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Ernie

Do you think Lambert will start Bennet for the Stoke game or ease him in gently?

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If for arguement sake Ward, Barnet, Whitbread, Alaya are all fit for Stoke will he put Bennet straight in or on the bench?  I think Lamberts perfered partnership at present is Whitbread and Alaya, Bennet is clearly one for the future but who does he displace? Ward is a good CB as well and in some people''s opinions a starter.  Barnet however will probably be moved on in the summer I feel, great in the air but prone to mistakes on a more regular basis than most and not very good distrubution, although he''s quite good at getting into goalscoring positions, just not so great at taking them and this is in no way a dig at the player just feel he''s probably 5th choice.

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If the widely reported figure of £3.5million rising to £5.5million with addons is to be believed, and no reson not to, then yes, he will be our first choice CB, no way would Lambert break our record signing figure on a squad player or future potential, i expect to see him lining up with Whitbread if match fit

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Lambo won''t chuck him straight in against Stoke, esepcially as he''s on England duty midweek so will only have trained with us once or twice before that game. He may be on the bench though, particularly if (as i suspect) Ayala is not back for a couple more weeks.

I expect our CB partnership for the next couple of games to be Ward and Whitbread.

The good thing is that if we can get the 5 or 6 points we need to be virtually guaranteed safety in the not too distant future there will be a number of games towards the end of the season with less pressure on them when we can give Bennett a go.

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The fee is irrelevant. Its just what you have to pay for a young, promising England player these days. If we were buying Whitbread or Ayala now they would probably be worth a similar type of fee. probably more in Whitbread''s case.

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i dont think whitbread would be worth close to that figure let alone more than it! i think he is really good but he is 28 in a couple of weeks and hasnt even managed to play 150 games yet in his career so he isn''t that experienced for his age (in fact ryan bennett has played more professional football matches than him and he is only 21!) and his fitness record is so bad i  dont think many clubs would risk paying for anything for him IMO.

and i think the figure for ryan bennett was £2.5million with the possibility with add-ons it rising to £3.2million. If we broke our club record they would of made a bigger deal of it.

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[quote user="Felixfan"]

Why would you spend an alleged club record fee and not play him, all other things being equal.

[/quote]

I''m sure Lambert see''s him as a first choice CB, just wondering as and when he would slot him in and who he would partner with him.

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Even though we''re now in the money I really can''t see Norwich paying out over £3 million plus substantial add-ons for a player they''re not going to bed in quickly.That said it might be wise to start him on the bench for a cameo appearance against Stoke''s battering ram forwards.....

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give him 2/3 weeks before he would be in contention for a starting place. CB''s play the most important position on the pitch, he needs time to learn our system. However, i am sure he would be put in quicker if injuries call for it. i predict Ward and whitbred will be partnering each other untill Bennet learns the system and our style. Really looking forward to seeing him play though, our 3rd most expensive signing isn''t it? Although i expect we may smash that 5M mark this summer

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[quote user="priceyrice"]give him 2/3 weeks before he would be in contention for a starting place. CB''s play the most important position on the pitch, he needs time to learn our system. However, i am sure he would be put in quicker if injuries call for it. i predict Ward and whitbred will be partnering each other untill Bennet learns the system and our style. Really looking forward to seeing him play though, our 3rd most expensive signing isn''t it? Although i expect we may smash that 5M mark this summer
[/quote]

 

Very much hope not. £5m+ players demand £5m+ player style wages. It would completely upset the apple-cart and far too soon for that risky route. I''m quite sure that the Club won''t get that far ahead of theselves by taking it.

 

Erm, Portsmouth being just one example of the dangers of over-stretching too soon.

 

This is most certainly not a touch of the lil'' ol'' Norwichs, but sensible house-keeping IMO.

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[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

[quote user="priceyrice"]give him 2/3 weeks before he would be in contention for a starting place. CB''s play the most important position on the pitch, he needs time to learn our system. However, i am sure he would be put in quicker if injuries call for it. i predict Ward and whitbred will be partnering each other untill Bennet learns the system and our style. Really looking forward to seeing him play though, our 3rd most expensive signing isn''t it? Although i expect we may smash that 5M mark this summer[/quote]

 

Very much hope not. £5m+ players demand £5m+ player style wages. It would completely upset the apple-cart and far too soon for that risky route. I''m quite sure that the Club won''t get that far ahead of theselves by taking it.

 

Erm, Portsmouth being just one example of the dangers of over-stretching too soon.

 

This is most certainly not a touch of the lil'' ol'' Norwichs, but sensible house-keeping IMO.

[/quote]I get your point Broad, but in all honesty we are going to have to spend more than we have to push on. I don''t want to see squad players come in in the summer, but players to improve the line-up and i am afraid i think we are going to have to start paying around that 5M mark for some of those players. I doubt there are many strikers who would cost us under 4-5M who would actually improve our starting line-up, the same could be said with the midfield, players like Snodgrass are not going to come for much less than 5M. The way i see our future transfers going is 1/2 expensive signings (5M+) and a couple of lower league players for around 2-3M

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[quote user="Felixfan"]

Why would you spend an alleged club record fee and not play him, all other things being equal.

[/quote]

He has been bought for the next several years, not just the next game.

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Without wishing to imput a much uneeded air of pessimism into the debate, Pricey, I think we have to realistically aim for stabilsation for the next few seasons.

 

There is no "pushing on" to do. The top six (swap Liverpool for Newcastle) are virtually impenetrable at the moment and we are eighth. Some giants have tried and failed, at great expense, to enter this elite. Giants like Everton, Aston Villa and (eventually) Newcastle (IMO.)

 

Everton haven''t got a pot to piddle in, whilst Villa have spent and lost a lot and Newcastle are buoyed by the Carroll money. These are the bigger fish. The smaller fry have to settle for being just that and be thankful for small mercies to boot. This was my main reason for being disappointed with the Leicester result as I thought we might have gone a bit further in the Cup once we got to the "anything could" happen stage.

 

It''s not that I would not like to see big money signings come through CR''s doors, but there are so so many examples of clubs failing both on the pitch and in the bank with this approach that due caution is the only route open to us. Hull had to virtually give Bullard away in the end because his wages were crippling the Club. West Ham were potless too, although I can''t remember exactly what evolved there as they seem to be rising again.

 

Our current methods are working beyond our wildest dreams and if it''s not broke etc. As long as we hang onto Lambert (and McNally,) then it might not need repairing for some time. It might not if we don''t IMO.

 

Things might change for the better when the new regulations regarding turnover and expenditure come in in a few years time and when our own debt is further reduced. I have as yet to be able to work out whether these rules will be of benefit or otherwise to clubs like Norwich. Things will, howevr change drastically, thank God. One day our great club could eventually entertain the giants of Europe again. See not pessimistic after all.

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1. Ward and Whitbread to start with Bennett on the bench

2. Clubs as a rule seem to spend less/have less money in their 2nd season in the Prem compared to their 1st. I expect to see Kyle Naughton made perm, a marquee signing made (£5m+) and then possibly 1/2 more or a loan.

3. West Ham - They seem to somehow be richer in the Championship then the Premiership. Loan bids for Torres/Tevez, £5mill bids for Rhodes/Jelakovic. They couldn''t find a penny, get relegated and now throw those pennies away.

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[quote user="Jim Smith"]

Lambo won''t chuck him straight in against Stoke, esepcially as he''s on England duty midweek so will only have trained with us once or twice before that game. He may be on the bench though, particularly if (as i suspect) Ayala is not back for a couple more weeks.

I expect our CB partnership for the next couple of games to be Ward and Whitbread.

The good thing is that if we can get the 5 or 6 points we need to be virtually guaranteed safety in the not too distant future there will be a number of games towards the end of the season with less pressure on them when we can give Bennett a go.

[/quote]

Why will Bennett only of trained with us once or twice? the Stoke game isn''t until 3rd March. I think he will start against stoke and maybe we might see a short cameo of howson as well if he is now in full training

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The 3rd March is only a week tomorrow SOG and he is away with the U21''s next week, can still seem him playing some part in the game though.

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True Harry, but I though he was back from his loan now, came back on tues which gave him all this week (they have mondays off usualy?) and a couple of days next week? I do see the point people are making about time with squad however, think the understanding develops as much with game time as training however.

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As previously suggested i cant see him playing due to being away with the England U21 team also i think that due to the way that Stoke play lambert will want to stick with Ward and Whitbread due to the physical nature of the way they play their football and that they like to pump alot of balls into the box.

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No problem SOG, we all make mistakes, personally I don''t think he will start but will get some game time against Stoke.

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Match sharpness shouldn''t be an issue given that he is playing week in week out at Peterborough. But no player should walk into the team either regardless of the fee. When Whitbread initially signed from Millwall he was fit (the injury problems came a few weeks later) and there was debate about whether we were going to chuck him in against Colchester to combat the pace of Lisbie. But he didn''t immeadiately walk into the team ahead of either Doc or the admiral. Even though time has shown he is a far classier centre half than either of them.

 

However for a  club like us to spending Â£3.5 million on one player is a serious statement. Over time that player should be prove to be an almost automatic selection and a significant improvement on Martin, Ayala or Ward at centre back. Otherwise the transfer has been a failure. It may sound harsh but thats the kind of pressure you will need to learn to deal with when that kind of money is paid for you.

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I think Lambert will start with Ward and Whitbread with Bennet on the bench, however if he gets the nod over Ward without having given him a fair crack of the whip after coming back from injury (regardless of the fee we paid for him) would seem a little harsh. Having said that its very positive for Lambert to have those kind of selection problems, long gone are the days where we would struggle for a decent 11, let alone who''d we put on the bench!

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