Turner to Fulham......clever move to help with our promotion

[Dubai Mark]

Now I rate Turner and and am a little disappointed he has gone out on loan at this stage of the season, but can only assume Bennett is now back to full fitness. 

That said, I can see the thinking behind this move......Turner strengthens Fulham's defence, they start winning including a couple of wins against two of our rivals for promotion...then, he cant play against us when we need the points to go up, drops out of the team, they are now safe and have little to play for, their defence is disrupted and weakened, he passes on all the inside info on the Fulham team and we get the points we need to go up.......genius ! 

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Absolute insanity? Why?!

 

[KeiranShikari]

Bassong, Martin and Cuellar ahead of him in the pecking order. Maybe Bennett and Miquel too.

Money off the wage bill.

Strengthens a team going nowhere for fixtures against promotion rivals, but not us.

ABSOLUTE INSANITY!

 

[Boyerboy]

Now I like Turner. He's a decent bloke who gets on with his solid and rarely spectacular work well. He has limitations as a player though he's nothing like the donkey liability that the jeering chorus on Facebook claim. I am always confident to see him in the team or on the bench.

So,

"absolute insanity"????

Typical of many Facebook comments. I haven't returned to our former home at the Pink nest of vipers but I can imagine. Twitter has been strangely quiet of comment merely reporting the fact.

Absolute hyperbole apart from anything else. If City had announced last evening that Turner had been injured in training and was out for the rest of the season, the general reaction would have been a shrug, some muttered words of condolence and a belief that the automatic promotion challenge was still on. I doubt Mass and the "Stupid decision" brigade from Facebook would rush weeping to Carrow Road mourning our lost promotion cause.

Apart from the very good points made by Keiran, surely we know by now that Neil is no fool and that even if he was, McNally would not let be one. If there was the remotest chance Turner would be needed then he would not go.

Injury and suspension apart, we only need someone for the bench and Cuellar is perfectly competent. Ryan Bennett is heading back to match fitness and offers a vigour, energy and comfort on the ball far more compatible with what Neil wants from his team than either Turner or Cuellar

Sad certainly.

Foolish arguably given that some hitherto unknown plague or calamity could wipe out our other centre backs but leave Turner immune as our only hope. Personally, I think that unlikely but that's me.

Insanity? Certainly not. A rational and perhaps bold move which doesn't hurt us in any credible way but does make playing Fulham a little harder for others.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I dont think we should be strengthening other teams in our division. I thought it was wrong to send Bassong to Watford and if they finish above us how can we defend that decision?

Turner may well be needed, IMO he's the second best CB behind Bassong just having a poor run of form. I dont buy the argument that it helps us against our rivals.

We have a striker crisis now, something that had we not been short-sighted enough to ship out Lafferty, we wouldnt have.

Short-term gain at best, if he's needed and we cant use him it could weaken our final push.

Just dont think its worth weakening our squad at this point in the season. Dont agree with this one bit

 

[Canaryboy]

First I've heard of this news. 

Can't say I'm bothered by it, I think Michael Turner is one of the best defenders that we have at the club, but had a terrible first half of this season for some reason and then found himself short of football. It was almost as if he struggled to motivate himself for a season of Championship football. 

Ryan Bennett is fit, Bassong is back in the team, Russell Martin suddenly looks comfortable at centre back. So Turner has slipped down the pecking order. 

If we do get promoted I'd consider centre back to be the area we most need to strengthen.

I suspect that this means Turner will be off in the summer, which doesn't surprise me, but then again perhaps a loan spell could recharge his batteries and give him some motivation to have another go here after realising just how green the grass is at Carrow Road, like it did Bassong. 

If we win promotion then I suspect Cuellar will be released, and Miquel would be loaned to the Championship, so perhaps a couple of months of football will do Turner some good and allow him to come back with a clean slate / fresh start this summer. 

 

[KeiranShikari]

Wouldn't be surprised if Cuellar and Turner go even if we aren't promoted. Not really the type of central defenders that fit this system, not mobile enough. Don't think Miquel and Bennett would be either tbh.

I'm thinking a fairly substantial defensive reshuffle is in order during the summer whatever division we are in.

 

[Safri15]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, so maybe isn't an option, but I assume there is a recall clause? So if the worst did happen and we ended up short on CB's, I assume we can get a match fit Turner back instead of having to play a unfit Turner. Assuming of course there is a recall clause.

I am in the camp of this being a good idea and see no problem strengthening a team in the same league as us as long as they are not in direct competition, which Fulham clearly aren't. If they do come to rely on him for these last 10 games and then as they aren't allowed to play him against us, it can only work in our favour. And lets face it, we need all the help we can get against Fulham!

 

[Yellow Fever]

I have a sightly different take on this. When Mike Phelan left, Turner was interviewed by the Pink'Un and commented that the players had really bought into what Phelan brought to training and match preparation as well as the development of players and it very much sounded like Turner had wanted Phelan to stay. I just wonder whether AN appreciated that at the time he was making his mark as the new manager and waiting for Frankie McAvoy to arrive. Turner never played after that, though he did appear on the bench for some games. Turner could be to AN what Bassong was to Adams. For that reason, I don't think turner will be returning to City after this loan.

 

[GJP]

Can't say I'm bothered by it, I think Michael Turner is one of the best defenders that we have at the club, but had a terrible first half of this season for some reason and then found himself short of football. 

He had a pretty good start to the season. Our best defender. But his form dipped over a fairly short period of time.

 

[Canaryboy]

He had a pretty good start to the season. Our best defender. But his form dipped over a fairly short period of time.

True, the whole team had a good start to the season, but I thought that Turner-Martin partnership looked wholly unconvincing personally and that Turner struggled on that left side of the pairing, being a right footed player. Martin has looked a lot better alongside a left footed partner too.

It isn't Turner's fault that Adams persevered with playing him alongside Martin of course, and it was still a far better option than playing Hooiveld. 

 

[Canaryboy]

I have a sightly different take on this. When Mike Phelan left, Turner was interviewed by the Pink'Un and commented that the players had really bought into what Phelan brought to training and match preparation as well as the development of players and it very much sounded like Turner had wanted Phelan to stay. I just wonder whether AN appreciated that at the time he was making his mark as the new manager and waiting for Frankie McAvoy to arrive. Turner never played after that, though he did appear on the bench for some games. Turner could be to AN what Bassong was to Adams. For that reason, I don't think turner will be returning to City after this loan.

The only problem with this theory is that Turner started the first two games under Alex Neil, wouldn't make sense that Neil would decide to get upset two weeks after the event unless something else happened or Turner's attitude hasn't been 100%. 

But Turner's last start was the defeat at home to Brentford, Bassong was an unused sub. Then Bassong started the next game. 

I just think Turner has lost his place in the team to Bassong, with Alex Neil preferring Martin on the right side. Now he isn't getting any football and Alex Neil has decided that he has enough cover to let him go out on loan. Just simply lost his place in the starting XI. 

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Whittaker gets a knock or a suspension, we're forced to play Russ at rightback. Or if Russ himself gets a knock or a booking, someone has to replace him. Turner is a much better defender than Bennett. Cuellar I've yet to be convinced by in a Norwich shirt, despite thinking he's a good player at other clubs. Both Turner and Cuellar lack pace, but we've seen how well Turner can play when complimented by Bassong, and I think Turner's positioning when playing on the right side of defence is better to compensate for his lack of pace than Cuellars.

It only takes two players to get a knock or a suspension (not a big stretch of the imagination) for Turner to be needed. I think its a big risk for little gain at this stage of the season. Why weaken our squad? Dont get it

 

[splutcho]

This might look a bit silly now that Russell Martin seems to be reverting to type. At fault for both goals last night I hear.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

I take it all back - what the hell do I know?!

 

[GJP]

Fulham put 4 past them and we couldn't get any.

Funny ol' game.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Nearly worked!

 

[It's Character Forming]

I'd say forget about RVW, is Turner available for the playoffs ?  If RM is playing right back then I'm happy with Bassong/R Bennett at CB but I think we could do with Turner as cover.  Cuellar not really found his feet in the first team for us so if you had an injury I'd rather have Turner coming on rather than Cuellar in a playoff game.

As he showed against Boro, he's good in the air at both ends.  Anyone remember Malky's goal against Wolves in the playoff semi ?