Who should we buy in January?

[OTBC29]

If AN was to stay, who would we buy in the January transfer window?

 

[GJP]

I would have said Neymar but I think he signed a new contract with Barca so we've probably missed out on him.

 

[morty]

The pinkun ran with a story that we are making an 8 million bid for Brentford striker Scott Hogan.

 

[SussexYellow]

For me there are two key buys:

A goalkeeper that can command his 6 yard box as well as being a good shot stopper. Think this the position that would make the biggest difference to the defence, and the confidence of the defence.

A striker!!! Cameron brings loads of energy but we need a striker that is going to get by far the lion's share of goals. Cam is also not that great in the air. The problem is we have a really poor track record when it comes to signing strikers. Its not for the want of trying - I have lost count of just how many we have signed since we let Grant Holt go, we are just really bad at it. 

So a striker that can, in no particular order - hold the ball up, run the channels, bully the defence, inspire the team, be good in the air, and find the back of the net regularly. Not much to ask then!!! Plus we have not got shed loads of cash so we are going to have to look to the lower leagues or a championship rival to find a gem. So a rabbit from the hat to find the new Grant Holt.

OTBC

 

[Scottish Canary]

Will he be given any money or will he need to offload before getting new in. If that was the case, who are prime targets to leave? Naismith this time and or Brady. 

 

[Canaryboy]

I don't have any faith that spending money in January will make the slightest bit of difference to be honest. 

£16m on Pritchard, Canos and Oliviera this summer and we are going to give him more to spend? I'm sure all three are good players, but its money wasted while they sit on the bench or play for the U23's. 

I've lost faith in this managers ability in the transfer market. The decision to hand a 3 year contract to Michael McGovern whilst sending Declan Rudd out on loan is one of several poor decisions. 

I think that Ruddy and Rudd are good enough, its the manager who isn't. 

 

[Dubai Mark]

I'm in line with Canaryboy on this, and add Maddison to the list. Significant money spent, yet those players not being given a chance or a long enough opportunity in the first team.

He sticks with Jacob Murphy, great future ahead I'm sure, but has gone off form, yet sticks with him when he has Canos. He appears to be allergic to going with two up top when we are desperate yet often has two strikers on the bench, one he signed recently.

Its a shambles, absolute shambles.....no way would i trust him with bringing in any more players, that money how ever much it is, is for AN's replacement.  

 

[ZLF]

We have goals in the squad,  as long as we dont spend too long worrying about the back 6...  it is STILL all about the defence for me.

3 keepers have all struggled behind an awful back 4 for the last 3 seasons;  even klose has been dragged down by the defensive incompetence that is martin, bennett & olsson.   If the upheaval wasnt so disasterous i would dispose of McGovern, Ruddy, bennett, martin, whittaker, bassong, olsson, tettey, howson and dorrans an simply start again;  their hunger no longer exists and all are playing like their best is behind them and the salary is great thank you very much. 

Realistically While martin is kloses best partner an new cb is essential and for me the no 1 target, whether the like of lees or dunk will come is another matter.   Also a pacy right back;  the loss of pinto has shown how dependent we are on him and keeping bennett/martin out of the right flank defensively.

Beyond that the midfield remains weak and uncompetetive, we dont win the ball back enough and lack fight; Conor hourihane shows just how undynamic tettey, howson and now dorrans have been this season, he tackles, shoots and scores more per game than those three and would give us drive and leadership,  something all three have lacked this year;  he would be a perfect partner to Louis thompson    

 

[SussexYellow]

I totally get where you are coming from CanaryBoy and Dubai Mark. There is a part of me that feels that way too but that would just be to throw in the towel. Particularly with the board seeming too be stubbornly backing Neil.

The problem is also that it is just not Alex Neil that has not spent wisely - its endemic. If you look at the striker position since Lambert inherited Grant Holt and Chris Martin my recollection is that we have invested in 17 strikers, some on loan. As there are so many there are probably one or two that I have missed as well.

Olí Johnson, Simeon Jackson, Sam Vokes, James Vaughan, Steve Morison, Harry Kane, Luciano Becchio, Kei Kamara. Ricky, Gary Hooper, Johan Elmander, Kyle Lafferty, Lewis Grabban, Cameron Jerome, Dieumerci Mbokani, Patrick Bamford, Nelson Oliveira.

And we have let Chris Martin go.

We did well at the start because we had Grant Holt, and there have been those amongst that list that have made a contribution Simeon Jackson, Steve Morison (got a few premiership goals), Gary Hooper, Lewis Grabban (we turned a profit) and top of the list Cameron who has been the nearest we have got to solving the problem but he is not the answer.

With a list that long it is both amazing and frightening that we have not found the answer. It smacks of signing what's available not what we need. We need to have a person specification as I hinted in my previous post, and if we can not meet it then I agree we must simply say no.

For me having an effective striker that defenders really do not want to play against is key. It would keep the opposition defence honest, hopefully to sit a little deeper. A target man that can hold the ball, and buy a cheap foul that can give our defence some respite when we are under pressure.

I too have a deep mistrust of Alex Neil being able to identify the right player, the Ross McCormack saga is evidence enough (bullet dodged there). But if we are sticking with Alex Neil then the CEO must keep a tight reign on him setting and sticking to the right person specification for a striker.

For me the search for the next Grant Holt must continue.......

OTBC

 

[SussexYellow]

I should also have said that possibly the best piece of business we can do is get James Maddison back and play him. I say possibly because that is based on what I have read not what I have seen.

 

[ZLF]

maddison and pritchard are both ones for the future;   it will be a slow one for Pritchard in particular as its clear he has been bought as wes placement more from 2017 onwards

Maddision is young but looks ready for a part role,  at his age his performances will be like jacobs,  wax and wane but give us something 

 

[Canaryboy]

I should also have said that possibly the best piece of business we can do is get James Maddison back and play him. I say possibly because that is based on what I have read not what I have seen.

I agree that we could really do with Maddison. We were pretty much forced to play two defensive midfielders against Derby due to injuries and suspensions. Maddison is probably inconsistent at his age, but at least he's got the talent to potentially unlock a defense in the absence of Howson and Dorrans.

 

[Canaryboy]

Olí Johnson, Simeon Jackson, Sam Vokes, James Vaughan, Steve Morison, Harry Kane, Luciano Becchio, Kei Kamara. Ricky, Gary Hooper, Johan Elmander, Kyle Lafferty, Lewis Grabban, Cameron Jerome, Dieumerci Mbokani, Patrick Bamford, Nelson Oliveira.

And we have let Chris Martin go.

We did mess up by allowing Grabban and Hooper to leave last January without bringing in a replacement, we received £11m in transfer fees and could have brought in a real talisman. I'm not saying that he'd be scoring as many goals for us as he currently is for Newcastle, because they are clearly better than us all over the pitch, but I'm sure that would have been more than enough to bring in Dwight Gayle in that window? 

And its strange how we've ignored loans this time out. I was against signing Glenn Murray on a permanent due to his age, but he's on a season long loan at Brighton and is on fire. 

Possibly bullet dodged with Bamford though, I think he's over rated personally and possibly lacks the mental strength to really 'make it', hasn't scored a goal for something like 19 months and he wouldn't be the only striker to have 1 good season and then dine out on that forever would he (and that's what his CV pretty much amounts to so far).

Gary Hooper is injury prone, and we mugged Bournemouth when they gave us £8m for Grabban, but I do wonder whether failing to invest on a quality striker with the proceeds in that window will end up being a historically significant point that more people will talk about if we can't get back out of this league. 

Only way out I can see is to perhaps sell Robbie Brady and spend the proceeds on Jordan Rhodes? Brady is hardly running things, perhaps just sell him whilst his stock his still high? Just dread the prospect of us selling him and then wasting the proceeds on some other attacking midfielder to be 4th in the pecking order behind Hoolahan, Naismith and Pritchard, or a 6th goalkeeper  h34r:

 

[ZLF]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh,   its the recurring transfer window nightmare   Jordan Rhodes v7 coming up.  Time to move on to someone with pace, hard work, team ethic and younger.

Other than that I agree with the post we do need a striker and allow kyle to leave;  Just shows how hard it is get a good affordable striker - esp if horgan is £8m rated..  

 

[Canaryboy]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh,   its the recurring transfer window nightmare   Jordan Rhodes v7 coming up.  Time to move on to someone with pace, hard work, team ethic and younger.

Other than that I agree with the post we do need a striker and allow kyle to leave;  Just shows how hard it is get a good affordable striker - esp if horgan is £8m rated..  

The three best strikers I've seen at Carrow Road for us have all been big target men though. Chris Sutton, Iwan Roberts and Grant Holt. 

There was Craig Bellamy, but he was a special talent and hardly easy to just pick one of those up off the shelf.

I wonder whether Mbokani could be available again in January though, isn't working out for him at Hull and they may decide to change things up top? 

Same for Bamford, although I don't really like him.

 

[RhythmicTheory]

Defensive midfielder,  got to be disciplined and just sit in. You won't rebuild that defence in this window,  Tettey,  Dorrans and even Howson don't forfil that role.

 

[morty]

Defensive midfielder,  got to be disciplined and just sit in. You won't rebuild that defence in this window,  Tettey,  Dorrans and even Howson don't forfil that role.

Thompson, or the lad Godfrey?

 

[Canaryboy]

I'm preparing to be shot down for this, but I'd take David Nugent for a couple of million. 

Good striker in this division and has got out of it twice with two different clubs, and should be cheap enough to leave us with money to spend elsewhere? 

Even though we need a striker, I don't want us to go and drop £8m+ on one if it means not spending elsewhere on the pitch. 

He'll do a job and allow Lafferty to leave. 

 

[RhythmicTheory]

Thompson, or the lad Godfrey?

Godfrey isn't starting and they don't seem to know whether fullback or midfield is his position. Thompson has been good in his few games but I haven't seen enough to suggest he can fulfil that role (purely from a lack of seeing him play tbh). But let's say he is,  I would still want another dedicated,  experienced dm.

 

[SussexYellow]

The three best strikers I've seen at Carrow Road for us have all been big target men though. Chris Sutton, Iwan Roberts and Grant Holt. 

There was Craig Bellamy, but he was a special talent and hardly easy to just pick one of those up off the shelf.

I wonder whether Mbokani could be available again in January though, isn't working out for him at Hull and they may decide to change things up top? 

Same for Bamford, although I don't really like him.

Agree CanaryBoy. There is no logic to it, as it has been in different eras and different managers, but many of Norwich's best spells have come when we have had a big target man striker. Perhaps that is the Norwich way! 

At the moment I feel that is the way to go again. Our much criticised defence might start to look a bit more solid if we have a target man who can hold the ball up or a buy a few cheap fouls to give them a breather. A striker must obviously bring goals to the team but the right one can bring so much more. Cameron Jerome doesn't quite fulfil that role and Oliveira is beginning to look useful but appears to be more Lewis Grabban than Grant Holt.

I wouldn't go for Mbokani, we need somebody talismanic. Certainly not Bamford. I think we need to look in the other direction and take a chance on a promising striker from one of the lower leagues.