The conundrum that is Oli Norwood

[Badger Blade]

We need to move on from Norwood and Fleck, they’ve ran there cause and offer nothing anymore.
We need quick creative midfielders to supply the strikers, we’ve got nobody who can produce a bit of magic out of nothing, and god forbid a midfielder score a goal.

We really need a bit of energy in the midfield and I don't think any of them, Berge included, really offer that any more. Lundstram did it for a couple of months then stopped bothering.

I'd love to see someone winning the ball and bursting forward, Gerrard-style, to score a goal. We're crying out for someone who can weigh in with 7 or 8 goals a season from midfield when I don't think any of the current crop available will get that many between them. The only midfielder on the books with the potential to do that is Freeman but I can't see him getting much of a look in, despite us now playing a system where we could find somewhere to accommodate him, particularly if McGoldrick gets injured.

 

[pommpey]

Admittedly Norwood has not been at his best recently but if it wasn't for him we would never pass the ball forwards. Also when Norwood first arrived he kicked us on massively and was the main reason we were promoted which is more than you can say for Berge who hasn't made a difference to us really.

What is it about him passing the ball forwards that isn't 'smacking it into dead ends' which is so 'kin meritorious about his play?

Are we overlooking the fact that everything he does regarding that ends in nowt? His other actions - passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

People have got this dewey eyed sentimentality attached to Norwood as though he was the entire difference in our last season in the Championship, as though he was akin to Michael Brown, a true box-to-box, tough tackling, full-of-goals and forward aligned midfielder. Norwood is more like Michael fucking Twiss.

Once he's gone, and the other non-performers and we replace them with people who haven't the sympathetic kudos of being attached to our brief Wilder years, then you'll see something different. For some on here, it's like tearing a snuggly blankie away from a babby.

pommpey

 

[Eyeball]

What is it about him passing the ball forwards that isn't 'smacking it into dead ends' which is so 'kin meritorious about his play?

Are we overlooking the fact that everything he does regarding that ends in nowt? His other actions - passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

People have got this dewey eyed sentimentality attached to Norwood as though he was the entire difference in our last season in the Championship, as though he was akin to Michael Brown, a true box-to-box, tough tackling, full-of-goals and forward aligned midfielder. Norwood is more like Michael fucking Twiss.

Once he's gone, and the other non-performers and we replace them with people who haven't the sympathetic kudos of being attached to our brief Wilder years, then you'll see something different. For some on here, it's like tearing a snuggly blankie away from a babby.

pommpey

I get this strange feeling you don’t rate Norwood pommps…………

 

[Woodys Thunderbolt]

What is it about him passing the ball forwards that isn't 'smacking it into dead ends' which is so 'kin meritorious about his play?

Are we overlooking the fact that everything he does regarding that ends in nowt? His other actions - passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

People have got this dewey eyed sentimentality attached to Norwood as though he was the entire difference in our last season in the Championship, as though he was akin to Michael Brown, a true box-to-box, tough tackling, full-of-goals and forward aligned midfielder. Norwood is more like Michael fucking Twiss.

Once he's gone, and the other non-performers and we replace them with people who haven't the sympathetic kudos of being attached to our brief Wilder years, then you'll see something different. For some on here, it's like tearing a snuggly blankie away from a babby.

pommpey

Passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

This could refer to the whole team at least the majority of Norwood's balls forward get us into attacking positions.

Your entitled to your opinion even if most of it is a pile of shit.

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

Admittedly Norwood has not been at his best recently but if it wasn't for him we would never pass the ball forwards. Also when Norwood first arrived he kicked us on massively and was the main reason we were promoted which is more than you can say for Berge who hasn't made a difference to us really.

Have I read that right? Norwood and forward? We had 75% possession, of which 72% must have been shared between Norwood and Egan.

 

[Woodys Thunderbolt]

Have I read that right? Norwood and forward? We had 75% possession, of which 72% must have been shared between Norwood and Egan.

Yes the other 3% was Norwood passing it forward so I'm correct

 

[pommpey]

Passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

This could refer to the whole team at least the majority of Norwood's balls forward get us into attacking positions.

Your entitled to your opinion even if most of it is a pile of shit.

Nice one. Can't beat reasoned debate.

So, he passes the ball forwards to get us into attacking positions

When?

Genuinely interested to I can revise my pile of shit opinion

pommpey

 

[Woodys Thunderbolt]

Nice one. Can't beat reasoned debate.

So, he passes the ball forwards to get us into attacking positions

When?

Genuinely interested to I can revise my pile of shit opinion

pommpey

When?

I suggest you watch a re-run of Saturdays match.

 

[SwissBlade]

I thought Norwood was poor on Saturday, his set pieces were terrible and like last season, we seem to put ourself under increased pressure defensively when we win an attacking corner. That simply has to be addressed and whether that means we have fewer players up for corners or we wait for better deliveries into the box, thats for Slav to sort.

Norwoods distribution is ok, he's not finding those Hollywood pings that he used to, but that might be related to other factors with the strikers and also his defensive duties...

Defensively is where i see the big issue. Its not just Norwood, his defensive game seems to be reliant on Fleck and Berge doing their work fully and being well drilled. I think that Norwood's defensive game becomes much more important when we have two centre halves, because he protects the centre halves. This aspect of Norwood's game has always been his weak point and as we saw last season, teams pressed him as he wasn't well protected by Fleck and Lundstram... Saturday, Fleck started the same way as he played last season, but i think that left side is a problem anyway with Robinson and Ozzy being pretty poor at best.

Berge seemed to be everywhere second half and he seems to be the key to opening sides up now, he's stronger on the ball, he's got a good link up with Baldock and he seems to play the decent balls into the strikers from higher up the pitch.

So i think the Norwood role has now changed. We either bring in the enforcer type to sit in that position (bash?) or we sit Berge deeper alongside Norwood with fleck/ Didsy in front of them giving more creativity

 

[pommpey]

When?

I suggest you watch a re-run of Saturdays match.

So you can't - or won't - illustrate when Norwood passed the ball forward to get us into passing positions?

Rather than booted speculative punts into channels for Brickie and Sickie to chase, or picked out Baldock isolated on the right flank (forget Osborn, anything over 2m off the deck and he's never gonna get it)

I'll reserve my pile of shit opinion until you come up with the proof, rather than the 'find it yourself' approach. Remember ... it's your statement, not mine.

pommpey

 

[true99blade]

He put in 2 abysmal set pieces, the rest were actually alright. Anyone saying he didn’t pass the ball forwards once, go watch the game again. He was absolutely nowhere near as poor as some make out. Fleck on the other hand hid for approx 95% of the time he was on the pitch, was glad he got hauled off.

Agreed that both are on the slide a bit and we need a different kind of player in midfield if we’re to keep hold of Berge. Either the folks upstairs aren’t helping Slav (wouldn’t be surprised), or Slav needed to do more homework before the season began. I can cut him some slack though given the shit show of a preseason we’ve been forced under.

 

[pommpey]

He put in 2 abysmal set pieces, the rest were actually alright. Anyone saying he didn’t pass the ball forwards once, go watch the game again. He was absolutely nowhere near as poor as some make out. Fleck on the other hand hid for approx 95% of the time he was on the pitch, was glad he got hauled off.

Agreed that both are on the slide a bit and we need a different kind of player in midfield if we’re to keep hold of Berge. Either the folks upstairs aren’t helping Slav (wouldn’t be surprised), or Slav needed to do more homework before the season began. I can cut him some slack though given the shit show of a preseason we’ve been forced under.

No one is saying he didn't pass the ball forwards. It's the small matter of if he passed the ball forward sand it actually led to anything. Moreoften than not ... last season also ... it's a kick into nowhere, save to have his fanclub silently jizzing into their M&S skidders at the artful amount of backspin and lift he puts into a soaring crossfield ball to Baldock who is instantly closed down and forced backwards or just muscled out. I don't know why we don't get a band into BDTBL and every time he does that, the fuckers strike up a small tune so he can take a bow. Then all his fanboys can get up to clap, whilst the opposition breaks up the wing at speed and he's backpedalling like fuck ...

pommpey

 

[true99blade]

No one is saying he didn't pass the ball forwards. It's the small matter of if he passed the ball forward sand it actually led to anything. Moreoften than not ... last season also ... it's a kick into nowhere, save to have his fanclub silently jizzing into their M&S skidders at the artful amount of backspin and lift he puts into a soaring crossfield ball to Baldock who is instantly closed down and forced backwards or just muscled out. I don't know why we don't get a band into BDTBL and every time he does that, the fuckers strike up a small tune so he can take a bow. Then all his fanboys can get up to clap, whilst the opposition breaks up the wing at speed and he's backpedalling like fuck ...

pommpey

You constantly whinge about reasoned debate on here yet come out with something like this?
Alluding to those who disagree with you as “fanboys”, how very infantile. Are you after “reasoned debate”..? You know, the thing you’re usually crying out for when on the defensive… or has this changed… again?

 

[Danetheblade]

No one is saying he didn't pass the ball forwards. It's the small matter of if he passed the ball forward sand it actually led to anything. Moreoften than not ... last season also ... it's a kick into nowhere, save to have his fanclub silently jizzing into their M&S skidders at the artful amount of backspin and lift he puts into a soaring crossfield ball to Baldock who is instantly closed down and forced backwards or just muscled out. I don't know why we don't get a band into BDTBL and every time he does that, the fuckers strike up a small tune so he can take a bow. Then all his fanboys can get up to clap, whilst the opposition breaks up the wing at speed and he's backpedalling like fuck ...

pommpey

Think he did okay. Not great. Not too bad (regarding his delivery, usual Norwood) one glaringly obvious thing has risen though. You play either Norwood OR Berge. They're too similar.

 

[BerksBlade]

At least Norwood got on the ball and looked to pass it to a team mate. Fleck contributed virtually nothing going forward.

 

[BushBlade]

Although technically Norwood was the better player perhaps, Coutts was the better of the two for the team. Make no mistake, if Coutts hadn’t got injured that season, in my opinion, we would have had back to back promotions.

I’d go further than that, I’d say Coutts was a better player technically, his first touch was better, his ability to turn whilst shielding the ball was better. In the period just before he got injured, Coutts looked ready for the PL. I’m not going to knock Norwood too much because he was part of a side that got us promoted at a time when we desperately needed promotion but I’ll argue until I’m dead that Coutts was technically better.

 

[pommpey]

You constantly whinge about reasoned debate on here yet come out with something like this?
Alluding to those who disagree with you as “fanboys”, how very infantile. Are you after “reasoned debate”..? You know, the thing you’re usually crying out for when on the defensive… or has this changed… again?

Nope. Norwood does have his 'fanboys' on here. There's no allusion. They can't see what he actually does ... or doesn't do ... through the adoration of his ability to boot the ball needlessly across the pitch instead of doing what needs to be done. Beating some of the opposition and moving forward with the ball at his feet and laying a pass in or even a shot on target might help. If all we employ him for is fancy arsed long passes and taking the ball off the centrebacks, I'd say we are wasting our time with him. Evidently, because in over 40 starts with him in the past year we've been turned over in most.

Remember. This is about Norwood and the match, not me. I know you like to make it about me, but it aint.

pommpey

 

[pommpey]

I’d go further than that, I’d say Coutts was a better player technically, his first touch was better, his ability to turn whilst shielding the ball was better. In the period just before he got injured, Coutts looked ready for the PL. I’m not going to knock Norwood too much because he was part of a side that got us promoted at a time when we desperately needed promotion but I’ll argue until I’m dead that Coutts was technically better.

Coutts was far more the complete midfielder Norwood will never be.

I'll curse that fucking Burton game forever. It set the team back twelve valuable months and paved the way for Lundstram and Norwood. Sure, they were promoted upward with the squad but face it, both are now shitpie with piss gravy.

pommpey

 

[BushBlade]

Coutts was far more the complete midfielder Norwood will never be.

I'll curse that fucking Burton game forever. It set the team back twelve valuable months and paved the way for Lundstram and Norwood. Sure, they were promoted upward with the squad but face it, both are now shitpie with piss gravy.

pommpey

It might have been a very different scenario if we’d have gone up twelve months earlier and had a season and a half before Covid but injuries and bad luck are part of football. Usually a big part if you’re a Blade…

 

[Mumbo]

What is it about him passing the ball forwards that isn't 'smacking it into dead ends' which is so 'kin meritorious about his play?

Are we overlooking the fact that everything he does regarding that ends in nowt? His other actions - passing it sideways, backwards, getting bogged down and pressed then losing the ball is conveniently irrelevant?

People have got this dewey eyed sentimentality attached to Norwood as though he was the entire difference in our last season in the Championship, as though he was akin to Michael Brown, a true box-to-box, tough tackling, full-of-goals and forward aligned midfielder. Norwood is more like Michael fucking Twiss.

Once he's gone, and the other non-performers and we replace them with people who haven't the sympathetic kudos of being attached to our brief Wilder years, then you'll see something different. For some on here, it's like tearing a snuggly blankie away from a babby.

pommpey

Pommpey, you have prompted me to my first post for months after some Neanderthal on here called me a camel shagger.
Anyway,…….I said to my mate on leaving the lane on Saturday night ”Take both Fleck and Pingu off and put Michael Brown in his prime on in their place and we win that game”
We’ve had the same non existent service for our forwards for one and a half seasons now.
I don’t care what you want to call our formation 3,5,2…..4321 or any other combination it’s meaningless,it’s the same crap we had last year.
We need players out and players in if we are to make a top 6 challenge.
Some patience will be required.

 

[jono_t2000]

Fwiw as the OP this thread wasn't about if Oli is/was shite. It was whether with Oli in the team we become less fluid and more one dimensional.

My thoughts are when Norwood is named on the team sheet it dictates the style we are going to play even before the game has kicked off.

 

[SuperSonicBlade89]

I tested out the new Puma accelerate EFL ball in the middle of July.
I was shocked and slightly appalled that it wasn't an ankle breaking Mitre ball as per Football League tradition. So me and my son decided to give it a go.

The first thing I thought when I kicked it from a dead ball 30 yards out was "God, Oli Norwood is gonna love this ball!"
It's a very fast, and very bouncy ball. It's really easy to lift for free kicks, and if you get a good knuckleball contact no keeper is stopping it. Doesn't seem to curl as much as the Nike PL ball though.

Anyway, Norwood steps up for a free kick against Brum, first match with the new Puma ball, and me and my son get a bit excited to see what he does with it...
Turns out, same as last season!!! Has that ability just vacated his system? He reminds me of Michael Tonge, when he went through that phase of being dull and nothing went his way.

 

[jono_t2000]

I tested out the new Puma accelerate EFL ball in the middle of July.
I was shocked and slightly appalled that it wasn't an ankle breaking Mitre ball as per Football League tradition. So me and my son decided to give it a go.

The first thing I thought when I kicked it from a dead ball 30 yards out was "God, Oli Norwood is gonna love this ball!"
It's a very fast, and very bouncy ball. It's really easy to lift for free kicks, and if you get a good knuckleball contact no keeper is stopping it. Doesn't seem to curl as much as the Nike PL ball though.

Anyway, Norwood steps up for a free kick against Brum, first match with the new Puma ball, and me and my son get a bit excited to see what he does with it...
Turns out, same as last season!!! Has that ability just vacated his system? He reminds me of Michael Tonge, when he went through that phase of being dull and nothing went his way.

 

[blade67]

Oli is clearly totally shit.

Played a key role in getting Brighton promoted to the EPL
Then played a key role in getting Fulham Promoted to the EPL
then played a key role in getting the Blades promoted to the EPL
Then played a key role in getting the Blades to 9th in the Epl
last season he was shit
This season he's played 1 game where he was the 1 midfielder who wanted to be involved for 60 minutes

I'm not his dad by the way

 

[sitwell]

Nice one. Can't beat reasoned debate.

So, he passes the ball forwards to get us into attacking positions

When?

Genuinely interested to I can revise my pile of shit opinion

pommpey

No one is saying he didn't pass the ball forwards. It's the small matter of if he passed the ball forward sand it actually led to anything. Moreoften than not ... last season also ... it's a kick into nowhere, save to have his fanclub silently jizzing into their M&S skidders at the artful amount of backspin and lift he puts into a soaring crossfield ball to Baldock who is instantly closed down and forced backwards or just muscled out. I don't know why we don't get a band into BDTBL and every time he does that, the fuckers strike up a small tune so he can take a bow. Then all his fanboys can get up to clap, whilst the opposition breaks up the wing at speed and he's backpedalling like fuck ...

pommpey

Cant beat reasoned debate or reports
Serious question ,how many times have you seen Norwood play live in the flesh.
Just one word ,not a box set of endless insults will do.

 

[pommpey]

Cant beat reasoned debate or reports
Serious question ,how many times have you seen Norwood play live in the flesh.
Just one word ,not a box set of endless insults will do.

You answer me first:

What difference does 'seeing him in the flesh' and 'seeing him on TV' make?

Is he a better player 'in the flesh'? Does his pings make more goals 'live' at the match?

Or is this another tiresome, self-righteous 'you have no right to comment, because you don't go to matches as much as me' bit of rooering?

One day, you'll realise what a chimp you come across like, Sitters. You're another one of the originals whose HRT needs a review.

pommpey

 

[true99blade]

Remember. This is about Norwood and the match, not me. I know you like to make it about me, but it aint.

pommpey

You quite literally wrote a paragraph on Norwood’s “fanboys” aimed at my post that expressed he wasn’t as bad as some say. You didn’t reply about his performance.

The memory going a bit?

pommpous

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Its 3 years ago that Norwood made his debut against Hull (fink) in the L/Cup.what a joy it was to see a player in red/white stroking the ball about,scored a penalty in the end game shootout.

 

[Panini]

Its 3 years ago that Norwood made his debut against Hull (fink) in the L/Cup.what a joy it was to see a player in red/white stroking the ball about,scored a penalty in the end game shootout.

I hate to be that guy, but Norwood put his penalty in the Kop. His was the only miss and we lost 5-4.

 

[jono_t2000]

I hate to be that guy, but Norwood put his penalty in the Kop. His was the only miss and we lost 5-4.