"We certainly have the squad (on paper)..."

[KoromaCrab 0]

Do we?

It seems so many say this but neither Hughton or Neil Adams seemed to get any use out of them. Are they really that good?

A bit like the England team... a good squad on paper but together just a bunch of individuals rather than a team and perhaps overrated individuals at that.

[Rich T The Biscuit 676]

Think that''s why the phrase "on paper" is used and was used by me.

If you look at the squad, nearly all of our starting 11 played in the Premier League last season or have done, therefore on paper they should be good enough to get out of this league.

If the manager cannot get them motivated to play then no matter what they are like on paper, on the pitch they aren''t good enough.

[mrs miggins 0]

couldn''t agree more. We have a group of very good extremely good players individually, yet they don''t play for each other and they don''t play as a team.

[lake district canary 4,830]

A good squad on paper is meaningless. A good squad in reality is one

that does consistently well on the pitch - and that requires a good

manager and the right type and mix of players.     

It appears to me that Lambert managed to get a group of players together, not necessarily great players, but more importantly, the right type of players - and get them moulded into a tight knit unit, capable of successful football.  McCarthy appears to be doing the same at Ipswich.  Any future manager must have these qualities.  Most managers are reasonable coaches, but few are able to galvanize a squad in the way Lambert and McCarthy can. 

So imo we have to get a hard faced no nonsense manager in, get rid of any players who don''t give the right effort or committment - evidenced by what they do on the pitch, not by what they say - and get the nucleus of a squad that will fight together and play for each other in a way we haven''t seen since Lambert was manager.  

[KoromaCrab 0]

& @Rich T The Biscuit

Is it possible we have good players but all miss mashed in the wrong team and incompatible with each other and unlikely to create and form into a great working team?

is the task of these players moulding into a team not possible?

[Rich T The Biscuit 676]

Valid point LDC and probably another reason why people use the phrase on paper.

Bournemouth are a great example of that, on paper they don''t have a team of stars and most of them aren''t names that most of us would recognise. However, do they play as a team, for each other and for the manager, yes they do!

But to summarise that, if we can get the right guy in to motivate what we have, then the rest should work itself out.

[percy varco 253]

A team of stars does not make a star team. Never has, never will.

There are, imo, some rotten apples in the barrel.

I would love to see a strong willed Manager with no strong history with the club, come in and root out who ever it is who is the problem.

This current squad are not showing any fight. Is it because they have an indipendant agenda or do they believe all the hype of being told they are ex prem players who should be too good for this league. Sadly they are ex prem players because they as a team were not good enough to keep us in the prem.

Its an attitude problem at Carrow Road, its an attitude that is inherent from tip to toe.

The appointment of a strong manager may be a start for the revolution required.

Are our board ready to shake it up?

[Rich T The Biscuit 676]

Koroma - absolutely we have the players both on paper and on the pitch to make it work.

Just need to get the right guy in to motivate them and those that don''t want to be, bye bye I''m afraid

[KoromaCrab 0]

That''s another concern. What tact is best with players. Boosting them up and saying they are prem quality or really telling them how it is. Would be fascinating to know how Lambert, Hughton and Adams compared regarding this.

Also I wonder what other managers make of Norwich. Do they think we are mismanaging great players awfully or laugh at how overrated we have them as...

[thas a rummun 2]

[quote user="KoromaCrab"]Also I wonder what other managers make of Norwich. Do they think we are mismanaging great players awfully or laugh at how overrated we have them as...[/quote]I think they''d look at our squad, see we have players like Wes Hoolahan, Nathan Redmond and Jonny Howson, and think "yeah, I could do good things with a team containing that sort of quality." There will be no shortage of applicants, that is for sure.

[smooth 114]

We have a squad on paper... So does every team but it is not a squad that builds me with confidence as a promotion chasing squad, or one where if we went up that many can be premiership players warranting a starting place.

Let''s not kid ourselves our team was never massively strengthened due to the limits we have with a board with no money, in the premiership under Hughton or Lambert.

17th was the aim with our budget and player resource, the fact that we still rely on hoolahan as our best player is bed enough... Many were disappointed that Surman and pilks left this season, but neither lit up the premier league or are lighting up the champ this year. They are proving to be championship players.

Bradley johnson has not improved, Russell Martin has not improved... With interest allegedly in the summer for our players we should have cashed in, but out of our team at the moment who would walk in to a first team at a premier league team. Ruddy at a push, Redmond on the bench and any of the others would be squad players.

The new additions, Jerome is pulling his weight, as is o''neill... Grabban is proving what he is, lafferty is steady, mcgrandles, the lad at Swindon, miquel, cuellar are not players that may even start for other teams in the top six of this division.

I had this piece at the start if the season with comments on fox and he is at his level league 1, our squad is not as great as we make out, we have talent at a certain level in the champ. With three additions to our starting line up and VOO with a new manager we can go up.

But right now this team is a squad on paper of championship players, nothing more and they have to prove it. A new manager needs to come in and rattle the cage, bring in some class.

If we go up we still will need an overhaul, but with no bids that obviously met our valuation of our players it is clear what the premier league thought of our squad.