Squad Debate

[Oz Canary 0]

What a fantastic result over the weekend. I don''t know about anybody else but I think it''s the most complete performance of the season so far. In my opinion, we where horrible against WBA and I think PL realises that he possibility picked the wrong team.

That being said, I think he nailed it on Saturday particularly the midfield. Fox was brilliant I thought as was Johnson and his goal was class! I think that the Fox, Hoolahan, Pilkington, Johnson & Bennett midfield should be first choice every week. It''s got creativity, toughness and pace which is what we need in the premiership.

I can''t help but feel though that we should be making a call soon on what we do with De Laet. I thought Russell Martin was great yesterday, calm, measured and assured. Quite a bit different than what we have seen from De Laet. I think with a fit Whitbread, Ayala, RM and Barnett for the CB roles we could afford to send De Laet (loan player) back to Man Utd. The forward line is our real worry I feel. I like Morison. I think he is quite handy and a real asset (did you see the turn in the box, brilliant, just unlucky that Knight''s tackle was a time perfectly). However, I cannot help but feel that the others are not up to it, GH included. Chris Martin is nowhere at this level, GH is struggling to come to grips with the fact that he cannot push around the larger CB''s of this division. Jackson hasn''t been seen yet and Vaughan hasn''t done much so the jury is still out. I think if we can get Lulaku from Chelsea on loan (to fill that last loan spot) would be great for us. He looked awesome when we played them at Stamford Bridge, big, strong and quick. AVB said that he would be looking to let him leave on loan in the January window. I think these couple of charges would be great for our squad and we have some time up our sleeves until Whitbread and Ayala return before we need to make the call on De Laet. I just think that we need another big forward as we need to score goals to stay in the EPL.

[I am a Banana 0]

The strikers are still adapting to the prem and I think it''s the hardest position to fill, as your expected to score all the time!

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Actually, far from sending De Laet back, I would sign him permanently whilst his stock is low and Man United do not need him.

He has made mistakes but also shown great skill, anticipation, speed of thought and that he tries to okay the right way. Don''t forget he is 20 and five games into a new club. He will be class and we should be ensuring that he is class with us.

[Boris 56]

De Laet have future but sure must clear his play with some fireworks!

If Im not wrong he come here to be back up to all deffenders because his versitality but now a bit short of bodys in this area and he is ideal on the bench until our deffense look ok.

No doubt PL will give soon again chanse for him and is interesting to be seen if he learn somthing from this lesson.

If not will stay back up for long and we will look all british for a pride

 

Russ Martin accroding TV stats first half cover most field of all Norwich players gone to attack etc so he desrve credit and must start against Sunderland.

 

[Jacko 0]

I think it would be harsh to write De Laet off just yet. There is definitely a good player in there. He reads the game well and has that priceless commodity of pace which can get you out of a lot of tight situations. He is going to make mistakes, that is why Man Utd agreed to loan him to us rather than having him in the first team squad. However for the time being he has deserved to lose his place for making too many costly errors allied to his reaction to the goal against Stoke (where I thought blaming Rudd was totally unacceptable). But this season will be very long and tough, so he still has a massive part to play. Something I am sure Lambert has emphasised.

It''s nice to see people are really appreciating Fox''s worth to the team as well. He is effectively our deep lying playmaker, who is very comfortable to receive the ball off the back four and set us moving with a quick, precise pass. That is the sort of service and quality our wide players will hopefully thrive off. But against it''s a long season and I dont expect Fox to play in every single game. Crofty will have a massive role this season despite being dropped for Saturday.

[southstand 0]

It is interesting that you are writing Grant Holt off as a force in the premier and at the same time thinking Morrison is able to perform at that level

I thought Morrison was ok in the game against Bolton - strong in the air and won some high balls, ran the channels quite well and gave the line some mobility, showed skill to turn and nearly score against Knight.

On the downside he was caught offside from standing positions on at least 3 occasions and his composure when through one - on - one with the keeper was poor + he lost control several times when in good positions

Needs to sharpen his game put a bit more effort into maintaining control and staying onside and think TEAM when near the goal - memories of Chelsea when he could have played Holt in ( to score ) on 2 occasions.

Think he has a role and his workrate and contribution is better then Chris Martin

But I would still play Grant Holt - he''s more mobile than he''s given credit for AND will normally put the chances away. Would like him to stay on his feet more and forget playing for free kicks...

Not sure if we can afford to play 2 strikers often without drastically weakening the midfield and maybe conceding too ofter

If we play 2 strikers then its Morrison and Holt upfront for me until I''ve seen more of Vaughan

[Bill 1,788]

"before we need to make the call on De Laet"

Will he be at home, should we phone him first to check ?

[Salopian 1]

Great result, and all the team played well, so it was difficult the choose the MoM.

But before we get carried away, we have to remember that Bolton were a poor team. Until the penalty they were playing without enthusiasm as well.

We also have to remember that at first their two strikers were players without pace.Their left back is also known to be slow, and had to resort to bringing Bennett down.

I don''t think this tells us much about our "best" team, or how well they would have played against players with real pace. I seem to remember Martin struggling against Moses, as many full backs have.

We rejoice at the win, and how dominant we were until the last 15 minutes, even against 11 players. We shall meet other sides where PL will have to play other personnel and formations, and the good thing is that we now have the squad who can make the transition effectively