The problem with Souza....

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Maurice Maurice

Maurice Maurice

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The problem we've had with Souza, Hamer, Archer etc. I'm sorry to say, is Norwood. Premier League football now is all about ball retention, quick movement, slick passing and working off the ball. Brooks isn't the finished article by any means but he runs at people, plays the little short ball and it gets more of the players involved, as opposed to a hurried 50 yard punt to Baldock etc. Hamer ran his nuts off today, Souza the same, even after the decapitation, and everyone just looks more aware.

I'm actually happy we're going long from the goalkeeper, it takes the pressure off us as we can't handle the press but when they do come at us Souza and the like look a lot more comfortable.

Still early days in the second coming but so far, the subtle changes have made a huge difference.
 

Maurice Maurice said:
The problem we've had with Souza, Hamer, Archer etc. I'm sorry to say, is Norwood. Premier League football now is all about ball retention, quick movement, slick passing and working off the ball. Brooks isn't the finished article by any means but he runs at people, plays the little short ball and it gets more of the players involved, as opposed to a hurried 50 yard punt to Baldock etc. Hamer ran his nuts off today, Souza the same, even after the decapitation, and everyone just looks more aware.

I'm actually happy we're going long from the goalkeeper, it takes the pressure off us as we can't handle the press but when they do come at us Souza and the like look a lot more comfortable.

Still early days in the second coming but so far, the subtle changes have made a huge difference.
Click to expand...

It's a strange one....Norwood has often been our best player but the whole system is built around him
When he has bad games, which has been quite often this season, then the whole team seems to suffer.

So agree......although I have massive respect for Norwood....do think he's been part of the problem.

Was also impressed with Slimane today.
The fact that the new players, Brooks and Slimane, don't treat the ball like a hot potato.
Their 1st thought is to control the ball, then look to calmly pass to feet.
I like what I see and agree, keeping the ball, is really important at Premier League level.
 
Sheffsteel said:
It's a strange one....Norwood has often been our best player but the whole system is built around him
When he has bad games, which has been quite often this season, then the whole team seems to suffer.

So agree......although I have massive respect for Norwood....do think he's been part of the problem.

Was also impressed with Slimane today.
The fact that the new players, Brooks and Slimane, don't treat the ball like a hot potato.
Their 1st thought is to control the ball, then look to calmly pass to feet.
I like what I see and agree, keeping the ball, is really important at Premier League level.
Click to expand...

Slimane will probably get grief for missing the target with that chance but he was unlucky with the first one, got a couple of decent shots off and to say he's hardly played, he looked fine to me.
 
Did anyone else notice wilder yelling and gesturing to keep the ball down today? I noticed it a few times, one of the times Robbo hit it long and out of play he got a bit of a telling off.
 
Big.Dane.w said:
Did anyone else notice wilder yelling and gesturing to keep the ball down today? I noticed it a few times, one of the times Robbo hit it long and out of play he got a bit of a telling off.
Click to expand...
Good, wilder has come in and clearly has a plan and has communicated it to the players, things you love to see, we were everything we haven’t been uunder Hecky today
 
Maurice Maurice said:
The problem we've had with Souza, Hamer, Archer etc. I'm sorry to say, is Norwood. Premier League football now is all about ball retention, quick movement, slick passing and working off the ball. Brooks isn't the finished article by any means but he runs at people, plays the little short ball and it gets more of the players involved, as opposed to a hurried 50 yard punt to Baldock etc. Hamer ran his nuts off today, Souza the same, even after the decapitation, and everyone just looks more aware.

I'm actually happy we're going long from the goalkeeper, it takes the pressure off us as we can't handle the press but when they do come at us Souza and the like look a lot more comfortable.

Still early days in the second coming but so far, the subtle changes have made a huge difference.
Click to expand...
Intriguing whether Norwood stays on the bench at Chelsea
 
I genuinely thought Souza was an awful player overall. I'd seen him have a decent game against forest and maybe another decent half in another game likely wolves. Yet neither were exemplary performances.

I'd consigned myself to thinking we had blown alot of money for us on a player that to be honest looked every bit a lower end championship player....at best

Early days, 2 games isn't even enough to count in terms of form. (4 or 5 games minimum). But he's looking so vastly better it's almost ridiculous. In fact it actually is. He's gone from getting 2 or 3 out of 10s to at least 7s. He has to keep it up but if he continues like this we won't have any issue with him. He'll become a favourite. But it's imperative that effort continues.

Bogle is in the same boat too. He's looking so much better. He has had some decent performances but he's looking vastly better defensively as well as going forward.

Early days but promising signs, to turn players into better performing players only helps us.
 
Penny finally dropping for some folks ?

Now if we could only make sure any other players who are problematic for us when it comes to ball retention, quick movement, slick passing and working off the ball are given the same room 101 treatment ………

🤔

UTB
 
Sheffsteel said:
It's a strange one....Norwood has often been our best player but the whole system is built around him
When he has bad games, which has been quite often this season, then the whole team seems to suffer.

So agree......although I have massive respect for Norwood....do think he's been part of the problem.

Was also impressed with Slimane today.
The fact that the new players, Brooks and Slimane, don't treat the ball like a hot potato.
Their 1st thought is to control the ball, then look to calmly pass to feet.
I like what I see and agree, keeping the ball, is really important at Premier League level.
Click to expand...
Many people argued this for the last two seasons. When Norwood plays well, we play well. When Norwood plays crap, we play crap. Unfortunately he's so inconsistent that we got more crap than good from him

Norwood's ping used to work as we had overloads, so he was safe to ping the ball knowing that someone would chase it and at least two others would be around to pick up the second ball. As soon as overlapping centre backs stopped and Stevens/Fleck etc badly lost form, Norwood's ping turned into pointless crossfield passes with no one near them. Sadly, he's not smart enough to adapt and got stuck in his ways. For someone who could ping a crossfield pass and make it land wherever he wanted, it baffled me that his corners/free kicks and shots were so woeful.
 
The problem with Norwood is his lack of press resistance and his relative lack of mobility in defensive transitions and pressing patterns. The former is fine if United are dominating the ball as they usually are at Championship level. A salient argument can be made that with the right sort of physicality around him his passing range is worth his drawbacks that are exposed less frequently at that level.

At Prem level teams press brilliantly and his choice of pass is largely back, sidewards or a punt in the channel, as he doesn't have the pace or trickery to buy the time to do something more progressive.The things that he does do are then the things any run of the midfield can do (see above), and not the reason we want him in the team - his ability to dictate and his mid/long range passing.

His weakness in defensive transitions has improved in recent years: the work he's been doing with McCall sees him take up more intelligent positions, exposing himself less to these situations, but it's still not enough to allow him to cope with the physicality of Prem opposition imo. I believe it has and will elongate his career.
 
Heard Wilder making a point of McBurnie, Egan, Baldock being on the pitch at the end. Did anyone see Norwood at all?
 
If Norwood could play on the wing, I.e had a bit more pace and could dribble, what a player he’d be with that ping.

As it stands, he’s been amazing for us but maybe his time is coming to an end. He’s still great to have as an option and ultimately the gaffer will play him if it’s best and drop him if not.
 

ISZA ⚔️ said:
Heard Wilder making a point of McBurnie, Egan, Baldock being on the pitch at the end. Did anyone see Norwood at all?
Click to expand...

I think if there is a Behind The Blades video this week then we will find out.
 
Interesting to see what happens with Souza after this season. Will he ultimately be a Wilder player, or not?
 
Maurice Maurice said:
Slimane will probably get grief for missing the target with that chance but he was unlucky with the first one, got a couple of decent shots off and to say he's hardly played, he looked fine to me.
Click to expand...
Slimane’s body shape and first touch when receiving the ball, tells me there’s a decent player in somewhere. Just wonder why Hecky couldn’t see that.
 
Regarding Souza…Even the great Bob Booker took time to become a cult hero.
 
Maurice Maurice said:
The problem we've had with Souza, Hamer, Archer etc. I'm sorry to say, is Norwood. Premier League football now is all about ball retention, quick movement, slick passing and working off the ball. Brooks isn't the finished article by any means but he runs at people, plays the little short ball and it gets more of the players involved, as opposed to a hurried 50 yard punt to Baldock etc. Hamer ran his nuts off today, Souza the same, even after the decapitation, and everyone just looks more aware.

I'm actually happy we're going long from the goalkeeper, it takes the pressure off us as we can't handle the press but when they do come at us Souza and the like look a lot more comfortable.

Still early days in the second coming but so far, the subtle changes have made a huge difference.
Click to expand...

And the penny drops......same happened last season, Boro were closing in and Hecky dropped Norwood for Doyle and the rest is history.

Quite why anyone expected a different outcome in a higher league is beyond me.

Hopefully Norwood is in the frame to be moved on in January......Souza, Hamer and McAtee have looked much better without him and with Brooks bursting onto the scene and then Slimane and Peck as back up, hopefully Norwood is out of the picture....
 
CPB said:
I genuinely thought Souza was an awful player overall. I'd seen him have a decent game against forest and maybe another decent half in another game likely wolves. Yet neither were exemplary performances.

I'd consigned myself to thinking we had blown alot of money for us on a player that to be honest looked every bit a lower end championship player....at best

Early days, 2 games isn't even enough to count in terms of form. (4 or 5 games minimum). But he's looking so vastly better it's almost ridiculous. In fact it actually is. He's gone from getting 2 or 3 out of 10s to at least 7s. He has to keep it up but if he continues like this we won't have any issue with him. He'll become a favourite. But it's imperative that effort continues.

Bogle is in the same boat too. He's looking so much better. He has had some decent performances but he's looking vastly better defensively as well as going forward.

Early days but promising signs, to turn players into better performing players only helps us.
Click to expand...
Souza is soooooooooo slow and players tend to walk past him . He is awful - imo - but i`m prepared to eat humble pie if he turns out to be the enforcer we all thought he was . I agree - he looks better without Norwood slowing down the slow Suza .
 
Bell4 said:
Souza is soooooooooo slow and players tend to walk past him . He is awful - imo - but i`m prepared to eat humble pie if he turns out to be the enforcer we all thought he was . I agree - he looks better without Norwood slowing down the slow Suza .
Click to expand...
He also looks uncomfortable when he has the ball. He makes me feel uncomfortable too !!
 

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