Pick your own team of the 2010s below with our interactive selector
Friday 20 December 2019 11:20, UK
Darren Eadie includes three of the current Norwich City squad in his team of the decade.
The Canaries won three promotions in a period that had its ups and down. Eadie has decided to go with an attacking line-up...
Goalkeeper is a difficult one but if you look at those promotions and the form they had going into the Premier League, I would go for John Ruddy.
I think the team he was playing in was not as strong in an attacking sense as the one from last season. With all due respect to Tim Krul, I think he made a few errors that he got away with last season because the team in front of him was playing so well and scoring plenty of goals.
He is doing fantastically well in the Premier League this year. He has arguably been Norwich's best player this season. But looking over the decade and the promotions that were won, Ruddy just edges it for me. He was instrumental.
Russell Martin is Mr Norwich City. When you look at it, there has been nobody outstanding enough to edge him out of his place. He is one of the first names on the team sheet.
Jamal Lewis and Martin Olsson have done well but if we look back to the beginning of the decade, Adam Drury was still playing in that first promotion. Take out Mark Bowen and he has arguably been one of Norwich's best ever left-backs.
If I was going to pick someone to have behind me as a left-winger, Drury is the one I would have. Darren Huckerby has often remarked that he didn't have too much to do defensively because he had Adam Drury behind him. So I would argue that he is the one for me.
Out of the whole team, central defence is probably the hardest area of the team to pick - and for the wrong reason. I don't think there has been a wealth of quality options. If there has been an area that Norwich have struggled in it's been central defenders.
Nobody has really been outstanding enough to warrant a guaranteed place in this side. There hasn't been a settled partnership over the decade, there have been loan players and others coming in and doing a good job for a time and playing their part.
I am tempted to go with no centre-backs because of the strength elsewhere but if we have to go with one then I will pick Christophe Zimmermann. He has been a big player for them in recent years.
If you are looking on the defensive side of it, Bradley Johnson was a real workhorse who probably does not get the credit he deserves. Alex Tettey is another who has done it in terms of longevity.
These players perhaps aren't as technically gifted as some who played further forwards but they do the other side of the game. It is not just what these players do on the pitch either, it is what they bring to the changing room. Tettey comes into that category.
Jonny Howson is one to consider but Robert Snodgrass makes it because of that left foot. If you want some balance to your team then he would have to be in it. He was a fantastic player with a great work ethic. In any team, you need a mix of both.
I would also have James Maddison. The quality he had in that one season warranted him earning a £25m move. That tells you how good he was. It doesn't matter how short the time was that he was here, his performances merit his inclusion. He was Norwich's best player that season. If you are picking a best team of the decade you have to have him in it.
Wes Hoolahan was a talisman for many years. He was someone who could do something that would change a game. He had that ability to switch a game on its head, ghost past people and score goals. He would be another shoo-in for this team.
I don't think there is any doubt about the strikers. Grant Holt is an obvious one because of the goals and his influence on the pitch. He would actually form a good partnership with Teemu Pukki. That would be an asset for this team because they complement each other.
Holt is the type of player who can hold the ball up, hustle and bustle and score goals. Pukki is that kind of 18-yard box player. They make a fantastic two up top.
Ruddy; Martin, Drury, Zimmermann; Johnson, Tettey, Snodgrass, Maddison, Hoolahan; Holt, Pukki.
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