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The morning dawned grey and damp here in NR2 and there was a fine drizzly rain that kept up all day. I have had a niggling doubt about the prospects for today as Rotherham seemed the kind of side that we have often struggled against in recent seasons. The absence of Leitner was an obvious concern but I was happy enough to see Vrancic earn his place and with Cantwell filling in for Hernandez it looked good enough to do the job. City were dominant in possession in the early stages but the visitors had everyone behind the ball and consequently everything broke down twenty yards from goal. When Rotherham won a throw in well down the City left I deemed it an opportune moment to nip out to the little boys room only to be greeted with a roar that was obviously for a Rotherham goal as I came back up the stairs.😰 It's incredible the number of times this has happened over the years. Apparently we hadn't defended a corner well and although Krul made a save the ball was forced in. You'll have to take my son's word for it because I never saw a thing. It seemed to shake us for a bit and although we finally got some crosses into the box there was nothing to trouble Rodak. At our end however, a quick movement caught us on the back foot and a low shot looked goal-bound until it hit the inside of Krul's right post and rebounded right across goal and away. It was a moment of good fortune and City tried to capitalise on it with some nice stuff down the right. Buedia had a shot blocked as did Stiepermann as he tried to follow up. It was much better from City but it got very frustrating when the visitors milked the clock for every stoppage and I thought Ref, Steve Martin a bit lax on the time wasting and didn't do himself any favours with one or two dubious decisions.City huffed and puffed, mainly down their right but couldn't set up anything resembling a clear chance Buendia was a bit off with his flicks and touches and nothing seemed to come together. Vrancic just clipped the wall with a free kick on the D and just before the half Buendia's free kick from a similar range was only inches over. Apart from that we had not worked many clear openings and Rodak didn't have to make a save of note. From the off the second period seemed to be continuing the pattern of the first but finally there was some joy as Aarons and Lewis began to find more room down the wings. A couple of corners were won as the home side turned up the pressure and on fifty five minutes City were at last back level. Vrancic's ball pushed Pukki a bit wide but the City striker passed low inside and there was Todd Cantwell to flash a shot across goal and into the far top corner. Confidence seemed to flood through the whole side as City now roared on by a 25k crowd kept the visitors more or less constantly on the back foot. Krul had little to do at our end apart from cleanly catching a cross from the right. The visitors still had plenty of fight in them but you could see that they were gradually being worn down by City's superior passing and movement. Buedia appeared to have got his mojo back as with twenty minutes left City took a deserved lead with a quality goal. When the ball came to Cantwell just outside the box there seemed no clear option until a delicate chip over the defenders found Max Aarons running in from the right to nod past the startled Rodak. "We are top of the League", began to ring out round the ground as the Rotherham defence began to get very stretched. Rodak then made a great save from Buendia and Pukki could only slam the rebound across goal and wide. Rotherham's reply was the odd surge forward by the industrious Williams, but generally the home defence looked very solid. The icing was put on the cake when Stiepermann harried a defender into a mistake on the edge of the area and then had the presence of mind to slide a pass to Pukki who wrapped it into the corner for game over. Rhodes and Trybull came on fro Vrancic and Lewis and there was still time for Rodak to make a fine save from Rhodes as he looked to put the finishing touch to a lovely sweeping move. In the end it all came right and for me a sense of relief more than anything else. I hate going behind in games but with this side it doesn't appear to be a problem. I'm trying not to get too excited but this really could be another one of those years. Cantwell my MOM and fine displays from everyone else.

With that kind of attitude Norwich would never have taken a chance in Farke. Unless promoted, Norwich won’t be hunting for managers with a string of successes on their CV. Warne seems to be doing a great job and credit to Rotherham for sticking with him in their relegation season. I don’t think he’ll be someone Norwich look to bring in as his style is a long way from the ‘attacking, passing football’ that has been defined as the ‘Norwich Way’. Which is also why I don’t think the Cowley brothers at Lincoln would also be a preference, despite a lot of hype around them. I don’t actually think it is going to be something Norwich have to think about for a while yet though luckily.

Can't disagree more with those blaming Krul - my friend is an ex-pro keeper and said there's not much more he could do on a wet pitch - ideally the ball would not go where it did, but then there ought to be defenders reacting. (Also looked offside to me, the lino was nowhere near in line to make the decision). I guess this just shows that the game is about opinions.

Teemu **** has a ring to it don't you think ?

I don't think it is a coincidence we are playing better without these guys, the team is far more balanced due to our excellent transfer strategy in the summer

Unfortunately there are one or two here who wish to see this site dragged down to the same level of personal insult & narcissistic onanism. Well one anyway.

Jeez, how do you get banned from Fakebook. Post something factual??

We haven't got over the last one yet....

That'll be another speech then....

Pulled, dragged, kicked,thrown. Whatever it is and whatever happened to it, it hasn't had a good life after death.

We have a puppy we got this summer called Wes (Hoolahan).

Flying under the Radar.......Good, much easier to complete our mission without being shot down.

Fair enough then Buncey, you certainly know a lot more than I do in this respect so I’ll take your comments on face value. My response was because some people on here apparently twist the facts to suit their agenda, though I’m sure I’ve never seen it 😏 so I was just questioning to see if that was the case.

Yep, it's cheap as chips. Although, I'd still rather keep my money than eat that.

He'll be leaving his position as Chairman with the club in a better position to face the future than it was when he was appointed. He & the Board deserve credit for that. The Chairman doesn't have any real input of transfer deadline day, that's the job of the Manager and CE.

He's a good 'keeper. End of .................. as they say. It's a pity there's not another player to assume the mantle of 'scapegoat'at the moment as these constant anti/pro Krul posts are getting rather repetitive and tiresome. With Martin re-located and Husband somewhere else (?) there doesn't appear to be an obvious candidate at the moment. Even Sbreny is showing some promise in flashes, and we all like Dennis in any case. What is even more tiresome is the fact that the next time Tim Krul errs (and he most certainly will at some stage in the future ... they all do as several examples yesterday showed) this post will almost certainly be resurrected and we will have to go through it all again. As one who considers it his duty to studiously read every single posting on this forum (except for those in that ridiculous Brexit thread) I hereby register my strongest objection to this eventuality.

Taking us from the bottom of L1 to mid-table PL in 3 seasons was more than a job... No-one expected him to do that. It was a miracle. It helped stabilising our debt-ridden club financially, which greatly helps us from falling back to the levels of pre-Lambert times. I consider starting a what did Lamert do to us thread. And another called Paul Lambert's Christmas (Lambo was not a good man/He had hiss little ways/ and somtimes noone spoke to him/For days and days and days...)

People need to have a little think of the overall perspective on Krul, whether you like him or don't. Ultimately, yes, he has made mistakes, but which outfield player doesn't? Its only highlighted more-so when its a goalkeeper. He has on the flip side made some great saves and these should be recognised also. For me personally, the positives outweigh the negatives and we should be thankful of a keeper like him, who clearly buys into NCFC and wants to be here. He's part of our team and therefore part of our incredible run, indicating he's contributed to it.

What's the point of you?

Seriously? What is the point of a post making plain how clueless you apparently are?

Hope its ipswich....dont think i can wait til February to smash Lambert

I think Surfer could have made it a bit clearer what 3 points are ............................ in case there are any binners reading this topic 😆

That must have been when the Ipswich fans were distraught when we went down to League One then ? Yeah, right ! If we never played them again it'd be too soon.

I hope they do get £10m in January, and I hope Lambert spends every last penny... and then they go down.