Is Norwood the new Sharp?

[Champagneblade]

Remember for about 4 consecutive pre-seasons fans would write off Billy Sharp, only for him to continue to contribute significantly the following season?

It seems that mantle has been passed onto Oli Norwood.

Remember this guy who’s apparently not up to it?:

Central midfield: Oliver Norwood (Sheffield United) - 7.24​

Partnering Brownhill in the middle of the park is Sheffield United's Norwood. While the Blades star could only register five assists, it was not for want of trying, with the 32-year-old ranking sixth for key passes (82). In addition, only Jonny Howson (181) won possession in the midfield third more times than Norwood (177) in the Championship.

He started 39 league games, including a run of 29 league games where he played every single minute.

He was on the pitch in 46/46 league matches as well as 5/7 cup games, 4 of which being starts. 51/53 games he played in a season where we got promoted and to the FA Cup Semi Final.

Yet having flogged him to death, his form for the majority of the season seems to have been easily forgotten.

Wrongly tarnished by images of Palace away where they just ran through him under Wilder, I’ve long held the belief that if we get a proper athlete alongside him, we can prolong his career and retain his quality.

Excellent in possession when given time and one of the best long passer we’ve ever had at the Lane, he has upped his defensive side in recent seasons.

As much as we termed Sander a Rolls Royce, he wasn’t the ideal partner for the Bentley that is Norwood. Norwood needs a Range Rover, even a Land Rover alongside him to get him doing what he does best.

For older readers and watchers of the TV Classic ‘Minder’, Sander was the slightly better looking Gary Webster’s Ray Daley to Norwood’s wily Arthur Daly when we all knew his best combo was with the far more rugged Terry McCann!

Whilst we’ll be tipped for the drop before our recruitment is done, I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing these two work together and think writing us off is premature. But isn’t this the role in which we most excel?

Such a double pivot also allows Slimane to ball carry and thread passes through the middle which is something he seemed to excel at at his prior club.

All bets might be off on this trio should Hamer arrive or Smallbone but I think we can have a fighting chance, especially with a decent defence, of taking points, starting hopefully with Palace.

So, to paraphrase Mark Twain, perhaps, as was the case with Billy, reports of his demise are grossly exaggerated

 

[skyjam]

NO

 

[ForgeBlade]

Very good player is Oli. His range of passing is superb (even aside from all the "ping" bollocks) and he is capable of a tackle. If he can be at his best, he'll be a very important player for us this year.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Strange one last season, his stats were one of the best in the division but we actually played better when Doyle replaced him in midfield for the run in.

 

[Old Programme seller]

I love Norwood for his professional honesty yes he has faults but he is a 38 plus game player so for us with a small squad he’s a must.

 

[The Hobott]

Norwood is important for rating analysis as anybody who blindly criticizes him is a moron. He took us 2/3 of the way to promotion last year and then fizzled (maybe not his fault). Luckily Doyle stepped up for the last mile. The lad deserves some respect.

 

[Working Class Hero]

That first two thirds of the season he was our best midfielder by a country mile, all the others were way off it. He rightly lost his place to Doyle at the end after that horrific spell where Hecky for some reason thought bringing Fleck back in would be a good idea. The whole midfield became a disaster at that point and every player in the XI lost form (and we looked like handing promotion to Boro as a result). Taking the season as a whole though, he was probably still our best midfielder.

Assuming we'll be playing Souza at the side of him, who by all accounts is a runner and tackler, we could see Norwood being one of our most important players again.

 

[Nick Jansky]

NO

Insightful and well reasoned contribution from an expert.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Norwood did improve last season and was a key member of the team for two thirds of the season.

He's been getting a lot of praise for his good "creative" stats, assists, key passes, etc. While that is deserved, an assist is an assist, we shouldn't think he's the type of player who goes on runs and sets strikers up for taps in. Nor does he thread strikers through on goal a lot. I think he gets his numbers up due to set pieces and our wide play down the right hand side.

For years we've seen Baldock, Bogle, Basham, Ahmedhodzic, Lundstram, Berge, Duffy combine with neat passing and good movement. Sometimes they find a way through, sometimes they get crowded out. But even when they are, we have an extra little weapon, i.e. the pass back to Norwood, who then directly swings a cross in. Norwood is often not marked by anyone on these occasions, so he's usually allowed to cross the ball relatively unchallenged.

He does this well, whipping the ball in with pace and often good accuracy. If we've got players in the box who can attack the ball it gives us efforts on goal, sometimes even goals. One example, vs Reading last season:



His assists last season:

1. vs Middlesbrough away, keeps an attack alive by finding Berge in a central positions. Berge makes space to shoot and scores.
2. vs Sunderland at home, corner headed in by Ahmedhodzic.
3. vs Reading at home, see youtube clip above
4. vs Wigan away, corner headed home by Egan
5. vs Coventry at home, free kick from the right hand side swung in and converted by Clark.

 

[jono_t2000]

The things Norwood does well he does better than ANYONE in the championship

The things he isn't so good at however make him a pretty big liability if the opposition know how to manage him.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

Norwood did improve last season and was a key member of the team for two thirds of the season.

He's been getting a lot of praise for his good "creative" stats, assists, key passes, etc. While that is deserved, an assist is an assist, we shouldn't think he's the type of player who goes on runs and sets strikers up for taps in. Nor does he thread strikers through on goal a lot. I think he gets his numbers up due to set pieces and our wide play down the right hand side.

For years we've seen Baldock, Bogle, Basham, Ahmedhodzic, Lundstram, Berge, Duffy combine with neat passing and good movement. Sometimes they find a way through, sometimes they get crowded out. But even when they are, we have an extra little weapon, i.e. the pass back to Norwood, who then directly swings a cross in. Norwood is often not marked by anyone on these occasions, so he's usually allowed to cross the ball relatively unchallenged.

He does this well, whipping the ball in with pace and often good accuracy. If we've got players in the box who can attack the ball it gives us efforts on goal, sometimes even goals. One example, vs Reading last season:



His assists last season:

1. vs Middlesbrough away, keeps an attack alive by finding Berge in a central positions. Berge makes space to shoot and scores.
2. vs Sunderland at home, corner headed in by Ahmedhodzic.
3. vs Reading at home, see youtube clip above
4. vs Wigan away, corner headed home by Egan
5. vs Coventry at home, free kick from the right hand side swung in and converted by Clark.

His best assist last season didn't go down as one.

That perfectly timed long ball to drop on Baldocks foot in the Burnley win, that ended up as a Mcburnie goal.

 

[JohnDenver]

His best assist last season didn't go down as one.

That perfectly timed long ball to drop on Baldocks foot in the Burnley win, that ended up as a Mcburnie goal.

Which reminds me…. VAR is back to rule out offside goals.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

Which reminds me…. VAR is back to rule out offside goals.

Offside? Never!

 

[ton-up]

NO

Yep, a no from me as well from another non-expert unlike others on the forum.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Norwood was brilliant last season. He ran out of steam a bit on the final furlong but overall his contribution was huge.
Been a class player for us.

I wouldn't necessarily write him off in the PL but for him to be effective it would need a system tweak.

 

[ton-up]

Norwood was brilliant last season. He ran out of steam a bit on the final furlong but overall his contribution was huge.
Been a class player for us.

I wouldn't necessarily write him off in the PL but for him to be effective it would need a system tweak.

Not for me Captain, but I understand the stats, etc that have already been included within this thread.

 

[Paddy1]

I’ve always felt he’s been harshly treat from Utd fans. He has is limitations and I don’t think he’s quite good enough for the next step up but I can honestly say he’s one of the best passers of a ball I’ve ever seen. He picks a team mate out 9 times out of 10 and can switch play in an instant - the 1 time he doesn’t people get on his back. Yet, players like Montgomery who couldn’t pass it 2 yards, but because they then chased it back they’re somehow forgiven! It baffles me what people see sometimes! Anyone who’s played football (and not saying you’ve got to have but it helps!) will appreciate how good it is to have an outlet like him who wants the ball all the time and you know he’s going to pick you out when you make a run

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Not for me Captain, but I understand the stats, etc that have already been included within this thread.

Bit of recency bias coming into it.
Norwood was some people's POTY for the division in the first half of the season.

 

[Stretch]

I have a feeling that he will do well again this season, and depending on who comes in may end up being consistently in the first 11.

I that happens and if we can get a tune out of Souza in a protective/anchoring role, then add in a box to box player like Hamer, we could have a very solid and well balanced midfield. Our little version of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta ..... yeah I am (half) joking.

Interesting to see how Slimane fits into all this too.

 

[ton-up]

Not for me Captain, but I understand the stats, etc that have already been included within this thread

Bit of recency bias coming into it.
Norwood was some people's POTY for the division in the first half of the season.

For me I am aware that Doyle is likely to be unrealistic this summer, but if he was signed and stayed fit, Norwood doesn't play in the league games.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

What Norwood is excellent at is the long balls finding people in space. Sometimes those are a bit predictable. What he isn't very good at in my view is short/medium pass through the lines.

 

[Panini]

There's a very clear but specific similarity between Norwood and Sharp, if we are comparing the Norwood of the last 2/3 years with the Sharp of the last 4 years, which I think is a fair comparison considering Sharp is older and Norwood won't play as long as Sharp has...

The similarity is that both have been somewhere between decent and good when allowed to operate within a narrow set of conditions. Outside those conditions they are somewhere between anonymous and a liability.

I really doubt Norwood's ability to find that narrow set of conditions in the PL considering the Championship became too hot for him last season. He'll get my support while he's still a Blades player but in my opinion he's the top of the list of players we need to upgrade.

 

[blade67]

I like Norwood and think he's been one of our best players over the last 5 seasons. However, I'd love to see Doyle back, even on loan with Norwood either playing alongside or coming on after 60 minutes with Souza, Slimane and 1 other (Hamer would be great) being the 5 midfielders playing the majority of minutes.

 

[Yoonited]

Remember for about 4 consecutive pre-seasons fans would write off Billy Sharp, only for him to continue to contribute significantly the following season?

It seems that mantle has been passed onto Oli Norwood.

Remember this guy who’s apparently not up to it?:

Central midfield: Oliver Norwood (Sheffield United) - 7.24​

Partnering Brownhill in the middle of the park is Sheffield United's Norwood. While the Blades star could only register five assists, it was not for want of trying, with the 32-year-old ranking sixth for key passes (82). In addition, only Jonny Howson (181) won possession in the midfield third more times than Norwood (177) in the Championship.

He started 39 league games, including a run of 29 league games where he played every single minute.

He was on the pitch in 46/46 league matches as well as 5/7 cup games, 4 of which being starts. 51/53 games he played in a season where we got promoted and to the FA Cup Semi Final.

Yet having flogged him to death, his form for the majority of the season seems to have been easily forgotten.

Wrongly tarnished by images of Palace away where they just ran through him under Wilder, I’ve long held the belief that if we get a proper athlete alongside him, we can prolong his career and retain his quality.

Excellent in possession when given time and one of the best long passer we’ve ever had at the Lane, he has upped his defensive side in recent seasons.

As much as we termed Sander a Rolls Royce, he wasn’t the ideal partner for the Bentley that is Norwood. Norwood needs a Range Rover, even a Land Rover alongside him to get him doing what he does best.

For older readers and watchers of the TV Classic ‘Minder’, Sander was the slightly better looking Gary Webster’s Ray Daley to Norwood’s wily Arthur Daly when we all knew his best combo was with the far more rugged Terry McCann!

Whilst we’ll be tipped for the drop before our recruitment is done, I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing these two work together and think writing us off is premature. But isn’t this the role in which we most excel?

Such a double pivot also allows Slimane to ball carry and thread passes through the middle which is something he seemed to excel at at his prior club.

All bets might be off on this trio should Hamer arrive or Smallbone but I think we can have a fighting chance, especially with a decent defence, of taking points, starting hopefully with Palace.

So, to paraphrase Mark Twain, perhaps, as was the case with Billy, reports of his demise are grossly exaggerated

Cracking analogy Champagne

 

[Rodley]

Not sure he’s Prem level but he’s our sole creative output so needs to start.

 

[highgreeninjapan]

He’s probably essential for the start of the season. Aside from the defense, we’re going to be very light on experience and identity when we kick off.

Mostly, though, any slim chance scenario we have of staying up involves us being tight in defence and creating chances from set pieces. Norwood offers both (Top 5 or 6 in whole Championship for tackles and interceptions and while he can be inconsistent with set pieces, think he was good last season, and I’d much rather see him taking them than Osborn!).

As he gets older, and if we plan on staying in the Premier League (doesn’t feel like that that’s the plan!), it’s a position we need to improve upon (possibly we have?), but in our current state, I feel like we absolutely need him.