Norburn v Virtue

tangysider said:
I don't think I am alone in being disappointed with Norburn. He does not control midfield as I expected he would after all the hype.
Reminds me of a taller version of Spearing. Pointing, telling others what to do and moaning to the ref, apart from that he is awesome
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I think that’s fair enough although I do think he does a really important job and technically is one of our best players.

I just think he’s miles above Virtue even though they are very different players.
 
tangysider said:
I honestly believe Virtue is a better player than Norburn.
Now he is over his massive injuries and he feels confident again, he is more forward thinking ans stronger in the tackle.
Norburn continually loses a 50 /50 and complains to ref
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We can’t guarantee fitness with Virtue, which is annoying.
 
This post frustrates me for two main reasons. Firstly they play in different roles. Secondly I therefore see it as divisive when we should be pulling together. Norburn and Virtue are both good and they are Seasiders. We should talk our players up not down.
 
Cuthbert said:
This post frustrates me for two main reasons. Firstly they play in different roles. Secondly I therefore see it as divisive when we should be pulling together. Norburn and Virtue are both good and they are Seasiders. We should talk our players up not down.
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Fair point. Virtue is someone you would play alongside Norburn, not instead of.
 
Cuthbert said:
This post frustrates me for two main reasons. Firstly they play in different roles. Secondly I therefore see it as divisive when we should be pulling together. Norburn and Virtue are both good and they are Seasiders. We should talk our players up not down.
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It's a classic English football fan comment. Rather than celebrate two players being good in the same position, and recognising that strength in depth is good, we have to denigrate one or the other.
 
I know there is a long list of Seasiders who target Carey and Connolly to vent their anger at. For me it's Norburn. When we signed him there was a river of jizz spilled by the people who reside in the higher echelons of the club. A fanfare so grand that the King's Coronation seemed to be more reminiscent of someone blowing on one of those paper horns you get in a Christmas cracker. 🤷

He for me has been the catalyst or at least the agent of depressingly negative football all season. It seems like he is un-droppable because the club made such a fuss of landing him. It also seems that Kenny has been shoved out of the club for the very same reasons. It looks very much like Norburn too is the orchestrator of chaos in our defence. We have good players there but they are all over the place when he is bullying them into playing his way. He's also (imo) not all that good. He is an extra player sitting in front of the defence who is bypassed time and time again.

So yes Virtue is a much better option than Norburn. I even get the impression Husband's little snidey rants in his post match interview was an attempt at trying to silence a few Norburn detractors.
 
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Leither said:
He was MOTM for what seemed to be every game until he got injured. Since coming back he hasn’t had the same impact but he’d get in my starting XI every day of the week. Virtue has great energy and an adequate replacement if either Norburn or Morgan are unavailable. I think similar to Gabriel Critch is carefully managing Virtues game time.
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He really wasn't MOTM at all he had a couple of reasonable performances in the opening games and a real shocker where somehow Marv seemed to be the fall guy at Wycombe. He came back and had another shocker, was injured came back replaced Kenny who was imperious, for reasons we still don't understand, and had another shocker, and then followed with a couple of adequate performances. He's one of the reasons we sit back a lot because he can't pick up the pace of the game and push forward, even against very poor teams a la Exeter. He rarely makes interceptions and when he goes into tackles he often goes to ground and gets skimmed and has no recovery leaving us exposed. He's often also on the the periphery of the action. Morgan yesterday was covering every blade of grass and in my opinion compensating for his midfield partner which I think others have had to do in the early parts of the season.
I can't ever remember having such a personal negative reaction to a pool player, but my tangerine soul shrinks every time I see him on the team sheet.
 
straightatthewall said:
It's a classic English football fan comment. Rather than celebrate two players being good in the same position, and recognising that strength in depth is good, we have to denigrate one or the other.
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Have you never had a go at Connolly and CJ, or do people regularly hack your account?
Connolly at least puts strong challenges in
 
Costero Poderoso said:
He really wasn't MOTM at all he had a couple of reasonable performances in the opening games and a real shocker where somehow Marv seemed to be the fall guy at Wycombe. He came back and had another shocker, was injured came back replaced Kenny who was imperious, for reasons we still don't understand, and had another shocker, and then followed with a couple of adequate performances. He's one of the reasons we sit back a lot because he can't pick up the pace of the game and push forward, even against very poor teams a la Exeter. He rarely makes interceptions and when he goes into tackles he often goes to ground and gets skimmed and has no recovery leaving us exposed. He's often also on the the periphery of the action. Morgan yesterday was covering every blade of grass and in my opinion compensating for his midfield partner which I think others have had to do in the early parts of the season.
I can't ever remember having such a personal negative reaction to a pool player, but my tangerine soul shrinks every time I see him on the team sheet.
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Agree with all of that. And I also have never been one to jump onto the back of a Blackpool player before. Norburn frustrates and infuriates me in equal measures.
 
Costero Poderoso said:
He really wasn't MOTM at all he had a couple of reasonable performances in the opening games and a real shocker where somehow Marv seemed to be the fall guy at Wycombe. He came back and had another shocker, was injured came back replaced Kenny who was imperious, for reasons we still don't understand, and had another shocker, and then followed with a couple of adequate performances. He's one of the reasons we sit back a lot because he can't pick up the pace of the game and push forward, even against very poor teams a la Exeter. He rarely makes interceptions and when he goes into tackles he often goes to ground and gets skimmed and has no recovery leaving us exposed. He's often also on the the periphery of the action. Morgan yesterday was covering every blade of grass and in my opinion compensating for his midfield partner which I think others have had to do in the early parts of the season.
I can't ever remember having such a personal negative reaction to a pool player, but my tangerine soul shrinks every time I see him on the team sheet.
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I suggest you have a look back at some of your posts on Josh Bowler.
 
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Norburn is way more experienced than Virtue, but I don’t see their roles as the same anyway. That being that Norburn is expected to shield and clean up the mess at the back, whereas Virtue hassles to win the ball further up the pitch and distribute or even shoot from distance.

Norburn has that unglamorous role that easily goes unrecognised. Also agree that he’s looked better with Kenny beside him. Since the injury his form has slightly dipped, which is common among players.
 
Norburn, Morgan and Dembele are the three players we have who constantly want the ball and make us tick. Can't believe the criticism Norburn gets, he had a great start, had an injury and then a couple of dodgy performances when he came back. You can't have 10 Dembeles in the team.
 
FFS why are we still having this debate it's insane!

How about Norburn being replaced by Morgan in his role and Morgan being replaced by Virtue or what else do they fit in?
 
SeasideKurt said:
Norburn is a fantastic player. And if you can't see it you're not a football fan. He is exactly what we didn't have in the Championship and one of the reasons why we got relegated.
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If he’s so fantastic, why has he never played above league one. Apart from 1 season in the championship with posh when they were relegated ? And if he would have saved us last season, why? He didn’t save posh.
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
Wow. That's quite some responsibility to save a club from relegation all by himself.
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That’s what a poster above claimed he could have done for us. I wasn’t saying he could, I was asking if he couldn’t do it for them, what makes anyone think he could have done it for us.
 
Albert Ross said:
That’s what a poster above claimed he could have done for us. I wasn’t saying he could, I was asking if he couldn’t do it for them, what makes anyone think he could have done it for us.
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Because where was our weakness last season? Central midfield and he's better at that role than both Carey and Patino (at that time).
 
Albert Ross said:
If he’s so fantastic, why has he never played above league one. Apart from 1 season in the championship with posh when they were relegated ? And if he would have saved us last season, why? He didn’t save posh.
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Nowt wrong with being a lower Championship higher Lg1 player and still being fantastic I'd put Jerry Yates with Norburn in that camp.

All about levels every single footballer find theirs in the pyramid.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Don't agree, ref either player.
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I don’t think it’s arguable that Dougall was at his best for us in our promotion from league 1, was ordinary, at best, in the Championship and has been back to his influential best this season. Both good seasons in league 1.🤷
 
Albert Ross said:
I don’t think it’s arguable that Dougall was at his best for us in our promotion from league 1, was ordinary, at best, in the Championship and has been back to his influential best this season. Both good seasons in league 1.🤷
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100 odd games in the Championship and further 50 in the Eredivisie states otherwise. He's had more games at that level, than League One.

He was brilliant in our season back in the Championship.
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
People really do harp on about the Portsmouth win too much. It's as though it was our cup final.
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What a set of weirdos on here that would harp on about a great performance. Let's get real everyone and moan about every game we've lost. (and for the record Norburn didn't play in that game)
 
SeasideKurt said:
Look, you clearly don't like him. But he's a decent player. There's better out there but when he's on it, like he was this season he shows he's a level above League One.
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I don’t dislike him, we just disagree on his ability. Don’t interpret my posts to suit your narrative. Read them as they’re written.
 
Albert Ross said:
I don’t dislike him, we just disagree on his ability. Don’t interpret my posts to suit your narrative. Read them as they’re written.
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That makes absolutely zero sense.

No one ordinary plays 150 games at Championship and Eredvisie level, simple really. I don't have much to add.
 
Insider said:
What a set of weirdos on here that would harp on about a great performance. Let's get real everyone and moan about every game we've lost. (and for the record Norburn didn't play in that game)
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That was my point. Just because Norburn didn't play in that Portsmouth match, how is that somehow used against him. It was one match. We went back to being shit away from home after that. The way some keep mentioning it is very tinpot as they say.
 
I thought Norburn looked good on Saturday although understandably he and a few others looked dead on their feet at the end. Thankfully with no midweek game it'll give us a chance to rest some of those tired limbs and possibly get closer to Grimmy, Beesley and Kouassi being available.
 
A great post to show how we all have differing opinions on players and their positions
Personally I believe they play different roles
Unfortunately Norburn and Dougal appear to be the only players for that defensive central role
I would suggest that the manager tries to find an alternative by introducing tactical subs in the role
I think many of our midfielders come on and don't know quite what their role is
We have a decent group of midfielders they just need clarity on the role they are expected to play
 
Norburn has a lot of league experience plus plays a role which is important to us , especially without Dougall. Virtue hasnt truly shown he could stand out for us on a regular basis. He may not get the chance now.
 
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