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Tetteys Jig

Bassong - What happened?!

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He went from POTS and "the best defender we''ve had in years" to being completely marginalised and maligned by fans and management alike.

I understand it hasn''t been his greatest season, but he was far from our worst performer. We got 10 clean sheets at the back with him in the side including versus the likes of Man City.

In my eyes while he''s not been great and while the captaincy was a bad move, he''s been unfairly marginalised but i''m on the outside looking in. Adams denied there was any issue after the Fulham game but I don''t think I believe that and think that Bassong could have helped us get more than one point from the last four games if used instead of Martin and others at CB.

Is there any chance he''ll be there next season and be seen in a Norwich shirt again?

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Spent too long telling himself in the mirror how good he was

 

Gave a goal away every other game

 

Far too expensive

 

If we can get rid & off wages bill

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Now QPR have gone up, I just see Bassong going there to team up with Harry and BAE again. They will need more mobility added to the back with Clint Hill and Richard Dunne in their line up atm

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[quote user="Newton"]

Spent too long telling himself in the mirror how good he was

 

Gave a goal away every other game

 

Far too expensive

 

If we can get rid & off wages bill

[/quote]

You see the key there is ''every other game'' the other games he did well. It''d have been nice if RvW scored or even turned up ''every other game'' or Johnson passed to an acceptable standard ''every other game'' but they didn''t. We seem to be on the verge of revolution when it was simply evolution that was needed.

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The way I see it there were two problems with Bassong last season:

a) He is 98% great defender, and 2% liability - always seemed like there was a catastrophic mistake waiting to happen. When you''re scoring so few goals, these are even more apparent and damaging. To be honest, I accept this because if he had absolutely everything to his game he probably wouldn''t be with us.

b) As you say, he was made team captain instead of Russell Martin, and was a pretty terrible choice (from the outside). This wasn''t helped by interviews saying the squad "just wanted the season to end" before our vital run-in and consequent relegation.

I think that ultimately Adams wanted players with the right attitude (e.g. fighting) for the last few games, and Bassong probably wasn''t up for it. Whether he will be here or not depends on his commitment to the club, but I imagine he is on a hefty wage so it would not surprise me if we let him go.

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We all know that he was well below his best last season, and it was no surprise when he was relegated to the bench by Adams.

He had an operation last summer, from which he had barely recovered when the season started. I suspect that it was the captaincy situation which got on top of him, however. He seems a quiet man, and with Martin, a more extrovert character also captain, he probably felt unsure about his role.

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How could he have helped us get more than one point from the last four games? By preventing the four goals against Man U? Look how he threw in the towel away to Man City. By scoring against Chelsea? With his brilliant past record against Liverpool? The meaningless game against Arsenal?

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This is a slight problem I have, we''ll end up with a team of 11 Andy Hughes'' if we''re not careful. Heck I''ll "fight hard for the cause" so why don''t they pick me? (no need to respond to that :D)

Unfortunately, Footballers and their differing personalities are a part of it. Look at QPR going up with the firey Joey Barton and the blase BAE in their line ups.

I hope that all our talented players aren''t shipped out because they don''t get a high score on the bleep test and won''t dive into every tackle. We need a mix of brains and brawn if we''re to be there or thereabouts come next May.

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Bassong has pretty consistently had one good season, followed by a bad one. He was dropped for Adams'' games as he is loyal to Hughton and probably pretty upset/angry about his sacking.

 

He''ll be gone by August and will probably have a good season in 2014/15/

 

 

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I forgot Hoots love child was also made captain

 

Another reason to move him on

 

Someone suggested QPR - great idea - Any one Harry''s mobile or can we just book Bassong a taxi

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[quote user="I.S."] . I think that ultimately Adams wanted players with the right attitude (e.g. fighting) for the last few games, and Bassong probably wasn''t up for it.

Whether he will be here or not depends on his commitment to the club,  [/quote]

If Bassong wasn''t up for the fight then surely the issue of his future commitment to the club is already settled.

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Bassong was very good in first season and while he never hit the same levels consistently the season just gone he was still pretty decent.

 

In my opinion being captain changed the way people saw his performances from a footballing point of view. To me he hadn''t really changed. In his first season he always had that sort of casualness about him. But because he was new and we were having a reasonable season people liked to see and describe that casualness as "calm and composed" or "cultured". But now they see it as him not caring, as him being a liability.

 

I''d still consider to be one of the best central defenders we''ve had in the last 20 years or so.

 

Will we have someone better than him in the team next season? Unlikely.

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The mention of clean sheets I don''t believe has any bearing on his performances.

We kept many clean sheets because Hughton tried to protect the back four by shoving the midfield in front of them. Fair enough if you are pushed back but to surrender tewo thirds of the pitch was putting them all under pressure.

I think Fer is overrated to a certain extent but why was he having to defend all the time and Howson as well when back from injury?

To be honest, I don''t think Bassong was any worse than Turner or Martin, None of them are mobile enough for the Prem. Bassong just looks so slow to react at times though and finds it difficult to clear when under pressure.

I guess he is one of the players on higher wages so I would hope there is better around for less money.

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He got complacent and his mistakes were magnified because they tended to lead to goals which cost us points because we couldn''t score at the other end.

Two 1-0''s against Swansea and Stoke at home would have kept us up - we didn''t get those because of two Bassong errors.

That might be unfair because others also contributed to those results but it''s a bit like when a goalkeeper makes a mistake or when anything is so obvious (like Johnson''s misplaced pass against Liverpool, for instance, or Tettey against Chelsea).

And that''s just some home games.....don''t get me started on the away ones! It is simply staggering how many points we threw away.

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He played alongside a crap defender like Michael Turner and people who don''t understand soccer blamed Bassong for Turner''s errors. Also he didn''t play with "passion"

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[quote user="jaemae2"]He played alongside a crap defender like Michael Turner and people who don''t understand soccer blamed Bassong for Turner''s errors. Also he didn''t play with "passion"[/quote]

What the penalty against Stoke was Turner''s fault?

Give it up hornet.

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what happened? seemed to suffer under the weight of captaincy and expectation, made a couple of goal conceding mistakes (but fewer than others and some midfielders) but generally played better than given credit for.

does have a habit of being associated with relegated clubs though...

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[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]He went from POTS and "the best defender we''ve had in years" to being completely marginalised and maligned by fans and management alike.

I understand it hasn''t been his greatest season, but he was far from our worst performer. We got 10 clean sheets at the back with him in the side including versus the likes of Man City.

In my eyes while he''s not been great and while the captaincy was a bad move, he''s been unfairly marginalised but i''m on the outside looking in. Adams denied there was any issue after the Fulham game but I don''t think I believe that and think that Bassong could have helped us get more than one point from the last four games if used instead of Martin and others at CB.

Is there any chance he''ll be there next season and be seen in a Norwich shirt again?[/quote]His injury from last season that he had surgery for was still giving him a bit of grief apparently and he''ll be having further surgery this Summer.

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[quote user="Herman "]

[quote user="jaemae2"]He played alongside a crap defender like Michael Turner and people who don''t understand soccer blamed Bassong for Turner''s errors. Also he didn''t play with "passion"[/quote]

What the penalty against Stoke was Turner''s fault?

Give it up hornet.

[/quote]

Was the penalty at Hull Bassong''s fault?

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Pretty sure the penalty at Stoke didn''t lose the game, and the one at Hull did, as well...

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[quote user="Herman "]It sure cost us three valuable points.[/quote]

2 points, the Hull one cost 3.

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[quote user="jaemae2"][quote user="Herman "]It sure cost us three valuable points.[/quote]

2 points, the Hull one cost 3.[/quote]

Technically the Hull one cost us 1 point.....

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[quote user="Evesham Canary"][quote user="jaemae2"][quote user="Herman "]It sure cost us three valuable points.[/quote]

2 points, the Hull one cost 3.[/quote]

Technically the Hull one cost us 1 point.....[/quote]

Fair enough. Ultimately my point was, we got something from the Stoke game, nothing from Hull. So if we are going to compare mistakes. Both were bad mistakes.

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[quote user="Kangaroo Court"]How could he have helped us get more than one point from the last four games? By preventing the four goals against Man U? Look how he threw in the towel away to Man City. By scoring against Chelsea? With his brilliant past record against Liverpool? The meaningless game against Arsenal?[/quote]

The Liverpool one is a tad harsh as he missed both 5 goal hidings in 12-13 season & for good measure he wasnt here for the 5-0 debacle against Fulham.

No doubt that last year he didn''t reach the heights of the previous season but he is still a decent player. He is a bit of a Malky in that when he has an off day he has an absolute shocker!!

Suspect he will head to one of newly promoted sides or a Palace/WBA level side. Will probably get most of the £3M odd we paid for him back too.

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[quote user="Newton"]

Spent too long telling himself in the mirror how good he was

 

Gave a goal away every other game

 

Far too expensive

 

If we can get rid & off wages bill

[/quote]pretty much..should have been released as soon as he came out with the "we just want the season to be over comment".. he stopped caring a long time ago.

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