A Striking Issue for Norwich City

Article by e-Norwich City Correspondent Colin Rowe

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During last seasons ill-fated campaign there were many flaws in Norwich City’s game, but the one which grabbed the most headlines was our inability to score goals.

This issue, which had also affected Norwich the season before, was supposed to be solved with the signings of Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper.

However, while Hooper scored a few goals, neither proved to be the silver-bullet City required.

This failure, at least in part, has forced Neil Adams to dip into the transfer market to snap-up Lewis Grabban and Kyle Lafferty.

But two questions still remain. Will Hooper and van Wolfwinkel still be City players come the start of the new season and are the two new acquisitions going to be any improvement?

So far there has been no serious rumours surrounding last summer’s major signings, but with newcomers being brought in it is hard to imagine both will be staying.

Then, to add a bit of extra intrigue, there is the question of what to do with Luciano Becchio.

Along with a few other attacking minded players (such as the Murphy brothers) this takes Norwich up to five strikers.

While this might seem like a pretty sensible number, it will be difficult to keep all of these players happy in terms of game time, something Becchio has found out first hand.

Hooper and van Wolfswinkel, assuming they both stay, will not be willing to give up their star status easily, while the new boys will expect to at least be given a chance in the first team.

At Championship level you would imagine the talents of the former Celtic and Sporting Lisbon players would be enough for them to regularly appear on the scoresheets, but at the same time both Becchio and Grabban are already proven at this level, while Lafferty remains largely untested in English football.

There is also the necessity to look ahead.

Assuming City will be strong contenders this season it is already important to think about the make-up of the team for our triumphant return to the top flight.

With a strong season at a lower level under their belts, you might reasonably assume Hooper and the Wolf would be in a better position to terrorise Premiership defences, while it would be a big step for strikers with only second or third tier experience.

So will all of City’s current forwards stay at Carrow Road?

Unlikely. With the new signings and the quality youngsters coming through in the form of Loza and the Murphy’s there is just too much competition to keep everyone happy, but this said Norwich can only really afford to lose one of them.

Chances are this will probably be Becchio, who has been unlucky during his spell at City and if we are being honest Hooper and van Wolfswinkel probably did not impress enough last season to attract much serious interest.

Hooper might possibly be lured away, but again a sub-par season and a lack of transfer rumours suggest he is certainly not being sought after.

When the season kicks off in the second weekend of August how Norwich’s strike force lines up will be as interesting as it was last year as we expectantly awaited the would be saviours of Norwich in the form of Hoops and the Wolf.

However, what will benefit Norwich most of all is to remember scoring goals first requires the team to start getting the ball into attacking areas and give the natural poachers a chance at goal.

On the Ball City!

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