take the club forward. Loads of stuff was made up to discredit Worthy after that Prem season. Read the whole interview and revisit the period with an open mind and you will see how disgracefully Worthy was treated. A club legend in my eyes. We may have the best fans in the world but many of those fans are pispoor at choosing scapegoats. Thank goodness it seems we now have people willing to back the manager. [/quote] Where did you lose yours? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted May 31, 2011 Where did I lose my what Webbo? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted May 31, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"]Where did I lose my what Webbo? [/quote] Open mind (highlighted and underlined) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted May 31, 2011 OK.. as you like then Webbo. I thought your first response was rather short but I took the time to respond properly. You obviously can''t be arsed to show me the same courtesy Can''t see what I''ve done to upset you. Or why you bothered asking me to explain in the first place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted May 31, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"]OK.. as you like then Webbo. I thought your first response was rather short but I took the time to respond properly. You obviously can''t be arsed to show me the same courtesy Can''t see what I''ve done to upset you. Or why you bothered asking me to explain in the first place.You have done nothing to upset me - takes a lot more than that! I really do not need, however, patronising instructions on "revisiting with an open mind" so that I can realise how good or not a previous Manager was. You clearly have your view and I have mine. [/quote] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted June 1, 2011 ll asi it happens Webbo old boy, I have absolutely no idea what your views are on any of our managers. It was a general comment about some of the accusations made about Worthington in the past. Maybe I should have just responded to your question with "because I said so". It would have been more fitting with your style of debate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Webbo118 0 Posted June 1, 2011 [quote user="nutty nigel"]ll asi it happens Webbo old boy, I have absolutely no idea what your views are on any of our managers. It was a general comment about some of the accusations made about Worthington in the past. Maybe I should have just responded to your question with "because I said so". It would have been more fitting with your style of debate. [/quote]You''ve lost me now, I''m pleased to say Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,506 Posted June 2, 2011 [quote user="Webbo118"][quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="CaptnCanary"] Not recruiting any big time charlie''s is obviously important. I doubt we will do that as it could upset the apple cart and divide the squad. The hardest thing for Lambert next year IMO is to maintain the winning mentality after we go on a losing run. It would be a minor miracle if Lambert held on to his record of not having consecutive defeats next season and we may well go on long runs without a win (but hopefully not!).Didn''t it take Worthington''s squad 14 games or so to register a win? By that time they had got used to not winning and took that back with them to the Championship where we struggled.[/quote] It was 14 games before we won but the season was half over before we had consecutive defeats. It was only the failure of signing a goalscorer that stopped us having a half decent start. We drew 8 of those first 13 games. Much is now said about Worthington''s squad but had he been allowed to sign a striker in August we may well have won half those drawn games. [/quote] How do you know he "wasn''t allowed"?[/quote]I so wish I hadn''t bothered to take the time to respond properly to this question..... What have I learned? Taking the time to respond to properly to other posters questions can sometimes be a waste of time... Would I do it again? Undoubtedly, not many react like Webbo[:|] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duncan Edwards 0 Posted June 2, 2011 Doesn''t matter how you dress them up, a Gareth is still a James. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
