Summer 2014 Transfers Mega-thread

I still think he needs a bit of competition. Martin and Turner look like they're going to build a pretty solid partnership. I would hate to disrupt that if Whittaker picks up an injury, we are thin at right back. Far more thin than we are at centre back.

 

My only issue with Whits is he'll get closed down in the RB position and rather than hoof it clear he'll try and waltz his way out then get in a muddle and either lose the ball or play a terrible ball back to Ruddy. Other than that he's competent in defence and when he gets going in attack he's hard to stop. He made a lovely run against Blackburn, got past about 4 players! And in this League we don't have to worry so much about the defence.

 

i still think martin should be his competition but obviously bennett's injury has put paid to that now unless cuellar can hit the ground running

 

I have to admit, one thing that stand us in good stead this season is our defence is MUCH better than it was than we went up with Lambert.

Turner is the best centre back in the division imo. Ruddy the best goalkeeper in the league, he's improved no end since we got promoted and Olsson is probably one of the best left backs. The rest of our defence would walk into most teams like Whittaker, Bennett, Cuellar and possibly Garrido.

 

Definitely Garrido

 

Adams on Bassong:

http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/...of_bournemouth_s_championship_visit_1_3748884


I like what I'm hearing. A public plea and an advert to suitors. Two birds, one stone.

 

And Adams on our latest signing McGrandles

http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=368678


Again, sounds good - he will be straight into the first team. The guy must have really impressed.

 

Until Howson's back in contention, wouldn't surprise me to see McGrandles on the bench as cover for Hoolahan, both in case of injury and so that we can rest Wes if we're in a good position. The fact he can cover wide areas is a bonus too. Certainly adds to the depth of the squad, we're going to have some very good players not making the bench!

 

It 's rumoured that Hooper my be a target for Crystal Palace. IF he does go, do we have enough strikers left to take us through to the January window or would Adams try to replace him? if so, then he may not have much time left.

 

I'd be quite concerned if Hooper was to leave, as I'm still not entirely convinced by Grabban, and don't think Jerome or Lafferty have 20 goals a season in them. The lack of movement so far, combined with his injury, means I think we'll keep him though.

 

I think we will over price Hooper for Palace, but QPR is more likely I reckon. The sooner the window closes the better lol.

 

Sky sports are saying QPR & Palace will test our resolve with a £5m bid for Hooper!!!
WTF ! We paid more than that !
We shouldn't even answer the phone if the offer is less than £10m

 

Compromise time. £10m for hooper, £5m for Hooper and Bassong combined?

 

It looks like Hooper wants out and he will get sold in the next few days, we can handle losing RVW but not both.
Unless we make £3m plus on what we paid for him we need to keep him ,if Grabban gets injured i don't see where the goals will come from.

 

I'll be disappointed if we do lose Hooper, I'm not convinced with Grabban yet, I'd love to see Hooper getting on the end of some of the chances we're making at present.
I don't see Grabban, Lafferty,Jerome & Loza scoring enough to get us up.

 

In what way are you not convinced by Grabban?

He has done it at this level before and he has scored 4 goals in what 3 or 4 appearances including match winning goals. What else does he need to do in your eyes for you to be convinced?

I'm not having a pop, just a straight up question.

The worst thing would be if he got injured.

 

I'm convinced by Grabban in our team.

However, I am more convinced by Hooper, who I could see scoring 30+ the way we are currently playing, even having missed the first 6 matches of the season or so. I can't see Hooper leaving to QPR tbh. He must see how easy it will be to score in the Championship, which will help him get fit after a rotten run of injuries, as well as regain his mojo. He's still young.

 

For me, it's the fact that he's not taken many chances cleanly, and with worse luck we could be looking at him yet to get off the mark. The deflection against Watford could have gone anywhere, he was lucky the saved penalty came back to him, it took two attempts for him to score in an open goal, and the Ipswich goal looks pretty offside.

If he'd slotted those home with ease, and hadn't fluffed several very good chances against Ipswich, I'd be much happier. Sure he did it last season, but Bournemouth fans didn't seem too sad to see him go, in fact many seem surprised we paid as much as we did.

It might just be that I'm being harsh, I accept. To score goals you've got to be in the right positions, and he's certainly done that. His workrate and contribution to the build-up is also very good. I'm just concerned that if he has a poor run of luck and his head drops, he's not got that natural finishing ability to work his way back into form in the way that I think Hooper could. However it might simply be that he's perfect for a team that create a lot of chances, and his ability to get into the right positions means that he can consistently score goals without being the best of finishers.

I also think that his poorer finishing compared to Hooper means he'd be of much less use at a higher level. If we were to get promoted, we'd need strikers who can bury the one decent chance they get in a game, and I think Hooper can do that, whilst I'd doubt Grabban's ability to do so.

 

If we sold Hooper it would be the only bit of business we've done this summer which I don't agree with.

I think the club still see him as our number one striker. However, if Grabban keeps scoring and the team keeps winning it'll be increasingly difficult to justify his inclusion once he's fit again.

 

I wonder if Snodgrass still played for us he would have tried to take the ball from Grabban at Brighton when he placed the penalty like RVW?