The Importance of a good pre season

[KidCanary 0]

Right i thought i would put my two penneth in before there are any more silly rantings and ravings on the board.

For those who have only watched football and never played I can not stress enough how important a good pre-season is.  After a two month break, fitness, positional awareness and team work require alot of attention.  Unfortunately our pre season has been very poor and this has been down to alot of niggly injuries to key players and not the fault of anyone, these things just happen sometimes.  We havent had a settled side during the pre-season, I would imagine that worthy would of liked at least 4 games (alongside training) with a settled side and he blatantly didnt get this.

All the above has been very evident in our first two matches and I must admit i expected this.  I might point out though we are doing slightly better than I expected.  With a poor pre-season, really your looking at 10-15 games in before the side gel (especially considering we have a few new players), in light of how we have preformed I would expect this to be nearer 10.  Having said that a couple of wins will do wonders for nerves and confidence and could accelerate this to more like 5-8 games.

Unfortunately i havent been able to be at a game yet but from what I can hear on the radio it sounds like we are trying to rush our attacks a little much, which is completely understandable given the above plus crowd frustration.

Anyway the point of this post was dont panic, we are getting there, its just going to require a little patience!

Incidentally I would like to see another central defender brought in, not because the choices we have at the moment cant cut it at this level, but with a view that we will be in the premiership next season I would like a season for a partnership to be bedded in.  At this level they can afford some time to learn and make mistakes, at the next level they cant!

[Dicky 0]

Good to hear some sensible comment from somebody who has an understanding of the game.

 

[rich 0]

very good post, though on the flip side if the side are struggling
now is many of the problems not the managers own for being so slow getting started
in the transfer market.

oh by the way kid are you that young lad from the academy whose been on before?

[KidCanary 0]

Nope im a long time lurker, switched to this a while ago when i got bored of canary mail!

Felt the need to break my self imposed silence and speak out though because there are so many posts from people who clearly have no understanding of the game.

Rich I dont think you can fault worthy''s performance in the transfer market the quality and type of players he has got in for very little money at all has to be applauded.  Its the first time for a while that both our flanks have awesome potential, especially the wingers (i disagree to Huckerby being a striker).

I do think though, as I stated previously, a central defender would be a worth while investment.

Just to further highlight the pre-season point, last season Safri was severly hampered by injury (slightly again this season I''ll grant you) and when he did play alot of his challenges were slightly late, due to hime not being up to match speed. Everyone here kept calling him a thug and stating his disciplinary record would be a problem.  I pointed out that he was playing catch up and I like to think that after his displays in the latter half of last season everyone can see what a class act the guy is.

[rich 0]

kid of course you can question worthys transfer record. It''s all well and
good bring in cheap players how can you claim after two
games that any of them look quality.

any way that breaks the point, whose flying out of the blocks
sheff united who bought early and blended their team quickly
and effectivly, and luton who have been together for a whole season.

you might be right and the players he brought in could
show some as yet unseen quality, marney no doubts looks
good and jarrett I feel has more to him. however by not
buying quick enough and sorting out problem players we
shot ourselves in the foot pre-season by having such a thin
squad and now it''s taking time to gel.

[Yellow Rider 0]

Kid Canary!

Good original post - particularly the point about ''patience'' - my sentiments exactly. It''s stupidity to call for Worthy''s head and / or slag off certain players after just two games. The anti Hughes and Jarrett posts are particularly annoying.

Hughes - may turn out to be no better than Holt but give the guy a break. After all no-one was allowed to voice public criticism of ginger nut for about 4 years! The response was ....''he always gives 100%'' - ''great'' was my response but where was the quality?? I will reserve judgement on Hughes for at least 10 or 12 games. Personally, I think he may turn out to be a better footballer than Holt (but that would not be too difficult would it!). My concern is whether he (like Holt) will be a ''nailed down fixture''. I don''t think so with Jarrett and Saffri as contenders (and the pressure is on Worthy this season more than any other during his time at the helm) but with Worthy you never can tell!

Jarrett - last night was my first look at him and I thought he did ok. Some decent promise there in terms of tackling and distribution so with Saffri as the preferred partner, I think he may do well.

On the subject of Saffri though, you have unfortunately fallen into the trap laid by ''Worthy lovers'' who will tell you a similar thing to your line on Saffri i.e. ''he couldn''t have played earlier because he was injured''! WRONG I''m afraid. Last season he had a pre-season injury and missed the first 2 games but came on v Arsenal and was then ok. He was then axed after 1 mistake at half time at Anfield and never got near the first team again (in the league anyway) until mid / late November when injuries and the Holt illness meant that Worthy ran out of options. Admittedly, Saffri then missed 4 or 5 weeks after spraining his ankle on Boxing Day. He was fit again in early February but had to wait until early April before Worthy would finally admit defeat on the Holt front. Sorry, but about 5 weeks (amybe 6) injury from mid August to mid May does NOT justify the tab of ''severely hampered by injury''!   

[LinkNR9 0]

Kid - As someone who has played the game at a more than decent level, I find your post a little condescending. Everyone''s got a right to their opinion. In addition, the punters on this site are no mugs and some of the "rantings" about players are perceptive enough. Quality is easily spotted and, in my humble opinion, posters are correct in saying, for example, that Hughes has bundles of energy and commitment but very little quality. Contrast this to Safri who, despite having no pre-season and only being 90% fit, oozed quality - look how much time he appeared to have on the ball last night.       

[KidCanary 0]

@Rich, Rich im not saying you cant question his transfer record, I just think he has done well, i might also point out these players have played for teams before Norwich and my thoughts on their future ability and use to Norwich is based on this.  Besides if you re-read the post I was pointing out quality vs cost i.e. all bar one didnt cost a transfer fee, but I do think they will prove to be good signings, Marney looked a class act for spurs last season, and the reports from their pre-season tour were positive also (i have done my home work).

Your right though Sheff Utd did well, but I dont think you can compare the situation to ours.  If Worthy had the signings he made picked out it would be in his best interest to sign them quickly for the reasons we have already discussed.  To that end unfortunately other factors come in to play over the speed of transfer, if you take Jarrett for an example, he didnt actuallys sign for us until, what, a month after it was known because we had to wait for him to become a free agent.  Its those sort of things that dictate the situation we found ourselves in.

@Yellowrider,  I think hughes is a good signing as he adds a little depth to our squad due to his versatility, plus in this division you do need to the gary holts of this world to grind out some results against lesser teams, its not always pretty football!  I will say though i think we paid a little too much for him but taking into account the savings on the other signings i think its a fair trade off.  Jarrett looked good in a the few games he played for wigan and I heard good reports about him from sources i trust with regards to his limited appearences, if again you balance this with his cost I think its fair to say he was a decent signing, though we wont know till later.

With regards to Safri, if you re-read the post I havent actually said his play was limited because of injury, I said that peoples judgement of his disciplinary record was unfair because he was playing catch up fitness wise DUE to his injuries, not sure if you missed my point there.  It was more to back up the how important a good pre-season is point.

I agree with you both it is too early to say yet though, either way.

@LinkNr9,  I dont know what your problem is but i havent been condescending in any manner.  I havent said people arent entitled to their opinion either.  My opinion was that people shouldnt rant and rave so early on and I gave a reason for this. Due to you having played to a decent level then perhaps you can see the validity of my initial post, and given that, you will know that Safri''s performance is not the norm for a player who has had the pre season he has!  I was really pleasantly surprise, I mean composure and touch can be worked on outside of fitness, but he seemed to be every where, which is a very good sign!  Thing i like most about Safri is his vision and reading of the game, and those two can make up for alot if he''s only at 90%.  Anyway chill!