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Campbell

Nigel Worthington + Player Ratings

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Being a football manager is a tough, tough job, especially at this level. In a time where the media jump on any ''story'' with great alacrity; keeping squad harmony is vitally important. The slightest sign of tension in the camp, and the media can spin it in to a mammoth problem, rocking the foundations of the club. Cries of "X manager has lost the dressing room" and "The squad has lost faith in Z manager" can be found almost every month if you trawl the papers, these claims more often than not are refuted by players some time later.

This is why it''s not always easy as a manager to drop four players from the starting XI, especially if they have been so loyal to you and helped bring success to your club. It is a fine line between rewarding the players previous efforts, believing in them, showing them the loyalty they have shown you...and throwing in new players in hope they can do better.

Fellow Norwich City fans have claimed that Worthington doesn''t pick the correct players. Well, as I have just said, running a football club at the top level is very tough. We had eight first team players out for between three weeks and three months...impose that on any squad in the Premiership, and they will struggle, perhaps even Chelsea. In many games, we''ve had to play pretty much the team that got us promoted, which was never the plan. If you throw players back in to the team in key positions, then it could all go horribly wrong. Helveg at right back early in the season was a nightmare, he wasn''t up to speed. Jonson on the right wing, not good enough in the early stages, he wasn''t up to speed. Worthington dropped Drury when he was having a tough time, but brought him back in to the side when we were all calling for Charlton, and Drury has proved the manager right in his decision; Drury was magnificent yesterday, and has been playing well since his return. Had Ronaldo in his pocket But anyway...

Running a real football club is nothing like Championship Manager, as it would appear some of you believe. Remember, players are people, and morale and confidence play a HUGE role in football, without it you can forget about winning. You can''t just throw players in here, there and everywhere...if the players don''t feel that they have somebody in charge who will give them a chance, or will believe in them, or will stick with them through thick and thin, then there is no point turning up.

Fellow Norwich City fans have claimed that Worthington is tactically naive...yesterday however, we saw Worthington the master tactician. We stopped Manchester United playing where they could hurt us, and we did it better than most teams have this season. Rooney, Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy, Scholes and Smith all on the pitch, and they could only manage to force Greeno in to one save.

Fellow Norwich City fans have claimed that Worthington''s signings are questionable, but of all the players on the pitch yesterday that Worthington signed, all of them were superb...every single one. Even the subs who came on late did a job for the team, and did it to perfection. Worthington knows that Helveg is better than Edworthy, Safri is better than Holt, Ashton better than Svensson and Bentley is better than Jonson/Stuart...but due to injuries, fitness issues and not wanting to rock the boat so to put the players on edge, it''s not always been possible to put this ''best'' team out.

If we are relegated, it will be down to the horrific injury crisis suffered midway through out season. I maintain that if we would have had better luck with injuries, we would be around the 30 point mark comfortably.

I am, was and always will be 100% behind Nigel Worthington, because simply put, that when he has his id

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Great post Campbell.  Well said.  The paragraph  "If we are relegated, it will be down to the horrific injury crisis suffered midway through out season. I maintain that if we would have had better luck with injuries, we would be around the 30 point mark comfortably." is very true.  The performace of Bents, Helveg and Saf shows what might have been this season.

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Yeah, good post. I would give every player 10 simply because they played as a whole team.

They team were showing some proper tactics. They closed in on Man U as soon as they had the ball and gave them very little space. The midfield were great in doing this.

The defence was solid and hardly let them into the box.

The strike force was outstanding - Ashton, Hux, McKenzie.

and Green didnt have to do anything but hey, hes amazing anyway!

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My thoughts exactly Campbell excellent post!

Can''t really argue with your ratings either, but who would be your man of the match?

Tough chioce but for me it would have to be Safri. His tackling and passing was excellent all game and provided the missing ingredient to our team. He often made Rooney look like an ameatuer and was clearly rattling Man U with his tenacity.

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Safri for my M.O.M as well. He was immense. Out muscled Utd''s players and was always there when they had the ball in midfield. Can imagine Roy Keane being sat on his sofa at home watching the match and going mental cos he team mates were being ''out-Keaned''

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How good to read such a positive breakdown after such a positive result - the first time for months that we have been able to field our best eleven because of the injury crisis.

I have been avoiding reading messages on here of late as they have been so negative and down beat - its a pleasure to be back reading posts like this which are well balanced and constructive.

Well done to the team and management for yesterdays performance - which was a real pleasure to watch.

 

 

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100% agree and 5*****. Outside of the club how many people have really recognised the injury impact on us? Some on here too!

6 points to make up on the Baggies in 6 games now - still do-able?

I''m certainly looking forward to Selhurst Park now - it really is s**t or bust there!

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I couldn''t agree more with this thread. Given that I''ve been critical in the past month, I thought it would only be fair if I congratulated the team on an excellent performance. Now the task in hand is take that performance onto next Saturday, be positive, get close to the Palace players to close them down and who knows, we could be celebrating our first away win of the season, and boy it would be a massive win.

So more of the same please. I was so glad to see Worthington come out in the press in mid week last week saying he wanted to see fight, challenges, wanted us to hurt Man Utd. I was posting on this site a few weeks ago calling for the same thing (something along the lines of WAR - Rallying cry! Broken noses etc which most posters ignored!). And finally it has happened. Now it is a football war against Palace. And I mean war. 100% commitment. I want blood, but no tears. I really believe we can do it.

I''ve checked the run ins of every team . None of them are excessively tough apart from WBA, who still have to play Arsenal and Man Utd, Spurs, Middlesboro, so I think are heading down. They are only ahead of us at this point as they have played the majority of the easier teams so are in a false position. And as we''ve still got to play Palace and Southampton, it''s still in our hands. But we MUST beat them both. Shackell V Crouch - there CAN only be one winner, my money is on Shackell.

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Thank you for the kind replies...and I am glad so many of you agree with the original post.

I have watched in the past week or two in disgust at the sheer disrespect of our manager. Hopefully this thread will show those who want Worthington out, that under the circumstances, Nigel has done a great job and the performance of the players on Saturday showed you all just why he must stay. We have arguably our best team on the pitch for the first time in a long time, and we play extremely well, beating a top three Premiership side, who were forced to bring on all of their big guns, and still couldn''t threaten our goal...

The players did it for the club, for the fans, for eachother...and they did it for Nigel Worthington; whose hard work will continue to take this club forward, even if we must take a step back this season to do so.

I do feel very strongly about this sudden ''Worthy out'' campaign, and I hope the performances of our fully fit, strongest XI will ram the ''Worthy out'' sentiments back where they came from!

As for Man of the Match, I know Ashton got it, but for me, it''s the whole playing and coaching staff for being, in a nutshell, SPOT ON!

Now let''s win the next one...

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Only just got back to this site after a fantastic weekend, bought all the papers Sunday!!

Good post Campbell. Just wanted to add my thoughts on MOTM. My view is that it should go to the person who makes the most difference. Deano got a great header and the magnificent three passed brilliantly for Leon''s goal, and Shackell was a rock.

My MOTM by some distance was safri. Tigerish, dirty, committed, all those words have been used to describe him but he was everywhere. He more than any other disrupted ManU out of their rythmn and when he got the ball he didn''t just hoof it but looked around and passed safely to feet. He reminded me of Mick McGuire (that''s going back a way now) in his heyday. He had that attitude of total determination which we have not had this campaign.

Holt may be  a good man to have on the bench but Safri has to be in for the rest of the season now.

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I don''t think I would single out any one player from the game on Saturday. They all played their part.The substantial difference for me was simply the continuing harrying of the United player on the ball, from all sections of the park. It makes it alot easier for our defenders if the midfield are closing down quicker. When all four midfield players are doing the job in restricting the opposition then the defense are less likely to be caught out. That happened on Saturday.Personally I continue to have my doubts over Fleming, although his performance on Saturday was suitable. At this level he lacks the pace and more often than not is caught out of position when chasing players away from the box. However, if the midfield continue to play the pressure game like they did on Saturday, Fleming deficiencies might seem less apparent....

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although I agree whole heartedly with the mass of positive thoughts on here and welcome them with open arms, I just fear that some people are still wearing those yellow and green specs.   To defend Master Worthington''s tactics so strongly is very admirable, but a little short sighted.

How many games did Helveg sit on the bench at the start of the season whilst Eddy made a hash of it?   How many games has Safri sat on the bench whilst Holt has chased shadows?  Safri wasn''t part of the major injury crisis you talk about.   It wasn''t until Holt was injured that we started to play some decent football and then when he was back to fitness he was straight in and our goal''s conceded column went up again.  How long was it until Shackell was introduced to the team?  He is now a rock at the back meeting balls and making class interceptions. 

Many of us have been crying for changes (whilst players are fit) for months and it is only now that Worthington and his master tactics make those changes.   If only Shackell had been in from the start and Helveg given more than 2 okay games at right back before being dropped.  How many goals would we have conceded then?  Would Helveg had been injured whilst filling in midfield then?  Had Worthington also given Safri as many chances as Holt, would we not have done better?   I think we would have.  These 3 players were the biggest difference on Saturday and only 1 of them was part of the injury crisis.   The excuse of rocking the camp and upsetting players morale is rubbish.   These are professional players being paid in a week what most of us get in a year.  If they play crap they should be dropped, end of story.  I think players would have more respect and faith in a Manager that drops poor players than one that leaves them in for 5 matches whilst the team suffers as a result.

Also, it is one game people and Manure weren''t exactly up for it were they?    If the real Manure had turned up and Ferguson not been so naive and disrespectful to Norwich it could have been very different.

NO, well done Worthington for getting it right (finally) on Saturday and well done for motivating the side into a spirited performance (we assume, although I think it is more to do with Safri fighting hard for his place and inspiring the team when they saw Manure get annoyed) and well done for a great result, but please don''t count the chikcens before they have hatched and please don''t insult us by telling us Worthington is a great tactician when it has taken him so long to pick a half decent starting 11.   Lets hope he picks the best 11 for the remaining 6 games.

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Campbell, a superbly thought-out and well written post which I mainly agree with.  I have to disagree slightly though about the injuries.  I don''t care how many injuries we have had, there is no excuse for the way we have allowed teams (with more talent than us) to have so much of the ball and so much time on it when they play us.  The changes in personnel Saturday were irrelevant, the major difference was the fact that we pressed the ball a lot higher up the field and got stuck in a bit more.  You do not have to have your "Best 11" on the pitch to make it difficult for the opposing team to play. 

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To me Safri played well beyond my expectations of his ability and brought a far better shape to the side by reading the game rather than chasing the ball like Holt does - oh and actually making tackles - ask rooney!  Safri and Shacks were immense.

Green 6  Very little to do but coped well with most thrown at him.He did still seem shakyon a couple of crosses - will take more to restore his confidence.

Helveg 7 - a couple of loose early passes brought the boo boys out aaround me but like safri his position reading tackling and passing highlighted what we have been missing

Flem 6 - one of his better games but still to many drifts out of position (not punished this time) to warrant forgiveness.

Shacks 8 - a born leader and organiser - composed on the ball, reads the game well and easily the games best youngster...

Drury - 7 Did well against a threatening Ronaldo

Stuart - 5  Disappointing but in many ways wasted out of position.  Jonson and Bentley are both well ahead of him here.  Safris performance means we have no place for him.

Safri - 8 - Superb; our own Makelele?  A slight exaggeration but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

Francis 7 - Frustrating as ever - looks good going forward, disinterested too often when defending and needed most.

Hux - 7  Held a defensively line despite his attacking tendencies, particularly in the first half.  remains our most threatening player and will get more space now Bents is back.

Ashton 7 - Led the line well but a quiet first half - superb goal and lovely cross for the second.

Leon 7- took his chance well and deserved his goal for the sheer effort he continues to put in.  Still so frustrating with his final touch/ball though - gets into very good positions then blows it.   

 

Subs

Bents 7 - Made the difference between a draw and a win.  Top quality free kick for the goal and enabled us to threaten across the width of the pitch rather than just Hux.  Welcome back.

Jonson 6 - Gave some cover to Drury as we looked to secure the three points.  Good sub to have

Svennson - 6  Good movement and able replacement.  Good to see back too.

 

The 11 that started the second half on Sat, against Palace would do me fine (I would love to see the back of flem but know that really would be fantasy footy)

OTBC    

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