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Green and Yellow fellow

Russell Martin...

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Martin is clearly a great talent and has played a huge role in the rise of Norwich since the recent ''dark ages''. He''s been backed by Paul Lambert and Chris Hughton in the EPL and has continued to play consistently well.

Russell does not only have a great attitude and is good on the ball, but he has a great footballing brain. When I watch him, he positions himself in such ways that he doesn''t get ''steam rolled'' by pacey wingers and attackers, As a result of a lack of pace, he also has to time his runs when going forward which he has done well and scored a few goals last season.

Personally though I wonder, the modern EPL team has pacey wing backs who join in attack more often and it can be a great weapon. Though I respect Russell Martin, I think i''d prefer him to play a CB role with Bassong and be replaced with a similar player like Olsson (obviously a RB), and even then he''d be a great back up.

I just wonder if any other people share my opinion that the time for Russell Martin at RB should be reconsidered?

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But does Michael Turner deserve to be dropped so Russ can play at CB and is Russ a better CB than Turner?

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Yeah I think he would, he''s played there before and I can''t recall him doing a bad job at all, he''s also done well in that position with Scotland, and Turner is prone to mistakes, I''d personally feel more confident with Martin at CB than Turner.

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]But does Michael Turner deserve to be dropped so Russ can play at CB and is Russ a better CB than Turner?[/quote]

You can look at it as an abundance of riches imo.   Turner, Bassong, Bennett and Martin - four very good centre backs.   Martin also a very good and experienced at right back.    Whittaker is also a good right back or left back.  And we have Garrido too.     Simply a good mixture of very good experienced players who  can be used in different combinations to good effect.   CB or RB, doesn''t really matter as Martin can do either, very well.

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I made a comment on the olsson thread asking similar to this, he''s got to be quite concerned about games coming in to this season - Especially now he''s become part of the Scottish team, he needs regular picking now to retain it.

I can''t see how he''s going to retain a CB place in the side, and if the talk about Naughton is true then he''s going to be doing a lot of spectating.

He can still offer us plenty, but is he going to be happy spectating for the majority of the season? He''s in his prime.

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[quote user="Green and Yellow fellow"] and Turner is prone to mistakes, I''d personally feel more confident with Martin at CB than Turner.[/quote]

Why is Turner Players'' Player of the Season if he is so prone to mistakes?

 

It''s a close thing between him and Bassong but Turner might just be the best defender at the club.

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Turner gives me the willies with his octopus holds. If referees are told to clamp down hard on it. It could prove very interesting how it affects his game.

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"Why is Turner Players'' Player of the Season if he is so prone to mistakes?"

I think he got the sympathy vote tbh. I''d argue that Snodgrass for his first season at Norwich was far better than Turners first season. Scoring 7 goals and not making any memorable mistakes. I think he also had the highest statistic for the most balls crossed in the box by any winger in the league. As a whole he done far much more for the team than Turner. I could also write another paragraph on Hoolahan.

I don''t have a problem with Turner, but from what I''ve seen I wouldn''t be surprised if Norwich don''t extend his contract whilst we have Ryan Bennet and Hughon rates our youth product Kyle Mcfadden highly.

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The way things turned out towards the ending of the season, Bennett''s assuredness and Martin''s re-emergence as a central defender means that, left back apart, we do not, IMO, need to spend anything more on the defence and can therefore channel more of the budget to other areas.

 

Elliot Bennett has also proved to be more than useful as a wing-back in the past and still shines in his defensive duties when on the wing and although some forecast his imminent sale, I personally think that this role will be a more appropriate one for him eventually and for this reason he should be retained.

 

Whittaker''s versatility is nearly as valuable as Martin''s so with E. Bennett to take into account it would appear that adaptability rather than numbers can be our strength at the back this coming season. I believe Olsson to be an out-and-out leftie though and to the point where he has played on the left wing in the Premiership at Blackburn. Also, Garrido has probably never been in the right-sided half of a pitch during the whole of his playing career.

   

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martin has been excellent for us and is still young.

As far as his position is concerned I think he is a better right back than centre back and am happy for him to keep that position his own. He can be bettered (Kyle Naughton shew what was possibel at right back in his sparkling time with us) but do we need it?

at centre back turner came in and took centre back play to another level from all the previous years role holders, including martin. so i would not agree with martin taking that role ahead of either seb (who is on another level again) or turner. but he is an option.

however i do think we are short of pace in centre back, which is another reason why we defend so deep. as others point out turner can be (sorry) turned quite easily which leads to him too often grappling (a la mick mcmanus or ginger pele) stylee. As such my preference is for a new pacy partner for seb to allow is to defend higher and with more security.

Thats not criticising turner just wanting better - and if we start the season with turner and seb I will be happy.

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[quote user="Green and Yellow fellow"]"Why is Turner Players'' Player of the Season if he is so prone to mistakes?" I think he got the sympathy vote tbh. I''d argue that Snodgrass for his first season at Norwich was far better than Turners first season. Scoring 7 goals and not making any memorable mistakes. I think he also had the highest statistic for the most balls crossed in the box by any winger in the league. As a whole he done far much more for the team than Turner. I could also write another paragraph on Hoolahan. I don''t have a problem with Turner, but from what I''ve seen I wouldn''t be surprised if Norwich don''t extend his contract whilst we have Ryan Bennet and Hughon rates our youth product Kyle Mcfadden highly.[/quote]

He didn''t get a sympathy vote he got the votes of his colleagues/fellow professional who were able to recognise the massive contribution he made to our season, even if people on here and in the stands aren''t.

 

Turner is a long way ahead of Bennett and McFadden (I actually think McFadden looks a good prospect but do you expect Hughton to say anything else??).

 

 

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]. As such my preference is for a new pacy partner for seb to allow is to defend higher and with more security. [/quote]

I''m not sure if that can be changed with one player. As we know, Turner doesn''t have pace but Bassong isn''t pacey either and Garrido certainly isn''t.

 

R Martin and Whittaker are reasonably quick when they get in their stride (and many players are reasonably quick in a straight line when they get in their stride).

 

I would prefer to get the defence higher up the pitch in the interests of pushing everyone else higher up and carrying more weight in the oppositions'' half and final third but I think to do that you''re probably looking at quicker (or more advanced) fullbacks first.

 

Hughton, as we know, is very wary of leaving home and getting robbed so I don''t see him deploying centrebacks (and the general defensive line) too much further forward (if at all) than they are now.

 

 

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Almost as good as when someone on here said Lee Croft was given the player of the season award to convince another team to buy him and he had inside knowledge this was a fact.

 

Man I wish I could remember who that was.

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Perhaps Martin could be used as a sweeper behind the back four for selected away games, or do we really want to go that route?

 

Liverpool and Suarez at Anfield anybody?

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I think you''re all taking my ''sympathy vote'' line a bit too literal. But to be fair, he did take a lot of stick from fans and then went and improved his form. What do you expect? It''s what he gets paid to do. But my main point being that I think they''re individuals who contributed more to the team last season than Turner and it''s not unreasonable to think that.

I''m very aware that players didn''t vote for Turner because he had a short hard time with the fans and made a few errors that cost us points.

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I don''t think we''ve seen anything to suggest why on earth we would split up the Turner/Bassong partnership, which has been very solid when they''ve played together.

If anything I think Turner was better than Bassong from about the end of Jan until he got injured against Arsenal. He was in superb form.

Martin would be behind both in the pecking order at CB. I''d still have him starting RB over Whittaker, but that''s a different debate

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