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Fiery Zac

Michael Turner

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Doesn''t get enough credit for some very impressive performances throughout the season (after the early issues!), so thought he deserved his own thread.

Had a fantastic game today and with Bassong has formed a solid CB pairing thats a match for any prem attack. Today was the final nail in the coffin of the attention seeking, pointless and simply complete rubbish thread of Hughton not improving our defence.

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Most improved player over the season for sure.  Much of this will be match fitness, but I was at the Fulham debacle and he looks a different class of player these days alongside Bassong.

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Fellaini is one of the biggest aerial threats in the league at the moment. Even teams like Man Utd. recognize this and look to man-mark him. The fact that Turner was able to win most of his aerial battles against him, and even when he didn''t restrict him, indicates just how well he played. I also remember three top tackles and that block in the first half. He might not be as composed or refined as Bassong, but he can be one hell of a defender at times.

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Totally agree, he''s been just as important as Bassong in terms of sureing up our defence

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Quality defender - composed, solid and Mr Reliable. Equally as important as Bassong, another great centre half

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[quote user="Dicky"]Quality defender - composed, solid and Mr Reliable. Equally as important as Bassong, another great centre half[/quote]. 
First two names on the team sheet, Bunn looks a lot better when those two are there as well!

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The way Bassong and Turner have got it together means they are fast becoming one of our best central defensive partnerships in recent years.

 

We''ve had a few-Forbes and Stringer, Watson and Bruce, Butterworth and Polston, Mackay and Flem. The current two are right up there with Watson and Bruce for me, top quality, both very different players but complement each other so well.

 

Can see Bassong as a future Norwich Captain-just a tad worried his performances might get him noticed by a few of the big clubs if he keeps it up, though he clearly loves it here. Hughton might well be bringing in some more quality this Summer but I wouldn''t expect anyone to immediately bother B and T straight away.

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Agreed. My only worry is that we''re still one injury away from a serious relegation battle. Keep them fit and we stay out of it.

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He put in a great performance yesterday, especially after he got a Fellani blast to his manhood!

Sme players would of gone off after that, but after a few mins he was chasing players again.

Great job!

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After his early days when with hindsight he was clearly not match fit he has been magnificant and is turning out to be one of our most valuable signings for a very long time overshadowed by the impact of Bassong.  do not think thereare too many better centre half pairingsoutside the top 4 clubs

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[quote user="Phillip J Fry"]Fellaini is one of the biggest aerial threats in the league at the moment. Even teams like Man Utd. recognize this and look to man-mark him. The fact that Turner was able to win most of his aerial battles against him, and even when he didn''t restrict him, indicates just how well he played. I also remember three top tackles and that block in the first half. He might not be as composed or refined as Bassong, but he can be one hell of a defender at times.[/quote]

Spot on. towards the end of the second half Fellaini moved deeper as he wasn''t getting any joy against Turner. One of his best performances today, against a really decent player.

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Threw in some great tackles and won nearly everything in the air. Great cover for the other defenders and he looks like he has buillt so much confidence playing with Bassong. [Y][:D]We should start calling him Michael Puyol, because he''s solid!

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Turner has massively improved this season, I think he has been, as many have said, overshadowed by Bassong, but together the two really are stating to gel.No offense to Bunn, but when we get Ruddy back between the sticks we can start enjoying many more clean sheets.

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[quote user="a1canary"]Agreed. My only worry is that we''re still one injury away from a serious relegation battle. Keep them fit and we stay out of it.[/quote]Can''t agree we''d be embroiled in a relegation battle this term if Bassong or Turner got injuredWe''re 8 points clear and I''d wager that we''ve enough in reserve - just - even if they were both out.

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I agree with all of this. What I also like about both Turner and Bassong is that they don''t duck away from blocking shots, even when it hurts. That does go back to Forbes and Stringer, or Watson and Bruce (Steve didn''t get that ''look'' accidentally!).

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Michael Turner is The Doc Mk 2. If you watch him at set pieces he grapples with players more than the Doc ever did. Once the refs and Sky wise up to it he will become a liability. Get rid ASAP Hughton! [:@]

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[quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]After his early days when with hindsight he was clearly not match fit he has been magnificant and is turning out to be one of our most valuable signings for a very long time overshadowed by the impact of Bassong.  do not think there are too many better centre half pairingsoutside the top 4 clubs[/quote]...i would hazard a guess that Arsenal fans would not say no to the prospect of a Turner/Bassong pairing in the centre of their defence. i certainly would not swap either of them for Mertesacker or Squilacci or even Koscielney. we are lucky to have them.

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I was interested to read what Kevin Keegan had to say in November about the potential of Turner and Bassong''s partnership. I agree with his general thoughts in that we''ve picked up a couple of very good players who for one reason or another weren''t playing regularly for their respective sides. Contrary to what some believe, it doesn''t always follow that not making the starting eleven of a prem side means a player is poor and I''m much in favour of taking these sorts of calculated risks in order to get good value.
[url=http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/179594.html]http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/179594.html[/url]
One of Chris'' major contributions at Norwich has been improving the defence. They have kept four clean sheets already this season which is one more than they managed in the whole of last season. It is down in no small part to the two centre-backs, Sebastien Bassong and Michael Turner, who are now gelling after struggling a bit initially. I know all about Bassong having brought him to England when I was at Newcastle. He was an absolute bargain buy at £500,000 and I had only watched him train once but knew he would be well suited to the Premier League.
He was one of the few transfers that the Newcastle board actually sanctioned for me during that period - I told them we just couldn''t turn this kid down. We only had him for a week of pre-season and he didn''t look out of place, a big physical lad who could handle the rough and tumble of English football. I was a bit surprised things didn''t go well for him at Spurs, but they had a real glut of centre-backs at that time which was a little unfortunate. At Norwich, though, he''s been playing every week and seems to have developed a good partnership with Turner, who was in a similar position at Sunderland, not really playing regularly. Both lads are really solid Premier league centre-backs and really good additions for Chris - they are experienced and have the makings of a good partnership. They will definitely need to be just that against United!

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Some facts about Turner without applying the scapegoat agenda! -

 

He was poor against Fulham on the opening day when the whole team were poor, we were lucky to lose 5-0!

 

He was poor in both Liverpool games and in the home game together with Garrido (yes together with Garrido, it wasn''t all Turners fault as the scapegoaters at the time made out!) made an awful mistake that led to one of Suarez''s goals! 

 

Other than these games Turner has been very solid in most other games and has been outstanding in more than a few. Apart from Bassong, I can confidently say Turners our best CB since the days of Andy Linighan/ Ian Butterworth!

 

That Turner song that has been knocking around at games this season is so factually incorrect cause Turner was never shi*e, he just had a few iffy games which every player does!

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I cant agree entirely with this adulation.

I think we have two michael turners - for me he is truly either Jeckell or Hyde. Wwhen he partners barnett or bennett his has been abysmal - worse than those two in some of the game and better in others - but we are talking margins of underperformance. That M Turner is not worth his wages.

I think Chops sums it up - he has improved and has an excellent understanding with Bassong and it is this Turner that is great and regularly outplays seb and is an excellent signing. Fortunately we have seen more of this turner than the other :-)

Good game michael - just try not to hold on quite so tight to manures strikers as you did fellaini next week - the ref will be looking for it and give a pen for it there!!!

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I thought initially we had spent unwisely on Turner but you can see the difference between when he does and doesn''t play.

The thing that pleases me with his current form is that he is an old style centre back shown with a block yesterday where he jumped in front of Fellaini taking a blast from 25 yards, some true grit and strength of character to come back from his "offside" issues at the start of the season

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Thought Turner was immense against Everton and in general when we have got the big results this season his performances have been at the heart of it all.

 

I don''t really go along with the notion that he struggles when he''s not with Bassong or rather that he needs Bassong alongside him to be a good defender. He''s proven himself at other clubs in the Premier League when he hasn''t been playing alongside Bassong.

 

He''s made a great partnership with Bassong because they''re both good enough to do it at this level and it''s a naturally balanced right and left side. But if Bassong is out injured and Ryan Bennett plays all of a sudden you''ve only got 1 good central defender (Turner) out there as Bennett is a weak link at this level and someone is playing on the side of defence they''re not really comfortable with.

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[quote user="GJP"]

Thought Turner was immense against Everton and in general when we have got the big results this season his performances have been at the heart of it all.   I don''t really go along with the notion that he struggles when he''s not with Bassong or rather that he needs Bassong alongside him to be a good defender. He''s proven himself at other clubs in the Premier League when he hasn''t been playing alongside Bassong.   He''s made a great partnership with Bassong because they''re both good enough to do it at this level and it''s a naturally balanced right and left side. But if Bassong is out injured and Ryan Bennett plays all of a sudden you''ve only got 1 good central defender (Turner) out there as Bennett is a weak link at this level and someone is playing on the side of defence they''re not really comfortable with.

[/quote]

Agree Turner is doing well.    But the difference between Turner and Bassong is that when Bassong plays, it doesn''t seem to matter who plays alongside him - Barnett and Bennett have both looked good when playing with Bassong.   However, when Turner plays with someone other than Bassong the defence looks less organised.    That''s not running down Turner at all but it shows Bassong is the lynchpin of the defence.

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[quote user="Ha ya got a loight boy"][quote user="GJP"]

Thought Turner was immense against Everton and in general when we have got the big results this season his performances have been at the heart of it all.   I don''t really go along with the notion that he struggles when he''s not with Bassong or rather that he needs Bassong alongside him to be a good defender. He''s proven himself at other clubs in the Premier League when he hasn''t been playing alongside Bassong.   He''s made a great partnership with Bassong because they''re both good enough to do it at this level and it''s a naturally balanced right and left side. But if Bassong is out injured and Ryan Bennett plays all of a sudden you''ve only got 1 good central defender (Turner) out there as Bennett is a weak link at this level and someone is playing on the side of defence they''re not really comfortable with.

[/quote]


Agree Turner is doing well.    But the difference between Turner and Bassong is that when Bassong plays, it doesn''t seem to matter who plays alongside him - Barnett and Bennett have both looked good when playing with Bassong.   However, when Turner plays with someone other than Bassong the defence looks less organised.    That''s not running down Turner at all but it shows Bassong is the lynchpin of the defence.



[/quote]

Ah but Bassong always plays on the left of the defence in his natural/comfortable position.

 

Would he look as clever playing on the right? Probably not.

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Turner doesn''t look comfortable alongside Bennett and Barnett because they are crap and he has to mop up after them as well as do his own job. For the record Turner was actually doing okay against Fulham until he conceded the penalty. Until that point Tierney was causing all the goals

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