Broken record track 2

Norwich games with Johnson and Howson starting together in midfield 2012-2014:

League: Played 34, Won 5, Drawn 9, Lost 20. Points 24.
Cup: Played 1, lost 1.

2 of those wins in our 2 "gimmes" at the end of the season in 2012-2013.

In 2013/2105 we took 5 points from 12 games when they started together. 2012-2014 the combo was a bit more successful with 18 points from 22 games although it is noteworthy that Howson only played once in our 10 match unbeaten run (when he came back into the side for the win at Swansea) whilst Johnson featured consistently. After that he stayed in the team for the cup defeat to Villa but then dropped out again for the home win against Wigan.

Admittedly in 3 or 4 of the games last season Tetts also played and obviously most of the time we were playing with one up front.

In virtually all of the games our possession stats were between 35% and 45%.

My conclusion, therefore, is that the issue we should be concerned about is not Johnson or Howson playing ahead of Tettey but rather Johnson and Howson playing regularly together as the central midfield duo. This is possibly not surprising when you think they were Leeds central midfield and we finished above Leeds in league 1 with a midfield containing Simon Lappin, Korey Smith and Darrel Russell.

I will not post again on this matter now until Adams has selected a few more teams and we have a few more results on which to judge. I will happily cop any flak which comes my way for this post if Johnson and Howson as a midfield duo lead us to the championship title. Individually both are good players and i am happy to have either of them in the side!

Posted By: Jim, Oct 14, 10:33:08