Where did Adams go wrong?

[Yellow Fever]

I do agree with you, GMD, and if we only make one signing this window, that would be my priority (possibly a loan from a PL team).

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I do agree with you, GMD, and if we only make one signing this window, that would be my priority (possibly a loan from a PL team).

A lot of people were put out that we werent going for Tom Huddlestone (and that we didnt get Davies). I was non-plussed at the time, but he did brilliantly for Hull. He is the kind of player that could really have made a difference for us last season in retrospect

 

[It's Character Forming]

Fer came with the tag of a poor man's Fellaini (despite his problems at Man U I rate Fellaini very highly if put in the right role).  Unfortunately Fer was a real fari-weather player, he'd do well when the team were doing well but go missing when we needed him, despite his undoubted talent.  It always seemed odd to me that we didn't go for players like Huddlestone and Davies who were in our price range and look better than the people we got.  I think Hughton's signings were generally poor, shame really he had the biggest budget of any City manager ever...

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I always thought perhaps the biggest mistake was not signing another Fer to play alongside Fer in January. This would perhaps have brought the best out of Fer the first. I feel a big reason Fer disappeared sometimes was that he didnt have a quality partner next to him. If he had, we might have seen the best of him. It was also long said that a Quagliarella was the missing part of Hughtons masterplan. That might be so, as we badly needed a Hoolahan with a direct goal threat. But if that was the case why didnt we go hell for leather to get one in January if it was the missing piece. instead we got Yobo and Gutierrez on loan.

I would love to know why we didnt bring in more in January - Lack of funds?  Lack of faith in Hughton? (if so why persist with him) or too much faith that 'we'd be ok' and didnt need to sign anyone...

 

[Din]

You make GMD about the midfielders with singular strengths, which I do agree with, however I think that Jonny Howson is much closer to the 'complete midfielder' than people give him credit for. I am a big fan of his, and he the defensive part of his game is very under-rated. His reading of the game is excellent, and he's not afraid to get stuck in either. He also works very hard off the ball, and if he does go forward he comes back as well. I think because he is so good with the ball at his feet, and his passing is excellent, that people forget that how solid he is defensively as well. Our best combination for me would be Howson and Tettey, with Johnson on the left wing. I'd say between Howson and Tettey you've covered a lot of the basic skills that a midfield needs, the only one that would be missing for me is the ability to win the ball in the air every time. But that's something that Johnson can do.

Going back to Fer though, I genuinly think that when he was at his best he was one of the best players technically to wear a Norwich shirt, certainly since I've been going to games. As ICR said though, he only tended to play well when the team played well, and if the team were playing badly (which last season was most of the time) then he would play badly. After his first few games I thought he was someone who could go on and play in a top 4 team, it's just his inconsistency that lets him down. In the end to get £10m for him was good business. 

 

[Din]

I think Hughton's signings were generally poor, shame really he had the biggest budget of any City manager ever...

I would actually disagree with that tbh. The van Wolfswinkel deal will always overshadow Hughton's transfer dealings here for me, I think a lot of the signings he made actually did very well, and there were more good than bad. 

Whittaker - Did very well under Hughton in his 2 seasons here, and was a crucial part of the team that went on the 10 match unbeaten run.

Bassong - Our best player by a mile in the first season.

Turner - Overall he's been a success, and is still a valuable member of our squad.

Garrido - Did very well in the first season, good back-up to have now as well.

Snodgrass - Definite success, and ended up selling him for £8m.

Butterfield - Fail.

Tettey - Undoubtedly a good signing, and still a very important part of our team.

Becchio - Fail.

van Wolfsinkel - Massive fail.

Fer - Had a decent first season, and then sold him for £10m, so can't really complain.

Hooper - Was a very good signing just used in completely the wrong way by Hughton. A key player for us now though.

Jonas - Fail.

Elmander - Think he was better than some fans gave him credit for. But on the whole he wasn't great I suppose. Fail.

Nash - Nessecary back-up.

Redmond - Definitely a good signing, especially at £3m.

Yobo - Did well in the final half of last season, good signing for me.

So to say Hughton's signings were generally poor I don't think is correct, in my opinion anyway.