We need to talk about Norwood

[RedandWhite]

He's one booking away from a suspension isn't he? I think he may need to miss a game for people realise how good he is to be honest.

All bookings got wiped clean December 31st.

 

[Harry's Game]

All bookings got wiped clean December 31st.

No they didn’t, if you get to ten in the season you get a two match ban.

 

[Tazzy]

Liverpool and man city have worked out you close him down you stop the supply .Last night he looked like he did not want the ball because he had zero time on the ball Excellent work from the coach's from pool and city .Some times you have to just hold your hands up and say well done

 

[Harry's Game]

Liverpool and man city have worked out you close him down you stop the supply .Last night he looked like he did not want the ball because he had zero time on the ball Excellent work from the coach's from pool and city .Some times you have to just hold your hands up and say well done

Maybe also its a weakness in the flat three system, they can squeeze the middle and not worry about leaving free the player in the “hole” (the fabled Duffy Role)

 

[Sheff de party]

There’s literally no pleasing some people.

 

[metalblade]

His performances and our league position would suggest both Fulham and Brighton were too quick to jettison Norwood after he helped them to promotion. Not many better passers of the ball even at this level, his free kicks from the right hand side are very dangerous. To replace Oli would be very expensive when we got him for a snip at £2m.

 

[Caseh]

I agree we do need to talk about him... How bloody good is he?!

 

[Grizzly blade]

It’s fatigue.

simple as that, to keep competitive we have to play with intensity, and to play week in week out and train in between takeits toll.
There is a good reason he quit international football and I suspect there may be an underlying issue for him, and his body just isn’t up to it.

He’s a quality player, and that won’t leave him overnight. However there are numerous areas in the pitch we need to improve to remain successful at the top and his position is one of them.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

He's one of our better players, technically our best player on the ball, a leader and provides as much class in that midfield as we could hope for, on the budget we have. He's our Bladey Beckham with that ping.

He's fine, there's no issue. Appreciate his quality.

 

[HoodedClaw]

Tin Hat time!

Nothing for immediate concern, but perhaps we are seeing the shoots of why he has never previously featured in the PL with his former clubs. and why CW highlighted competition for his position in that leaked Dubai boardroom snap.

IMO Norwood has looked ineffective for a number of games now. Whether that's down to him or the opposition nullifying his impact, it's something we need to look at improving. Last night he was utterly woeful with the ball, and without it seemed a complete passenger in the game. This was City granted, but at the Etihad he showed he was more than capable of helping build our attacks.

I don't think it's any coincidence that our drop off in terms of possession and creativity has come at the same time his performance level has dropped. My concern for the team is if he can't get his mojo back, how do we continue to get results? We won't be able to rely on Flecky tucking away an 0.02 xG chance every week like he did at Arsenal.

If Wilder can look to get in some competition for JOC (a far more consistent performer than Norwood this season) then surely he should be doing the same with Norwood?

Got any names you'd like to see us try for to improve that postition?

 

[Antonb]

Exactly, he’s proforming way above what we paid for him, like a number of others. Got to be worth around 10 million plus , and we got him for 2 . Be realistic !

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I get that it's a polarising view (I was recently labelled a "cretin" for expressing a similar opinion) but I actually agree with a lot of what the OP says.

As many know, I've been critical at times of Norwood. I think he blows hot & cold. I understand that he is excellent when afforded time & space. I understand that he is integral to our system. However, I also see that he lacks speed on & off the ball & that this lack of athleticism in the middle of the park often limits us.

Don't get me wrong, I know that we don't have anybody better for that position right now, so it's not a conversation for today as to whether or not we should drop him. I accept that he's been an unbelievably good value for money signing.

However, if we're looking to move forward & progress, his is a position which I would be looking to improve upon in the Summer.

As for "names to replace him" - I probably don't watch enough overseas football to comment. But it sounds like the interest in Sander Berge was concrete last Summer & having seen him since, a player of his standing would have been about right. That ship has now sailed, but if someone similar exists...

 

[BushBlade]

I get that it's a polarising view (I was recently labelled a "cretin" for expressing a similar opinion) but I actually agree with a lot of what the OP says.

As many know, I've been critical at times of Norwood. I think he blows hot & cold. I understand that he is excellent when afforded time & space. I understand that he is integral to our system. However, I also see that he lacks speed on & off the ball & that this lack of athleticism in the middle of the park often limits us.

Don't get me wrong, I know that we don't have anybody better for that position right now, so it's not a conversation for today as to whether or not we should drop him. I accept that he's been an unbelievably good value for money signing.

However, if we're looking to move forward & progress, his is a position which I would be looking to improve upon in the Summer.

As for "names to replace him" - I probably don't watch enough overseas football to comment. But it sounds like the interest in Sander Berge was concrete last Summer & having seen him since, a player of his standing would have been about right. That ship has now sailed, but if someone similar exists...

Well let’s face it, we need someone else who can play his role and if we can find someone who can do it better, who we can afford and who wants to play for us, we’ll sign him. Wilder doesn’t fuck about.

 

[ChemEngBlade]

Norwood is at his best when he turns & pings it about. I think the quality of opposition has restricted that over the last month or so. Liverpool & City are miles better than everyone else in the league, they press so so well it's almost unfair. Maybe he needs to learn to operate better in tight spaces, I noticed last night just how good City are in really tight areas and that is one thing we don't have (maybe Morrison could give us that but it seems we won't see it anytime soon). I personally wanna see him ping it about and have a few efforts on target, when he gets the chance

 

[guancheblade]

I knew this would rile a few up!

Teams have cottoned on to the fact he can be nullified if pressed. With time more teams will follow suit. And next season we will face these teams again, all of which will be wiser to us. I just think it's something we need to monitor and plan for before it becomes a bigger problem.

The only recent games where he has looked remotely "ineffective" were Liverpool away [when the whole team were poor] and Man City last night. Other than that he has been brilliant this season.

I think there's a good half dozen+ more games where he's been less than "brilliant".

However, if we're looking to move forward & progress, his is a position which I would be looking to improve upon in the Summer.

Exactly what I was getting at, look at the situation in the summer. Nobody is questioning JOC's level of performance at all yet CW has just this week brought someone in to apply some competition for the role. Perhaps we will see more consistency from Norwood if he knows there's someone else in the squad who is there to compete with him for a starting place. Right now, plus the fact he's the on field captain, he might feel somewhat comfortable of a start week in week out.

 

[bypassblade]

I like Norwood and he's the best exponent of the 40-60 yard pass to someone's toe end since TC, he has vision poise can shoot oh and he's playing against players who's laces probably cost more than he did.

 

[Stretch]

I knew this would rile a few up!

Teams have cottoned on to the fact he can be nullified if pressed. With time more teams will follow suit. And next season we will face these teams again, all of which will be wiser to us. I just think it's something we need to monitor and plan for before it becomes a bigger problem.



I think there's a good half dozen+ more games where he's been less than "brilliant".



Exactly what I was getting at, look at the situation in the summer. Nobody is questioning JOC's level of performance at all yet CW has just this week brought someone in to apply some competition for the role. Perhaps we will see more consistency from Norwood if he knows there's someone else in the squad who is there to compete with him for a starting place. Right now, plus the fact he's the on field captain, he might feel somewhat comfortable of a start week in week out.

Not riled up mate, it's all about opinions

As far as I am concerned he has been a consistent performer, but of course he is up against better opponents and harder pressing now. Even in the champ he could struggle against teams who pressured him on the ball. But overall, he is still absolutely key to what we do, and hasn't dropped off enough yet nearly enough for us to start worrying about it.

I do agree though that we need back up/competition for him, and this was indicated on the leaked pic of the flipchart from the meeting last year, which showed us that another player in his position is one of the priorities. But decent competition for him will be hard to find, unless we spend very very big, or get lucky like we did when we signed him in the first place. What was it, 2M? Bargain of the chuffing century.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

I get that it's a polarising view (I was recently labelled a "cretin" for expressing a similar opinion) but I actually agree with a lot of what the OP says.

As many know, I've been critical at times of Norwood. I think he blows hot & cold. I understand that he is excellent when afforded time & space. I understand that he is integral to our system. However, I also see that he lacks speed on & off the ball & that this lack of athleticism in the middle of the park often limits us.

Don't get me wrong, I know that we don't have anybody better for that position right now, so it's not a conversation for today as to whether or not we should drop him. I accept that he's been an unbelievably good value for money signing.

However, if we're looking to move forward & progress, his is a position which I would be looking to improve upon in the Summer.

As for "names to replace him" - I probably don't watch enough overseas football to comment. But it sounds like the interest in Sander Berge was concrete last Summer & having seen him since, a player of his standing would have been about right. That ship has now sailed, but if someone similar exists...

Shut up, you cretin.

 

[guancheblade]

I do agree though that we need back up/competition for him, and this was indicated on the leaked pic of the flipchart from the meeting last year, which showed us that another player in his position is one of the priorities.

I referred to that flip chart in my OP. Who knows what kind of war chest we will get in the summer. If we spent £40M in our first season back in the Prem, I could see this easily doubling next season (assuming the Prince doesn't use the Prem money to buy the land). Would that get us a Norwood 2.0? For all we know Wilder might change the system again just to keep the rest of the league on their toes in which case it might not be a direct Norwood competitor at all.

 

[BushBlade]

I referred to that flip chart in my OP. Who knows what kind of war chest we will get in the summer. If we spent £40M in our first season back in the Prem, I could see this easily doubling next season (assuming the Prince doesn't use the Prem money to buy the land). Would that get us a Norwood 2.0? For all we know Wilder might change the system again just to keep the rest of the league on their toes in which case it might not be a direct Norwood competitor at all.

It won’t leave a lot for wages if we spent £80m.
I wouldn’t be surprised if CW changes how we play though, our chief weapon is surprise.

 

[BarcaBlade]

I think there's a good half dozen+ more games where he's been less than "brilliant".

LIverpool x 2, Man City x 2 - that's 60%+ of your allocation of 'less than brilliant games. If you add in the other 2, 3, or even 4, the logical conclusion is that he's been brilliant in 16 games. That'll do for me, at least for the moment.

 

[S40BLADE]

Oh look another thread totally ignorant of Norwood’s importance and ball recovery abilities.

 

[Lane Ender]

We've just played Liverpool, City twice and Arsenal. He's been pressed to fuck by some of the best midfields in Europe.

Make that midfields in the world

 

[Hamburg Blade]

It won’t leave a lot for wages if we spent £80m.
I wouldn’t be surprised if CW changes how we play though, our chief weapon is surprise.

Surprise and fear...

 

[Ossett Blade]

Oli Norwood is literally the most composed player on the pitch.

 

[Eels]

I think all the team, but Norwood in particular, look more comfortable in possession when Didsy is playing. He's the best we've got at making angles for easy passes - he does it in all areas of the pitch too.

 

[PokerBlade]

We're a newly promoted team who's just had to face a tough run of games three of which were against two sides who are not only two of the best in the world but both finished last season with a points total in the high 90's.

No, I'm not worried about Norwood just like I wasn't worried in the recent thread saying this about Mousset.

Minus the City/Liverpool games our results going backwards:
Drew with Arsenal
Beat Wham
Drew with Watford
Beat Brighton
Beat Villa
Beat Norwich

We're playing fine.

 

[GrayBlade]

We've just played Liverpool, City twice and Arsenal. He's been pressed to fuck by some of the best midfields in Europe.

Now then. We don’t want any of that cutting a bit of slack when playing world class opposition round here young fellow mi lad.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

We do not need to talk about Norwood. He's our drum beat and we'd be fucked without him.

 

[sitwell]

It was a matter of time before it was Norwood, it will be fleck the egan then joc, why oh why do attract people who simply don't understand the basics of football.