The New boys at Norwich

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wadblade

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Given that we played 3 new players and Dead Bat is not available [greatly missed]

Could someone give a summary of how each one played
and if we changed our formation

UTB
 

Evans - very good, excellent vision, played it simple when needed plus a few probing balls through the middle. Looked comfortable and able to take a man on...didn't look to ping long passes as much as Lunny but looks very much in the Coutts mould.

Leonard - unlucky not to score. Steady without being standout, played more CDM allowing Fleck and Evans to be more attacking.

Wilson - doesn't physically look like a footballer for some reason! Some lovely first touches, always looking for the ball and pointing to where he wants it played, pacy, tricky and with a hammer of a shot.

All in all very pleased with each but Evans was the stand-out.
 
At the beginning of the season I predicted Evans would play a major role in the 2nd half of the season.
Seems I might be proven right after all ha ha.

It looks promising regards whether Evans can play the Coutts role.
I still say Coutts is nothing special as an individual player, he just keeps it simple, always available for the ball and seems to bring the best out of the other midfielders. It’s his style and influence that makes him so important to the team.
 
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At the beginning of the season I predicted Evans would play a major role in the 2nd half of the season.
Seems I might be proven right after all ha ha.

It looks promising regards whether Evans can play the Coutts role.
I still say Coutts is nothing special as an individual player, he just keeps it simple, always available for the ball and seems to bring the best out of the other midfielders. It’s his style and influence that makes him so important to the team.

Coutts is the best technical player at the club.
 
At the beginning of the season I predicted Evans would play a major role in the 2nd half of the season.
Seems I might be proven right after all ha ha.

It looks promising regards whether Evans can play the Coutts role.
I still say Coutts is nothing special as an individual player, he just keeps it simple, always available for the ball and seems to bring the best out of the other midfielders. It’s his style and influence that makes him so important to the team.
Before we had even signed him??
 
Wilson - doesn't physically look like a footballer for some reason!

Funnily enough, we said the same thing after the pigs game (Mark Beard was mentioned). I can't put my finger on it either. Perhaps he's lost a certain amount of physicality with his injury lay off (in a Steve Kabba sort of way).
Having said that, he could look like Sgt Wilson as long as he can actually play!
 
At the beginning of the season I predicted Evans would play a major role in the 2nd half of the season.
Seems I might be proven right after all ha ha.

It looks promising regards whether Evans can play the Coutts role.
I still say Coutts is nothing special as an individual player, he just keeps it simple, always available for the ball and seems to bring the best out of the other midfielders. It’s his style and influence that makes him so important to the team.

Disagree on coutts.

He has the best technique on the ball by miles. He may not do spectacular Things with it in terms of beating players or skill. But what he does isn’t simple by any means

in terms of being able to receive the ball under pressure, retain the ball almost all the time and quickly start an effective attack or just relieve pressure with the right pass there isn’t anyone else in that comes close unfortunately.

Imo he’s so key to the way we play and though lunstram did a good job the results show how much we missed his ability.

Hopefully Evans can replicate some of coutts form but it’s a hard task. Certainly the speed at which coutts moves the ball would be ideal to try and recreate
 
Funnily enough, we said the same thing after the pigs game (Mark Beard was mentioned). I can't put my finger on it either. Perhaps he's lost a certain amount of physicality with his injury lay off (in a Steve Kabba sort of way).
Having said that, he could look like Sgt Wilson as long as he can actually play!

Do you think that's wise,and may I say,that's an awfully pretty blouse.
 
Before we had even signed him??

Yeh remember the big Evans debates before the season even started.
Some thought he’d be a success and some thought he’d be past it.
My prediction was forget about the first half but after Xmas I reckoned he’d do well for us after Xmas.
Now I with Cheds injury and lack of game time I’m not so sure he’ll make any major contribution this season.

However the other Evans (mark 2) will ensure that Evans DOES play a starring role towards our success.
 
Evans - very good, excellent vision, played it simple when needed plus a few probing balls through the middle. Looked comfortable and able to take a man on...didn't look to ping long passes as much as Lunny but looks very much in the Coutts mould.

Leonard - unlucky not to score. Steady without being standout, played more CDM allowing Fleck and Evans to be more attacking.

Wilson - doesn't physically look like a footballer for some reason! Some lovely first touches, always looking for the ball and pointing to where he wants it played, pacy, tricky and with a hammer of a shot.

All in all very pleased with each but Evans was the stand-out.

I thought a few fans that were there had said Evans was the deepest of the three?
 
At the beginning of the season I predicted Evans would play a major role in the 2nd half of the season.
Seems I might be proven right after all ha ha.

It looks promising regards whether Evans can play the Coutts role.
I still say Coutts is nothing special as an individual player, he just keeps it simple, always available for the ball and seems to bring the best out of the other midfielders. It’s his style and influence that makes him so important to the team.

Great vision my son.
 
I thought a few fans that were there had said Evans was the deepest of the three?

Hard to say who was the deeper really but Evans showed more than Leonard who seemed to be sat in front of Bash most of the time....to be honest I expected a bit more from Leonard given all the hype but the game seemed to pass him by a bit...
 
Hard to say who was the deeper really but Evans showed more than Leonard who seemed to be sat in front of Bash most of the time....to be honest I expected a bit more from Leonard given all the hype but the game seemed to pass him by a bit...
Can't have passed him by that much :)
'Live text' on BBC Football website kept showing 'shot from Leonard - blocked' 'shot from Leonard - saved in top centre of goal'
He sounded quite busy -at least for first 25 mins or so ;)
 

Disagree on coutts.

He has the best technique on the ball by miles. He may not do spectacular Things with it in terms of beating players or skill. But what he does isn’t simple by any means

in terms of being able to receive the ball under pressure, retain the ball almost all the time and quickly start an effective attack or just relieve pressure with the right pass there isn’t anyone else in that comes close unfortunately.

Imo he’s so key to the way we play and though lunstram did a good job the results show how much we missed his ability.

Hopefully Evans can replicate some of coutts form but it’s a hard task. Certainly the speed at which coutts moves the ball would be ideal to try and recreate

Maybe we’re saying the same think.
Derby fans said Coutts was very technical but he was underwhelming there and they are shocked that he’s become such a major midfielder at Championship level. When he came here I could see he had ability but many of our fans (not me) thought he was crap.

So,what’s made him such a good player when he coming to the latter years of his career?
I reckon it’s because he has a great 1st touch and calm enough to play simple short passes.
I bet Coutts would make a great 5 a side player.

In a league 1 or league 2 team surrounding by poor players his attributes are wasted and he wouldn’t stand out as a good player.
However his style and intelligence means that with similar type of players around him he becomes really effective.

In the higher divisions “the pressing game” seems to be in fashion.
That means that players with like Coutts, with a great first touch to handle tight marking, and intelligence and skill to play quick short passing become really valuable. With other like minded midfielders it surprising how effective “simplicity” can be.

My point was put Coutts in another team and fans at other clubs might wonder what the fuss was about.
Also for a neutral supporter he doesn’t catch the eye like Duffy or a Fleck.
 
Hard to say who was the deeper really but Evans showed more than Leonard who seemed to be sat in front of Bash most of the time....to be honest I expected a bit more from Leonard given all the hype but the game seemed to pass him by a bit...

Evans was definitely the deepest of the three, with Fleck and Leonard operating at a similar level of the pitch. When Evans went off Leonard took over as the deepest, with Lundstram level with Fleck.
 
Yeh remember the big Evans debates before the season even started.
Some thought he’d be a success and some thought he’d be past it.
My prediction was forget about the first half but after Xmas I reckoned he’d do well for us after Xmas.
Now I with Cheds injury and lack of game time I’m not so sure he’ll make any major contribution this season.

However the other Evans (mark 2) will ensure that Evans DOES play a starring role towards our success.
Right.......
 
Disagree on coutts.

He has the best technique on the ball by miles. He may not do spectacular Things with it in terms of beating players or skill. But what he does isn’t simple by any means

in terms of being able to receive the ball under pressure, retain the ball almost all the time and quickly start an effective attack or just relieve pressure with the right pass there isn’t anyone else in that comes close unfortunately.

Imo he’s so key to the way we play and though lunstram did a good job the results show how much we missed his ability.

Hopefully Evans can replicate some of coutts form but it’s a hard task. Certainly the speed at which coutts moves the ball would be ideal to try and recreate
Yeah agreed. In the back 2 3rds of the pitch, and sometimes in the final one as well, if there was a player looking for an outlet, Coutts would more often than not be in the right spot to receive the ball and move it on quickly to a different area.

It's hard to appreciate because what we miss is not neccessarily his passing ability, though that is excellent, but his understanding of the right position to be in at any given time. I think with the options we now have we should start covering this aspect of our game better than we have been.
 
Hard to say who was the deeper really but Evans showed more than Leonard who seemed to be sat in front of Bash most of the time....to be honest I expected a bit more from Leonard given all the hype but the game seemed to pass him by a bit...

Ok cheers for the feedback Torrix and fair play for going all the way down to Norwich!

I reckon Leonard will get better when he gets used to this standard of play (La Liga ha ha!), whereas Evans has played Championship football and recently for a decent Wigan side, whereas Southend have been pretty poor of late.
 
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All three did well but Lee Evans was great. Exactly what we have been missing since Coutts got injured.

I had heard of the other signings before any interest was noted, but had never heard of Evans before.Without even seeing how Ricky Holmes does for us I am certain Evans will prove to be the best signing on that viewing. I just hope he can keep up the performances, as Wolves fans say he was a bit up and down for them
 
SofaScore player stats

Moore 6.7
JoC 7.3
Stear 6.9
Bash 6.6
Enda 6.8
Fleck 6.7
Evans 6.8
Lenny 7.1
Baldo 6.7
Wilson 7.0
Leon 6.7

Interesting that 2 out 3 the new lads got the highest scores.
 
Disagree on coutts.

He has the best technique on the ball by miles. He may not do spectacular Things with it in terms of beating players or skill. But what he does isn’t simple by any means

in terms of being able to receive the ball under pressure, retain the ball almost all the time and quickly start an effective attack or just relieve pressure with the right pass there isn’t anyone else in that comes close unfortunately.

Imo he’s so key to the way we play and though lunstram did a good job the results show how much we missed his ability.

Hopefully Evans can replicate some of coutts form but it’s a hard task. Certainly the speed at which coutts moves the ball would be ideal to try and recreate

Certainly the speed at which coutts moves the ball would be ideal to try and recreate[/QUOTE]

Exactly this. That's the major difference.
 
- - - - - - - - Evans
Leonard - - - - - - - - Fleck


That's how they lined up.

Evans (and Fleck) got on the ball a lot, Leonard was less involved in possession, playing more of a box to box role.

Evans has similar ability on the ball to Coutts. He's got a bit of trickery in his locker too. He'll be a great signing if he can be consistent. 700k is a snip regardless. I thought he looked decent when I've seen him previously but he was better than expected. Being in that team and system helps. I expect him to start most games between now and the end of the season.

Need more time to judge where Lenny's going to fit in.
 
Evans - very good, excellent vision, played it simple when needed plus a few probing balls through the middle. Looked comfortable and able to take a man on...didn't look to ping long passes as much as Lunny but looks very much in the Coutts mould.
agree That Lee Evans was the stand out performer of the new boys. He didn’t even break sweat .....................

Coat.
 
I didn't see the game, but my boy watched it on ifollow and I asked the same question as to how they played in midfield.

He reckons they played a fluid game with all three moving around all over the place. Think in general we had 3 across the middle as against the usual 2.

What was significant for me, it's one of the few times this season, and perhaps only one other time when we have played without a no 10.

The other was at H'boro when Bash dropped into the middle.

Just wonder whether we now have the players to play a solid 5 in midfield away from home and adopt the more usual 3-4-1-2 at home.

Just as at H'boro, we had only 40% possession v Norwich, but still won the game.

UTB
 
Wilson looks like the sort of bloke that would go on a GAP YAH.

 

Ok cheers for the feedback Torrix and fair play for going all the way down to Norwich!

I reckon Leonard will get better when he gets used to this standard of play (La Liga ha ha!), whereas Evans has played Championship football and recently for a decent Wigan side, whereas Southend have been pretty poor of late.
Either that, or that one game's a bit too soon to make any judgement. :)
 

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