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bjg123

David Fox is our best player - discuss

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I think so. I hope he''s finally proved his doubters wrong, I''ve read a lot of rubbish on here about him not being strong enough in the tackle to play at the base of the diamond in the premier league (people said the same last year) but he''s taken to it like a duck to water.

He spreads the play out wide with consummate ease, in defence he stays strong and reads the game better than anyone else in yellow, makes good interceptions and gets the ball into space quickly.

What''s also noticeable is that other than the Barnett hoofs, nearly every time one of the back 5 play it out from the back they look to give it to Fox, he completely orchestrates the way we play and when he''s on form like yesterday, he doesn''t seem to ever give the ball away.

50k from Colchester has to be the best bit of business ever. I think players like him are what keep you up, similar to Vaughan for Blackpool and Faurlin for QPR, another player who''s looking more impressive than his more ''hollywood'' counterparts such as Barton and Taraabt.

Basically, what I''m trying to say is we appear to have bought Andrea Pirlo for 50 grand.

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Why is everyone on here trying to make out they knew something before everyone else? I''ve read so many posts this morning saying ''He''s proved people wrong'' or ''I''ve been saying this for ages'' why after a couple of wins, is everyone a football genius? Its Lambert who is if anyone....

NEarly everyone has been saying Fox is wonderful for months now. He''s not our best player anyway, Hoolahan is. Yes Fox is very good, and will be key, but he will never be a standout player like Hoolahan. What he does is vital to the team, and he gets a lot of recognition for that, especially from the fans, but a lot of what he does is simple (well not simple as such, but I can''t think of a better word to use), it needs to be done to play like we play, and he does it as well as anyone can really.

I''ve seen very few mentions of the whole team playing together, what we have actually found out this season is that Lambert yet again has managed to turn a bunch of players who should probably not all be in this league, into a team capable of performing well. Tierney, Ruddy, R.Martin, Fox, Johnson, Bennett, Barnett, Hoolahan, Morison, Naughton, Rudd, C.Martin, Pilkington, Crofts, Holt have all put in decent performances this season already, we have 7 different goal scorers, which I think is a very good thing really, it means we can score when the strikers are off form. We have Tierney, R.Martin, Fox and Hoolahan especially in my mind who look like premiership players, and i''m quite worried about how many we could lose if we go down.

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I like Fox a lot, but I do think he''s too lightweight to play at the base of the diamond.

In the last two games he''s had the muscle of Johnson next to him, allowing him to do his quarterback thing. (So he''s basically playing at the base of a pentagon...)

Another reason why 4-2-3-1 is the way to go for this team in this league.

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He is a very handy player but I would say he is still some way short of being our best.

He has the ability to pick a pass out but for me he doesn''t always impose himself on games in the way that he should. He should be someone who tries to dictate the tempo of games but I think he tends to drift out of matches and become too passive in his play. Yes he doesn''t give the ball away much but that''s because he is generally playing simple, safe balls. When he looks to be incisive with his passing he looks excellent (the first goal last night is a case in point) but to my mind he doesn''t do it enough.

Hoolahan for me is the man who looks most likely to make the difference between us staying up or going down

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[quote user="Gingerpele"]Why is everyone on here trying to make out they knew something before everyone else? I''ve read so many posts this morning saying ''He''s proved people wrong'' or ''I''ve been saying this for ages'' why after a couple of wins, is everyone a football genius? Its Lambert who is if anyone....

NEarly everyone has been saying Fox is wonderful for months now. He''s not our best player anyway, Hoolahan is. Yes Fox is very good, and will be key, but he will never be a standout player like Hoolahan. What he does is vital to the team, and he gets a lot of recognition for that, especially from the fans, but a lot of what he does is simple (well not simple as such, but I can''t think of a better word to use), it needs to be done to play like we play, and he does it as well as anyone can really.

I''ve seen very few mentions of the whole team playing together, what we have actually found out this season is that Lambert yet again has managed to turn a bunch of players who should probably not all be in this league, into a team capable of performing well. Tierney, Ruddy, R.Martin, Fox, Johnson, Bennett, Barnett, Hoolahan, Morison, Naughton, Rudd, C.Martin, Pilkington, Crofts, Holt have all put in decent performances this season already, we have 7 different goal scorers, which I think is a very good thing really, it means we can score when the strikers are off form. We have Tierney, R.Martin, Fox and Hoolahan especially in my mind who look like premiership players, and i''m quite worried about how many we could lose if we go down.[/quote]The major difference being that some people claim things in hindsight, and others put their opinions in print and are proved correct.

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Fox is the best passer of the ball, but that is his job, if he wasn''t a great passer of the ball then he wouldn''t have a place in the team. In much the same way that if Crofts wasn''t good at winning the ball he probably wouldn''t have a job either.

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It''s a bit of a hard one to quantify anyway. How can you have a ''best'' player? Is Fox our best tackler? Hardest-working? Header of the ball? Scorer? Best at keeping goal?

 

I like the fact you''re trying to get a discussion going but it''s a bit of a silly starter.

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[quote user="Chunky Norwich"]

It''s a bit of a hard one to quantify anyway. How can you have a ''best'' player? Is Fox our best tackler? Hardest-working? Header of the ball? Scorer? Best at keeping goal?

 

I like the fact you''re trying to get a discussion going but it''s a bit of a silly starter.

[/quote]

I get what you mean.

I guess there''s 2 definitions.

1. The player we''d miss the most

2. The player who could make the biggest improvement to another team

At the moment, I''d say Fox is both. Last season the 1st was without question Holt. That''s less to do with him being the ''best'' and more to do with both how we played and a lack of competition.

I think Fox is now the most integral to how we play. Wes is brilliant, but if he''s missing I think we can adjust our system to not miss him too much, without Fox the team is much greater effected in my opinion. The defence no longer have their reliable outlet, so are forced to play a different way, our whole defensive shape is shifted slightly as there''s no-one to constantly sit 2/3ds down the pitch, and we will struggle to keep possession as well as we do. Our full backs and wingers will also suffer as we have nobody else with the ability to play a ball which stretches play so quickly.

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Fox and Johnson is a great pairing IMO, good footballing brains between them, decent tackling, good engine and they have both got a eye for the killer pass.

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Fox just never gives the ball away, his performance last night was very impressive. The way him and Wes linked up caused problems all night. And with Pilks and Bennett always making themselves available on the wings we have so many options to attack from, making it hard for opposition to stifle us. The new formation really is perfect for the players we have and hopefully with a few more games getting used to it we will just get better and better.

Love how Norwich are proving all these ''pundits'', who witter on about needing premiership experience to compete in this league, wrong. Fox, Wes, Pilks, Bennett, Johnson, Morison, Tierney and Martin were all league 1 players 2 seasons ago yet look every bit premier league players. A stat I don''t think we are getting enough credit for thus far, all the focus on QPR spending big on big name has beens yet whose above them in the table.

Veered off topic slightly there! But yea i agree Fox is one of our best players, he''s vital to getting the ball to Wes and the wingers and just oozes control and class. Yet another Lambert bargain!

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I think he is a good player, certainly not irreplaceble.

Does a good job at what he does, delivery is good but not yet within the final third with a darting ball or a strike on goal.

He isn''t the complete midfielder but he is good at shifting the play and has a little bite.

I don''t think he stands out as our best player in this team or in the squad but maybe that is what makes this team so good. No big fish or ego at the club.

Personally after a few games de laet looked a near on certain starter but now Russell Martin looks a great centre half. Tierney will have premiership suitors at the end of the season if he continues to perform at this level. Naughton is looking very handy and Ruddy is looking more assured.

But as mentioned, I think it is a good thing that no-one player is standing out, although I would have loved to have had a striker score 5 goals by now and worry teams. But apparently we have 7 different scorers this year, third in the premiership behind man u and chelsea. So alot of teams will be aware of goals from all over the pitch, which is vital.

Personally in the midfield I would see Johnson pips Fox at the moment, but again different players so difficult to asses.

Put it this way the team are doing just fine.

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Fox and Bradley Johnson remind me of the Xabi Alonso/ Javier Mascherano partnership at Liverpool a couple seasons back. Both vital parts of the side but for me Wes is still our most talented and important player. If he''d started against WBA I feel we''d have won that game, he brings something to the side nobody else in the squad does.

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He has surely established himself now, with a string of good performances, and is keeping out an international in Crofts.

Is he the complete player? I think that he could do with a little more pace, or at least speed off the mark, and also be a little more robust in tackling. Once or twice has has tackled and earned himself a red card. He is not a natural tackler like Johnson or Crofts, and given two wingers the midfield would certainly lack bite without Johnson or Crofts alongside him.

Can you find another player with his touch skills and also some bite in the tackle? There are some, but they would cost more than we can afford. Perhaps Foxy is the best we can rise to.

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Fox and Johnson in the middle have everything you need your centre midfielders to do.

I think Fox is certainly under rated and people saying he plays safe passes are mad. I think he makes everything look easier then it actually is, his range of passing is up there with the very best. Yes he is the strongest defensively, but with Johnson next to him he doesn''t need to be. I think he has been a big reason for both our wins this season, because of that his worth to the team is massive, I think we become very one dimensional when he isn''t playing.

Another thing, I noticed Sunderland had there wingers playing very wide at CR on Monday, I think we should do that, it pretty much resulted in us conceding and with Bennett and Pilkington on the wings it could spread defences this season, the width we have been playing is working and I think we should try even more width.

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My apologies to you, bjg123; I was more Cranky Norwich than Chunky Norwich when I replied to you and it was slightly out of order. All you were doing was trying to get a debate going.

 

I think in terms of irreplacability, it''s going to be Ruddy, Tierney and Bennett above Fox. We do have other midfielders who can pass the ball - maybe not as well as Foxy admitedly - but these three don''t have the back-up I''d like them to have

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I think Tierney is our stand out player at the moment, and would also put Johnson ahead of Fox at the moment. My reason for that is we are trying to compete at a new level, as the season progresses I can see Fox becoming more pivotal, just like last season. I agree he is under rated.

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