Not sure of the value of being the best player when the team is doing badly. In 2010, for a period of I don't know, 5-7 games, he was pretty much their best player over that stretch. But since the team was struggling under Lampard, no one seemed to give him much credit. I think for you to be appreciated by most people, you need to contribute to winning matches. Hopefully someone on a better team will notice Josh's contributions through all of that horrid play. To address the comments above, there are really are some haters out there and I'm not sure exactly why. I don't think he's the second coming either, but he's 21 and still probably has a decent amount of upside if he can get on a team that can get him the ball.
Norwich stands at 2/-21 with 9 games played. They're en route to beat the record of that legendary Derby County from 2007-08, with Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber, that managed 11 points with a GD of -69.
Reminds me of a match report on the Preston legend Tom Finney. The game was poor and Preston were even more garbage than usual, and the the match reporter suggested that "Tom Finney should go to the Inland Revenue office on Monday morning in order to claim income tax relief for his 10 dependents." He had a few moments in the first 30 minutes but the rest of the team threw in the towel completely, after which he cut a forlorn figure, working hard and taking up positions in the hope that someone with half a clue would give him a usable ball. Subbing him out was an act of mercy.
People want to be right. Everyone thought they were right that he's a second division player, but then he got bought for a record breaking sum for a US striker by the EFL champions. So the nitwits here were wrong. So now they are happy to be proven "right", knowing (thinking) that they are smarter than an EPL manager and recruiting team. Hawt take city, baby.
You're really giving that manager a lot of credit that it seems he doesn't deserve...given 2 points and -21 GD in 9 games. Sargent might not be the problem, but saying that an "EPL manager" must be right because "EPL manager" is really silly. It sure seems like he is doing a pretty poor job of getting what was a dominant Championship team to do anything in the EPL.
Management AND coach deserves some blame. They went through the experience of being the Prem before immediately before last year. The results were not good. They should have learned more from that experience- something to apply to this year's start. Farke was naive to try the 4-3-3 earlier this season for many games. They didn't have the quality of talent to pull it off. I advocated for a 4-4-2 at the time, and after Farke finally switched to a 4-4-2, they picked up a couple ties (and they should have won the 2nd game, last weekend) The good news for Norwich is that, this week, they have a struggling opponent in Leeds next Sunday. Also Leeds has to play in the EFL Cup this Tuesday against Arsenal and Norwich can focus their entire week's preparation on Leeds. It would be a really, really good time for a breakthrough win for Norwich. Leeds plays open football so if Josh starts, he should get chances.
Norwich is a truly self-funded club that is not going to incur debt that could jeopardize them from falling further than the Championship. It was always going to take a miracle for them to stay up. They sold their assist guy for 40 million and bought some players with only that money and Sargent and Rashica as the highlights. Norwich is pretty much here for the parachute payment for when they go back down. As a club, they would rather try and play then bunker and that is who they are. Farke isn’t their problem. Next year, Josh helps them try and win the EFL or maybe he is sold to one of the next round of newly promoted clubs.
How can you call a 4-3-3 formation 'a bunker'? That's what Norwich was playing until after Watford. Against Watford, 3 at the back and the ineptness of 2 of the 3 at the back forced Farke's hand to go more defensive and put more workload on the front 2 (no longer 3) to create. I don't disagree with all of your comments, but it is very different thing to write "this is a club that plays within their means to try to stay up" vs. (your comments) "pretty much here for the parachute payment.". They are trying to stay up with their philosophy and they believe in it. I say this....because they won the Championship BY A MILE (97 points) and usually those type clubs have a fighting chance to say in the Prem. However, it could be that the additional measures they took (like selling leading assist guy) was a mistake and hurt their chances. However, we should put this conversation on hold for the next 5 games. Norwich has the ability to 'right a lot of seasons wrongs' during the 5 games. Same goes for Josh. For example, a win against Leeds would be huge- since they would only be 3 points away from leaving the relegation zone, and 2 points from tying Leeds in standings (but far below on goal difference) Since Newcastle and Crystal Place have to play against Chelsea and Man City respectivel, Norwich could very possibly pick up 3 points on those 2 sides as well. Southampton has to play at a suddenly-hot Watford after playing this Tuesday in the EPL. They could certainly lose- Watford has a full week to prepare. Burnley is no sure thing to win at home either. The bottom of the table could suddenly look interesting again after next Sunday's game if Norwich can win....and the next 4 games after that are also light games for Norwich to make up more ground. Let's see what happens. Of course, the first time is the hardest (to win). But a win and climbing the table so dramatically could be a huge psychological boost and (more) confident teams are always a tougher out than struggling ones. Rooting for blind squirrels to invade the Norwich pitch next Sunday. And this is why I will always believe in soccer miracles: Rogues Top Cosmos On Field's Goal, 1‐0 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
"Coach, no one is passing me the ball, even when I'm alone up front and can beat the trap..." "Look kid: we're not here to win games. The objective is to secure the 90 million quid, get promoted again in 23, keep it going. It's the best way, no need to invest, no downside, and it makes Mike and Delia happy, see?"
It’s good to know who you are as a club and not get blinded and potentially ruined by the bright lights.
The result is only irrelevant if all 5-6 of the other teams they are battling with also come away with 0 points from Chelsea. It could happen but far from certain. There’s some “data” for you.
Emi Buendia. They sold him for 45 million Euros to Aston villa, a well-run club that doesn't splash the cash very often. A like-for-like replacement for that kind of player is damn-near impossible on Norwich's budget, and they went out and bought Rashica. Because someone had to buy him.
Kid was going to be playing in the second division in Germany had he not moved or the second division in England with the move either way. It will be interesting to see what he does in the Cham'ship next year. Good luck to the kid, I'll be rooting for you then, but until then, I can't bear to watch this sh!t-show any longer.
I suppose I keep watching because I wanna be there when he finally starts lighting it up. So many bad games watched in the past couple years so it’s bound to get better…right? Right??? (Yeah, yeah sunk cost fallacy and all that…)
Is there any chance of a turnaround? There's still 6.5 months left in the PL. Perhaps Sargent can start scoring and go on a binge.
Of course there is. The gap at the bottom of the table is not that great yet. To use another country's table as an example: Deportive Alaves (Matt Miazga's team) started the season with 5 straight losses and stood at the bottom of the Spanish league table. They upset Athletico Madrid 1-0, and then also won 2 of their next 4 games after that. They are now clear of the relegation zone on 9 points. Norwich has 5 games against bottom 10 teams coming up. The Leeds game this weekend- although not an absolute 'must win', is way up there in importance. During this 5 game stretch, they really could use progress on closing the gap against the bottom feeders and it is all in their hands. A home win against this weekend, and the table suddenly looks very interesting again, since Norwich next 4 games after that are (still) against weaker competition. The 'monkey' will be off Norwich's back and should provide some emotional momentum. One would think that if Norwich get a couple wins under their belt...that Josh would play some sort of role in that. But no guarantees. Getting at least 6 points (2 wins, 3 losses) from these 5 games would seem a minimum need. On a more negative take- if they can't show any progress during their 5 games (say they produce 4 losses and a tie)...yeah, Norwich would then be in historically bad territory (worse than Derby's start in 2007-2008) and that would be very, very disturbing for any chances they have to stay up. But given the weakness of the competition over the next 5 games, such a shockingly poor performance (relative to the competition during those 5 games) would seem unlikely.
I am, and it's the obvious: watching coaches and scouts see that the team is dreck but Josh can do things, even with lousy team mates. So, Norwich go down in May and Josh gets a move by August. Hopefully.
Nor'ich paid €8m Xfer fee to Bremen. That's a 4 year contract, so JS must be doing about €2m/year. There are not many clubs outside England that can afford that sort of money for a backup striker (what Josh would be in the clubs that could afford him). Paul Onuachu (Genk), the Jupiler top scorer, was reportedly making a bit over a million Euros last season.
Don't forget he will make half when relegated. Also, and this goes without saying, but, why would any club buy Sargent as a CF?