Norwich vs Sheff Wed (Away) 25th October 2014

[crawley canary]

I would go along with that, but perhaps with Redmond in place of Grabban. He has a few more pluses for me. Better first touch, better able to go past defenders, more pace. Could possibly win us a penalty from that position and may even get a confidence boosting goal.

Ruddy

Martin - Turner - Miquel/Hooiveld - Olsson

Tettey

Howson - VOO

Redmond

Jerome - Hooper

One thing that appears to have been lost a little, that Neil talked about a great deal in pre-season is his desire to have different systems available to use in different types of game. The diamond appeared in pre-season to be one such system but have we used it at all since Wolves, when to be fair it was employed with personnel ill-suited to it?

I wouldn't advocate it every game but it is odd that we've ditched it entirely after using it once with the wrong players, given all the talk of how key it was to have different formations available from game to game, and in game. 

We have Tettey, Howson, VOO, Jerome and Hooper who didn't/couldn't play at Wolves. Arguably all 5 would better fit the diamond than the team we played in that game. Another variation might be:

Ruddy

Martin - Turner - Miquel/Hooiveld - Olsson

Tettey

Howson - Johnson

VOO

Jerome - Hooper

Imo, our squad is better suited to the diamond now than it was at the one time we used it. Arguably the only players in the squad that don't completely suit it are Redmond & Murphy but they have their own very significant merits in the formations we'd use in games unsuited to a diamond and so would still get plenty of game time. Equally a case could be put to use Redmond at the head of the diamond so he could still feature a lot even in that set-up.  

 

[Keckers]

Quick query, I thought I read that Lafferty is suspended?

I'd go slightly different with 4-3-1-2

Ruddy

Martin, Turner, Miquel, Olsson

Howson, Tettey, VOO

Grabban

Hooper Jerome

Love the look of that team. Doubt we'll see it though.

 

[KeiranShikari]

Diamond with Howson or Vadis at the tip then. Could be interesting.

 

[Din]

Team in full:

Ruddy​

Whittaker Martin Turner Olsson​

Tettey​

Howson Johnson​

Odjidja​

Grabban Jerome​

 ​

Subs: Rudd Hooiveld Miquel O'Neil Murphy Redmond Hooper​

 ​

At least Adams is prepared to change things around after a run of poor results. I liked the look of Odjidja when he came on, so good to see him getting a start.
 
Dropping Redmond is a bit of a strange one, but Redmond coming off the bench with 20 minutes left is a fantastic option to have if we need. The only thing I would say about this formation is that it offers no real width apart from the full backs. It will certainly be interesting to see how this works.
 
Apparently Sheffield Wednesday have beaten us the last 8 times we've played each other, which doesn't bare well.
 
Wiziwig are showing the game today though, hopefully the link will be better than the one for the Fulham game.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Is that a confirmation of the formation? Wingless wonders seems to make sense, especially with wingers on the bench, but could also have say Grabban and one of the CMs on the wing which I wouldnt be in favour of. Strong central players

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Didnt get a great view of that incident, but looked like Grabban just smashed that. No composure. Would have hoped for better there. Kind of opportunity Id have thought would be meat and drink for Hooper

 

[Din]

Grabban has just missed an absolute sitter. 1 on 1 with the keeper and sat up perfectly for him but blasted it straight at Westwood when he had the whole goal to aim at, he needs to be doing better than that.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Was that Whittaker making another terrible commiting himself lunge? Awful defending

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Awful challenge there. we seem to be doing this a lot this season. No need for it

 

[David Evans]

Struggling to stay awake here, lord this is a dull match.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Getting a bit fed up of seeing Whittaker flat on his a*se with the wing exposed...

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Struggling to stay awake here, lord this is a dull match.

Wanna get a virtual mexican wave going?   ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'''''''''''''',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Whats happened to Elliott Bennett?

 

[Din]

I have to say, I like this new formation. I think away from home it's something we can definitely use away from home. Every player seems to always have an option on, and on the whole we're defending well. That said though the only real opportunities we've had were Grabban's 1 on 1 that he should've scored, and Johnson's free-kick that was well saved.

Love the look of Odjidja-Ofoe. Very good on the ball and can certainly make things happen. Johnson for me though has been poor, and Whittaker for the second game running has been appalling.

 

[Chazchalk]

This is *bleep* dire 

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I have to say, I like this new formation. I think away from home it's something we can definitely use away from home. Every player seems to always have an option on, and on the whole we're defending well. That said though the only real opportunities we've had were Grabban's 1 on 1 that he should've scored, and Johnson's free-kick that was well saved.

Love the look of Odjidja-Ofoe. Very good on the ball and can certainly make things happen. Johnson for me though has been poor, and Whittaker for the second game running has been appalling.

Interesting decision to take off VOO in light of what you just said

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Interestingly, almost every hone team is one goal up, so suppose we're not doing too badly!

 

[Din]

Our best player from the first half (Odjidja) has now gone off. The physio was putting something on his leg in the first half, so it's probably related to that. O'Neil has come on.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Any chance of flogging Whittaker in January? Dont know how slow footballers were in the Scottish league but he's never looked to have the pace necessary to be a safe pair of hands at fullback in England. Id love to see Elliott Bennett given a run at RB

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

Tettey is having an uncharacteristic bad game today. Whittaker having a characteristic one.