Match Day Thread Norwich city v Newcastle United

At CB and Striker we are down to bare bones but apart from Hanley who is likely to start (Maybe Amadou, never know) we have a very strong starting XI.
For Onel we have: Cantwell and Roberts
McLean: Amadou, Vrancic, Leitner
For Pukki we still have Srbeny just in case.
It's as said, CB where we will remain thin on the ground until one of our natural CB's returns, unless of course Amadou can fill in.

So apart from Klose not returning the initial impact is minimal. McLean being the only starter last week.

Bah!

 

Yeah I think that makes the starting lineup easy to predict:

Krul
Aarons Hanley Godfrey Lewis
Leitner Trybull
Buendia Stiepermann Cantwell
Pukki

Bench: Fahrmann, Byram, Amadou, Vrancic, Tettey, Roberts, Srbeny

Which is arguably a weaker XI than we'd have played in several games last season, without a great deal of options off the bench.

 

Crikey, that's quite an injury list.
Oh well, chance for others to stake their claim in the starting 11.

 

Oh agreed and I was trying to acknowledge that in my post that Hanley should not be blamed for the Van Dijk goal. I should have been clearer, sorry (Hanley)!

But I do think that players have a certain amount of discretion in the game, even with the coach's orders, and I think a truly senior minded player would be looking at the situation and assessing whether, for whatever reason, our defensive structure may be deficient despite the training. I think we have all seen the way Zimmo barks orders and encourages and I am not saying he would have spotted the Van Dijk/Lewis mismatch, but I feel confident he would have been more likely to and if he had would have been creative in sorting it out before we conceded. Hanley undoubtedly does his best and does have some strengths, but I don't think he has that magic leadership/initiative which makes the difference with a true leader (and can make up for deficiencies in footballing ability). That's all I meant by highlighting the Van Dijk goal.

 

I am not sure I would say it is weaker, save for at CB(!), having seen how Cantwell has been playing.

Broadly I argued McClean was underrated last season, but I am questioning myself now having seen the difference Leitner brought when he came on. I think if Trybull is on form that could be very interesting.

 

Is Vrancic fit?
My POS last season

 

It's the long-term injury of Hernandez which has me concerned. Cantwell and Roberts offer good options, but without Onel's pace on the counter. It's likely though that Cantwell would start again tomorrow after his good performance at Anfield. It's good news that Tettey and Amadou are available and I suspect that Leitner would start even if McLean was available. It's also good that Hanley gets another chance at CB as we will need all four options there over the season.

 

He's behind in training, but he could be on the bench.

 

God these injuries are mounting up... Bad news..

 

Just seen this from Dave Freezer: "Heise can add to the offensive wide options on the left". Heise has decent pace and could strengthen us defensively, especially against Chelsea and Citeh.

 

Let’s re-sign Marshall, haven’t heard of him being picked up yet!

 

On Hanley, I don’t think there are many on here that would argue that he is our 4th choice CB, so we can’t really get on his back when the other 2 options are unavailable. He’s still better than almost all the CBs we have had in our most recent forays in the PL, in fact I can’t think of 1 that is better that isn’t currently in the squad.

Hopefully playing against an a old club of his he will go out there wanting to put in a great performance

 

I was wondering whether Heise might be an option at LCB, he looks like he’s built for it, although Lewis dropped in there in the pre season friendlies so probably not

 

What Lee or Andy?

 

Onel's injury takes away part of the fun for me. I really want to see how he does in the PL. That's mitigated by TC's play, so far, and the fact that Robert's looked like a real player in pre-season.

McLean's injury probably removes a selection headache for Daniel as he must have been thinking about who to start, Kenny or Mo. I think he would have stuck with McLean, but Leitner looks up for it.

 

He made quite a difference when he came on last Friday.

Edit -, OK GH had a bit of a stinker last Friday, but some fans' reaction is out of order - https://readnorwich.com/2019/08/16/...orwich-fans-react-to-hanleys-potential-start/.

 

Did he have a total stinker? Or was it the fact he scored the own goal, how he reacted, and then the fact we conceded 4 in the first half?

Was it mainly his fault? He didn't look good, at all, but nor did any of them defensively. Has he been used as an easy target?

 

I would agree that he is pretty much being used as the scapegoat.
Lewis should have at least jumped when VVD had a free header and Aarons could have made it much more difficult for Origi.
It really annoys me how some fans get on players' backs!!!

 

I think Hanley was the worst player, but someone always has to be the worst player. I don't think he stood out massively as the sole reason for our troubles. I think it's harsh. I wouldn't play him by choice, but we have a ton of injuries and didn't buy back up. He's all we have.

 

This is the first time I can remember us having 4 senior CBs in the PL. I'm just glad that we don't have to bring in Famewo or another U23 CB before he's ready. Slagging him of only weakens our chances.