Norwich Keeping Eyes On Belgium Forward

[papa87]

Reports are suggesting that the Canaries and Leeds are both keen on the Standard Liege striker. Emond is 28-years-old and Captains Liege, so far this season he has 7 goals in 18 appearances. Read More... https://bit.ly/2E8MULm

 

[morty]

Nah, doesn't fit the profile of the sort of player we would be looking at. And I'm not really convinced we will be looking at strikers in January.

 

[Number 9]

Nah, doesn't fit the profile of the sort of player we would be looking at. And I'm not really convinced we will be looking at strikers in January.

Looking at a Belgium attacking midfielder now.
Bit telling that we have numerous reports of attacking players being targeted yet no defenders.

 

[OldRobert]

Looking at a Belgium attacking midfielder now.
Bit telling that we have numerous reports of attacking players being targeted yet no defenders.

Seems to be a blind spot in that direction.

 

[Number 9]

Seems to be a blind spot in that direction.

Ideally a centre back would have come in the summer but it didn't happen.
You would hope that one is lined up for this window, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[OldRobert]

With Godfrey out until Feb, the lack of an addition in that position in the summer, seems even more of a mistake than most of us knew it was anyway.

 

[morty]

With Godfrey out until Feb, the lack of an addition in that position in the summer, seems even more of a mistake than most of us knew it was anyway.

There are a few issues in play here, we have 4 centre backs, 2 currently injured, with two defensive midfielders who can fill in, in the position.

We have :-

Zimmerman contracted till June 2023
Klose contracted till June 2022
Hanley contracted till June 2023
Godfrey contracted till June 2023

So I would say that the club has very much set its stall out regarding how our central defence is going to look over the next few seasons.

Godfrey will be back in Febuary, Klose maybe sometime around then? We have Rocky Bushiri on loan at Blackpool, no idea if we can recall in January, and am not aware of any other youth ready now to step up. Another factor is predicting what league we could be in next season, we wouldn't want to lash out a lot of money on an expensive player that could end up a millstone, and of course that would take us to 5 CB's, which is too many.

Godfrey picking up the injury could change the whole dynamic, depending on how strong our resolve is in refusing advances for him.

My gut feeling? We will go with what we have got.

 

[OldRobert]

As DF won't play Hanley, that leaves 3 CBs. Unusual I know but our injuries have left us with 1 proper CB. Tettey has been a fright at CB, but excellent at DM, Amadou has been little more than average at CB, so discount both as stand in CBs. You cannot keep pi$$ing about with square pegs in round holes all the time, least of all in the PL. If we had a 'normal' injury rate going at the moment we might just have say one of our CBs on a long term injury. Leaves us no spares because he won't play Hanley. So as I said we should have bloody well bought one in the summer. That's why we are where we are. and now we have Godfrey out for 6 weeks, and when's the last time Klose pulled on the shirt? With him injury is not abnormal unfortunately it's the norm. We don't have enough CB's that is the only issue.

 

[Number 9]

My concern, as I've previously mentioned, is that our defence were in the habit of throwing in goals whilst we were in the Championship.
It was always going to be a problem in the Premier League, so why did we give everyone extended contracts instead of bringing in a couple of players who could defend?
Yes, we did have two new faces in the back, Heise and Byram. One has disappeared and the other has no end product.
The issue of leaking goals hasn't been addressed by new signings or new tactics. We will be relegated again if Farke doesn't sort out some clean sheets, that much is certain.