Norwood

[sitwell]

Debunking the myth about Ollie Norwood and not beating "the first man"

It's a game of two halves. (No way!) We’re taking each game as it comes. (No, you’re really not). He’ll be as sick as a parrot with that mistake. (I’ve no idea on that one).

www.thestar.co.uk

 

[FatPaul]

Danny Hall's Sheffield United column: Debunking the myth about Ollie Norwood and not beating the first man

It's a game of two halves. (No way!) We’re taking each game as it comes. (No, you’re really not). He’ll be as sick as a parrot with that mistake. (I’ve no idea on that one).​

By Danny Hall
Friday, 3rd September 2021, 5:00 am

Oliver Norwood of Sheffield United crosses the ball against Huddersfield Town: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

Football arguably has more cliches than most sports, and most are utter nonsense. Why can’t ‘big men’ be able to control a football as well? Two-nil isn’t always a dangerous lead. It’s actually pretty comfortable, and a damn sight more comfortable than 1-0. And managers, contrary to popular belief, often know exactly where the dressing room is when people speculate that they have lost it.

To add to the ever-expanding book of football cliches, may I offer one I see and hear over and over again on matchday, in real life and social media? “Ollie Norwood can’t beat the first man from corners.”....

Admin edit - clipped and quoted

 

[FatPaul]

Posted so you don't have to give the Star a click.

 

[Sean Thornton]

“Feats nicely”

Does ITE come into play when people claim no one at the Star proof reads their own copy?

 

[bornablade]

The statement 'they have served this club well...' is always a weak argument.

Current form and not how well players have done in the past should always be the most important criteria on whether they are criticised or praised.

 

[Revolution]

Norwood’s legs have gone. His set piece delivery, beating the first man or not, is poor. He has no power in his shot and when he gives the ball away he can’t get back to atone for the error.

and spare me the more passes crap. It’s Leon Brittonesque knocking it around near the back four. He’s sitting far too deep most of the time.

I hope I’m wrong but my personal view is he’s done.

Oh, and Ollie McBurnie hasn’t scored a goal in 9 months and his goals per game ratio is one in 9. That’s a failure in my book.

 

[sitwell]

Norwood’s legs have gone. His set piece delivery, beating the first man or not, is poor. He has no power in his shot and when he gives the ball away he can’t get back to atone for the error.

and spare me the more passes crap. It’s Leon Brittonesque knocking it around near the back four. He’s sitting far too deep most of the time.

I hope I’m wrong but my personal view is he’s done.

He is the only player who makes positive passes and sitting too deep because he has no option with the tactics we use.

 

[Revolution]

He is the only player who makes positive passes and sitting too deep because he has no option with the tactics we use.

I’m not saying any of the others are better - they are not - but the sitting too deep comes partly from the fact that he’s not mobile enough to do anything else.

If he’s the best of the midfield 3 that’s like being the tallest dwarf. All 3 of them need replacing in an ideal world.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Posted so you don't have to give the Star a click.

Thanks for the copy/paste. The click-bait on The Star website was relentless.

 

[sitwell]

I’m not saying any of the others are better - they are not - but the sitting too deep comes partly from the fact that he’s not mobile enough to do anything else.

If he’s the best of the midfield 3 that’s like being the tallest dwarf. All 3 of them need replacing in an ideal world.

He has never been majorly mobile ,or a dribbler ,why do we want players to do what they are not good at, focus on what they are good at and build on that ,same with Sharp and McBurnie ,Sharp has learned not to run all over Mcburnie needs to do the same and play to their strengths. Some are expecting Berge to win headers when that is clearly a weakness in his game despite his height.

 

[Revolution]

He has never been majorly mobile ,or a dribbler ,why do we want players to do what they are not good at, focus on what they are good at and build on that ,same with Sharp and McBurnie ,Sharp has learned not to run all over Mcburnie needs to do the same and play to their strengths. Some are expecting Berge to win headers when that is clearly a weakness in his game despite his height.

I take your point and agree 100 per cent with trying to focus on what people do well, but it’s not that I want him to be a dribbler or a Kante type. The point is he is a hell of a lot less mobile than he was, and it’s hurting us.

I don’t know what McBurnie’s strengths are aside from defensive heading. All we usually here from his boosters are what he cannot do.

 

[Carlton Blade]

He has never been majorly mobile ,or a dribbler ,why do we want players to do what they are not good at, focus on what they are good at and build on that ,same with Sharp and McBurnie ,Sharp has learned not to run all over Mcburnie needs to do the same and play to their strengths. Some are expecting Berge to win headers when that is clearly a weakness in his game despite his height.

We built the team around what he was good at. Then the opposition dared us to attack the middle. Nah. He's experienced enough to take on board what opponents are doing and adjust. But he hasn't. He gets the ball and looks wide every single time.

And his set pieces are poor. Apart from Wolves at home, the bigger the need for good delivery the worse he's been.

I love Norwood, he's been a joy to watch. But the team has crumbled around him and as the fulcrum he's crumbled with it rather than finding new ways to attack

 

[SuperBobbyHatton]

Said a season and half ago we would get nowhere with him has our main man in midfield. He was good for a long time but that was ages ago. In my opinion he's been out of form and consistently poor for at least a season. He is done now and hopefully will play less of a role now we have other options. It happens to most players no matter how much the fans love them.

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Well that article didn't debunk the myth that Danny Hall writes utter bollocks, imagine being sad enough to actually watch all of our set pieces this season. Saying you can't deride his set piece delivery but backing it up with a bunch of numbers that have bugger all to do with taking set pieces is piss-poor journalism. If he backed it up with a string of examples of good set pieces that Norwood had taken it'd be better, except those examples don't exist because Norwood is shit at corners (but still better at them than Fleck somehow)

 

[Wards]

I don’t think he’s been half as bad as people have made out this season but to say he’s been anywhere approaching decent would be a lie. Didn’t have a bad game against Hudds but I think that was only because they had no intention of running at us or pressing us.

At least I can see the bloke is trying. More than I can say for half of the fuckers.

 

[sitwell]

Well that article didn't debunk the myth that Danny Hall writes utter bollocks, imagine being sad enough to actually watch all of our set pieces this season. Saying you can't deride his set piece delivery but backing it up with a bunch of numbers that have bugger all to do with taking set pieces is piss-poor journalism. If he backed it up with a string of examples of good set pieces that Norwood had taken it'd be better, except those examples don't exist because Norwood is shit at corners (but still better at them than Fleck somehow)

You outdo Danny hall though

 

[RecordBreakers]

Oh Ollie Norwood!! I was told today by somebody who knows wilder well that Norwood is finished as footballer and was done so 18 month ago!! From Chris's mouth... So why the fuck give him a new contract, probably rewarding the lads for helping himself get an 80k a week contract double shaun dyches by the way!! Oh an he's a shoein for the forest job

 

[Stegosaurus]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

I'd like to correct an error with The Star's reporting.

"often know exactly where the dressing room is when people speculate that they have lost it."



Just to point out, when someone says the manager has "lost the dressing room" it doesn't mean he has misplaced it as you might a set of keys or your best walking stick. It means he has lost the confidence and sometimes respect of the players. Often due to bad management choices.

Hence, when people said Wilder lost the dressing room after the Leicester game and subsequent comments, they don't mean the dressing room is missing and the team are putting out flyers asking for its return, but rather, his comments upset the players (ie, the dressing room) a tad and therefore lost their confidence.

 

[bromtom]

Are people saying they don't beat the first man more than they're saying they're just shit?

They do hit the first man sometimes, but it's the fact that they're fucking awful 95% of the time regardless.

If they don't hit the first man, they go too close to the keeper, sail over everybody, trundle along the floor, go over the bar, take your pick.

They have basically been poor since around October 2018 though, we had a brief period when he first signed where we were good at corners and got a few goals, but "corner... It comes to nothing" is the norm.

 

[Champagneblade]

I will say both Sitters and Revolution both make points which are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The Star headline is quite literal but how many times have we scored from corners or free kicks? The whole first man thing is a casual observation but tends to be allied with 'he takes crap/unproductive set plays'.

I think we can agree he's pretty much on every set-pieces we have.

How many assists has Norwood of late?

I know assists are not infallible, but they are a comparative guide.

He had 9 assists and 3 goals in the promotion season, 44 matches.

That fell to 3 goals and one assist in 41 matches in the first season.

Since then, in 43 matches, he's contributed 1 solitary assist in an FA Cup game vs Plymouth.

Everyone else in his department has also been crap. But it's hard not to observe his decline. He doesn't hide I'll say that for him. But it's not the input that gets you results, at that level that should be a given, it's the output.

I hope he can 'come back'. He didn't ought to be past it at 30. But he isn't making a compelling reason for inclusion right now. His only saving grace is that neither are any other midfielders, including Berge, who seems to have had a Tino Asprilla-style impact on the team!

Slav has new blood in there now. Let's see where it leads.

 

[bonobo]

Norwood has been guilty of the two greatest sins in the eyes of many Blades fans I) pointing ii) passing sideways. He has not been the worst of our midfield and I think he is one of those who was affected more by the drop off, of others around him than vice versa. But his presence is simply a hindrance on the field at the moment, to what we need to change about this team. Too much goes through him and his progressive impact in return is minimal

 

[I should coco]

Norwood’s legs have gone. His set piece delivery, beating the first man or not, is poor. He has no power in his shot and when he gives the ball away he can’t get back to atone for the error.

and spare me the more passes crap. It’s Leon Brittonesque knocking it around near the back four. He’s sitting far too deep most of the time.

I hope I’m wrong but my personal view is he’s done.

Oh, and Ollie McBurnie hasn’t scored a goal in 9 months and his goals per game ratio is one in 9. That’s a failure in my book.

He is the only player who makes positive passes and sitting too deep because he has no option with the tactics we use.

Great points from many and in particular the 3 quotes above.

I'm a fan but have to accept he looks far less mobile than 19/20.
That said, you can't 'ping' if no fucker has made a run into ping-o-land.

 

[Tezza1889]

The ping thing though, why are we trying to showboat it out to the wing when we have a forward or two that just want a through ball to run onto..

Hope we can change our style enough to give that poor fucker brewster a look at the fucking keeper.

That's the problem, goals..

 

[ancientblade]

norwood has always been played too deep for me he plays in an area the centre backs should be occupying leaving us a body short in the middle of the pitch and i agree with most posters on here i think hes done and will be moved on in january and as for mcburnie the less i say about him the less swear words i use on this thread hes a better centre half at corners than a striker hes another one who will be moved on eventually imo

 

[I should coco]

norwood has always been played too deep for me he plays in an area the centre backs should be occupying leaving us a body short in the middle of the pitch and i agree with most posters on here i think hes done and will be moved on in january and as for mcburnie the less i say about him the less swear words i use on this thread hes a better centre half at corners than a striker hes another one who will be moved on eventually imo

It's where the Rolls Royce played too and was key to allowing Bash and JOC to get forward.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Are people saying they don't beat the first man more than they're saying they're just shit?

They do hit the first man sometimes, but it's the fact that they're fucking awful 95% of the time regardless.

If they don't hit the first man, they go too close to the keeper, sail over everybody, trundle along the floor, go over the bar, take your pick.

They have basically been poor since around October 2018 though, we had a brief period when he first signed where we were good at corners and got a few goals, but "corner... It comes to nothing" is the norm.

Even if our set piece delivery was great, would we have the aerial ability to score goals from them?

 

[blade67]

Debunking the myth about Ollie Norwood and not beating "the first man"

It's a game of two halves. (No way!) We’re taking each game as it comes. (No, you’re really not). He’ll be as sick as a parrot with that mistake. (I’ve no idea on that one).

www.thestar.co.uk

He's right. The Norwood bashing is ridiculous

 

[Rudders]

Even if our set piece delivery was great, would we have the aerial ability to score goals from them?

Egan out jumped Ronaldo this week but he has special lead boots for playing at Bramall Lane that stop him getting off the ground for headers ps I know what you mean though Davies is another centre back who is weak in the air! We love them!

 

[Rodley]

He’s not been good, but he’s been the best of the current midfield three this season.

 

[sitwell]

Even if our set piece delivery was great, would we have the aerial ability to score goals from them?

That is more the point ,for example the last minute free kick against huddersfield which he go booed for ,it was in the middle of goal on the 6 yard line head height ,perfect delivery and not one of the 7 x 6 foot players we had in the box attacked it ,same with many corners ,even some perfect ones which are on the button and headed back across goal we dont attack the second ball.