Premiership preview, table prediction: 20. Norwich

Norwich City

Nickname: The Canaries

Ground: Carrow Road

Capacity: 26034

Manager: Paul Lambert

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 1 John Ruddy 13 Declan Rudd ·         Defenders 2 Russell Martin 3 Adam Drury 6 Zak Whitbread 20 Leon Barnett 22 Elliott Ward 23 Marc Tierney 24 Ritchie de Laet 25 Kyle Naughton 28 George Francomb Steven Smith

·         Midfielders 4 Bradley Johnson 7 Andrew Crofts 11 Andrew Surman 12 Anthony Pilkington 15 David Fox 17 Elliott Bennett 18 Korey Smith 19 Simon Lappin 27 Tom Adeyemi 29 Josh Dawkin 34 Matt Ball Stephen Hughes

·         Forwards 5 Steve Morison 8 James Vaughan 9 Grant Holt 10 Simeon Jackson 16 Chris Martin 21 Aaron Wilbraham Cody McDonald Oli Johnson

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 16 vs Gorleston 7-0 – Holt (2), Whitbread, Smith, Jackson, Johnson, Wilbraham

July 21 vs Sparta Gottingen/RSV Gottingen 8-0 – Vaughan (2), Jackson, Francomb, Morison, Bennett, Ward (2)

July 23 vs Nordhausen/Regional Select XI 11-0 – Morison, Hoolahan, Crofts, Wilbraham, Surman, Martin, Jackson (2), Holt (2), Johnson

July 26 vs Crystal Palace 0-1

July 28 vs Southend United 0-0

July 30 vs Coventry City 3-0 Wilbraham, Morison, Bennett

August 3 vs Real Zaragoza 1-1 De Laet

August 6 vs Parma 3-0 – Surman (2), Holt

Manager Paul Lambert and his guys did one hell of a season last year, and were therefore rewarded with premiership football this season. But even with 10 signings during the summer, I can’t see Norwich staying up, in what looks to be the hardest premiership season ever. When you look at the signings Lambert have made it’s not much premiership quality or experience in the players, so if they manage to stay up in the premiership I would say it is one of the biggest achievements in the history of the league.

Players in:

07/11 Tom Adeyemi MF

07/11 Elliott Bennett MF

07/11 Ritchie De Laet DF

07/11 Bradley Johnson MF

07/11 Cody McDonald FW

07/11 Steve Morison FW

07/11 Kyle Naughton DF

07/11 Anthony Pilkington MF

07/11 Steven Smith DF

07/11 James Vaughan FW                               

Players out:

07/11 Owain Tudur-Jones MF

06/11 Rob Edwards DF

06/11 Matthew Gill MF

06/11 Henri Lansbury MF

To make things even harder for Lambert and Norwich they have been struggling with a lot of injuries in the pre-season. “Paul Lambert accepts the loss of striker James Vaughan and defender Elliott Ward for the start of Norwich's Premier League campaign is a blow”. Heading into the premiership against another bottom side from last season, Wigan, they will be needing points straight away to have any hopes of staying up.

Most likely starting line up for Norwich next weekend:

          John Ruddy

Russell Martin             Zak Whitbread        Marc Tierney       Ritchie de Laet

Elliott Bennett             Andrew Surman        David Fox           Wes Hoolahan

                                       Grant Holt            Simeon Jackson              

When you look at the squad and the starting lineup for Norwich you don’t see much premiership experience or much quality. The Canaries have a great home crowd that will help them picking up points at home, and I think Grant Holt will score 10-12 goals this season. But I can’t see them getting enough points away from home. I think Paul Lambert is a great coach, but I can’t see him producing a miracle and make water into whine.  I’m sorry to say but in my opinion the Canaries are just on a short visit to the premiership this season.