Considering the fact that at the culmination of the Canaries’ last campaign they were relegated from the Barclays Premier League with the third worst goal difference in the competition at -34, it seems inevitable that there will be a multitude of defensive alternations for the Yellows going into the 2014-15 season.
As I write this, all of the defenders that featured in the car crash that was last season are still Norwich players – those being Russell Martin, Steven Whittaker, Sébastien Bassong, Michael Turner, Ryan Bennett, Martin Olsson and Javier Garrido. Joseph Yobo is excluded from this list as he’s returned from loan to his parent club: Fenerbahçe. Perhaps one of the reasons that this area of Norwich’s starting XI is so fervently debated is that (unlike many clubs) the vast majority of Canaries fans seem simply incapable of deciding who our best defenders are. Moreover, Adams opted for an alternate defensive set-up (both tactics and personnel wise) to his predecessor – Chris Hughton, in his five game stint at the helm last season; one which I was far from a fan of…
During the aforementioned five games, Adams selected Whittaker to play at the RB position – thereby allowing Martin to adopt a more central role alongside Turner at CB with Olsson playing LB. Like many fans I’ve spoken to, my crux issue with this setup wasn’t the centralisation of Martin – a natural RB, but the inclusion of Whittaker; a player who’s defensive abilities are of an unacceptable calibre in my eyes. In addition to this, I am one of the rapidly dying breed of Bassong fans who feels that he should be a consistent presence in our defensive line and that a vast portion of the criticism he receives is highly unwarranted. If it were me, I’d line up our back four as follows:
Martin’s inclusion (if for no reason other than his natural leadership abilities) seems a dead certainty and Olsson – due to his consistency and overall ability when compared to Garrido is in the same boat. With those two positions sorted, the central defence is all that is left and as competent as Ryan Bennett is I feel that the experience of Turner and the pace of Bassong warrant them starting ahead of him. As I previously alluded to, I’m not wholly against the idea of starting Martin in a CB role – just opposed to the notion of starting Whittaker at RB, even in the Championship. Were we able to sign a higher quality player in this position I’d be more open to the idea. If we elected to go with this particular setup with Martin at CB (in place of Turner), I’d look to bring in someone like Leeds’ Sam Byram to replace Whittaker. He’s a young, proven championship RB with solid defensive abilities offset by a natural attacking instinct. I feel as though his presence alongside Martin would allow from him to be mentored and nurtured in his position both on and off the pitch from a player who at the peak of his career was an excellent RB. The 20 year old should be available for around £5m which given his potential would be highly astute business in my eyes were we able to get him. I highly doubt it’d be an easy purchase, but not one that’s unachievable despite rumoured interest from a couple of Premier League teams. It’s not hugely unrealistic to expect Norwich to be playing Premiership football next season, and so signings of this capability are going to be key – there’s no reason why we shouldn’t endeavour to bring at least a few of these type of signings through the door.
