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I don't remember you telling me that we would start the season with three excellent performances, convincingly winning the one game we stood a chance in and running the UEFA Cup winners really close. I don't recall you mentioning how we would have the league leading goalscorer or be among the most entertaining teams to watch. I also don't remember you acknowledging that we are bringing a promising defensive midfielder up to speed and awaiting the imminent returns of two of our best three centre backs. Nor do I recall your insight into how it might take a few games for the players to get used to the speed and intensity of the Premier League or how this young and inexperienced team would exceed all expectations in this regard.

I told you all well before the season started Norwich City were going to come a cropper because of the lack of defensive preparedness for this season at this level. So now we have had 4-1 against Atalanta, 4-1 against Liverpool and 3-2 against Chelsea. The Suffolk Socialists decided to prepare the club for The Championship next season instead of the EPL this season so now the chickens are coming home to roost. Already the most goals conceded in the EPL. The SS are just not committed to football at this level because they will not go to the next step financially. They are haunted by Naismith and so spending no money at all is now their mantra. It is not just me highlighting the shortcomings. The boy Downs on Canary Call virtually said all the same things word for word. We are well on course to be the highest scoring team ever to be relegated from the EPL. Just as I predicted. Delia and Wynnie must go. No one else is responsible as we have seen these shortcomings year after year, coach after coach.

Outside of the 5 or 6 biggest teams in the league no other team is likely to have a 4th choice centre back that could be considered "very good" at this level. Just feels like people are stating the obvious and being unfair to Hanley as an individual. He knew where he stood this season which is why he almost signed for a Championship club. He's all we've got fit, we know Klose and hopefully Zimmermann are better. Perhaps in January he'll complete that move and we'll upgrade, in the meantime he's one of ours and we support him whenever he's on the pitch. This club has made giant strides towards being one about togetherness and winning and losing as a club. We could carry on in that direction or we could start threads slagging off our players.

The additional point is that selling Maddison was all we needed to do to (very roughly speaking) balance the books. The directors had made the brave decision at the end of the 2016-17 season not to try to go hell for leather for promotion again, even though we had a season left of parachute payments, but to start off-loading the high earners. If we had carried on with an expensive squad, and failed to go up, then it would gave taken more than just selling Maddison to get us out of trouble. Possibly the kind of trouble Aston Villa would have been in if they hadn't won through in the play-offs, and the kind of trouble Championship clubs are getting round by way of selling their ground to their owners.The chances are that if we hadn't started that process of cutting back when we did, we would be nowhere near where we are now.

I don’t buy the “we had to sell Maddison to stay afloat” moan. Yes, that’s what a lot of clubs do, sell their best players for money that is used to pay off debts or wages or expenses before the balance is reinvested in players. The fact we had such a player shows that we weren’t anywhere near the position that Bury and Bolton find themselves in. Can those clubs sell off one or two players for even ten million to balance the books? We had the Murphys, then Maddison, then Aarons/Lewis/Godfrey who even if we hadn’t got promoted last season could easily have been sold for minimum £5-10 mil each. We’ve invested in our youth system and that’s going to benefit the club for many years to come - not just on the pitch, but also (if we need it to) financially by selling off players. Having these players come through isn’t just “luck”.

Seriously can we ban this drivel spawning was monkey? It's tiresome.

Aha! So you're getting your info from Canary Call Vinnie! That explains everything. 🤣

Again disagree. I’ve just rewatched the goals and the first is definitely Aarons’ man, Hanley even points to tell Aarons to pick him up just before the cross comes in. Aarons has managed to end up five yards away from Abrahams. The second, Aarons is marking Mount and doesn’t follow him. He has let Mount get ten yards behind him. Despite the fact Chelsea are on the break (and Aarons isn’t the last man, so isn’t playing offside) he just lets Mount run completely unchecked. Hanley is worried about the man with the ball - and rightly so, as Aarons is marking Mount. By the time Mount picks up the ball (five yards behind where Aarons is), he’s also inside the penalty area and darting across. Hardly any defender in the world puts a foot in there, as you give away a penalty. Extremely extremely harsh to say Hanley should (rather than could) have stopped the second when the player who should have stopped it was Aarons - by not letting the man he was marking just run in behind him. The third, it’s a long five paces, as the assist maker picks the ball up outside of the circle in his own half, and plays the pass near the edge of the circle in our own half. They’ve also made one sideways pass deep inside their own half which again had nobody pressing. When it’s 2-2 against a top side, you don’t let them break that distance with literally no pressure. Take them down there. Perhaps Hanley can get a yard closer but they’re twenty yards out and he doesn’t have a clear shot. You should only be able to score from there with a worldy strike - he hits a fairly tame effort which Krul decides not to stretch for. Now I don’t think Hanley will stay in the side too long and I do think he’s too slow and clumsy for the prem. But I think it’s extremely harsh to blame him as much as some are on here. I would wager that whoever else comes in will also struggle if Aarons continues to struggle with his defensive duties down that right hand side.

Only cricket can do that. In the moment nothing can touch football, but at its best cricket is like a great play, or a grand opera, that throws the emotions this way and that as it builds towards its climax.

1st goal Abrahams runs from deep, no midfielders track him leaving him 1-on-1 with Aarons, not Hanley's fault 2nd goal Godfrey gets drawn to the ball leaving a huge gap for Mount to run into, not Hanley's fault 3rd goal the whole of the midfield switch off after Pukki's shot, letting Chelsea carve through us, again, not Hanley's fault At worst, the first two goals were down to mistakes by younger players, but that is how young lads learn, by making mistakes. The third was due to the team switching off as a whole, so singling out individuals is extremely unfair. As is aiming vitriol at Hanley as the cause of our defensive woes. I am not convinced that we would be any more solid at the back with Klose or Zimmerman in the side over Hanley and/or Godfrey. Farke's tactics are very gung-ho and that will leave us exposed at the back if you want your fullbacks to bomb forward. However I fancy us to out score enough teams this season to be lower mid table.

To lose by the odd goal against one of the top sides in Europe is hardly a disaster, or a reflection on how good or bad the team is. In my opinion this forum was going way over the top during the week regarding on chances against Chelsea and for the rest of the season. Quite ridiculous expectations following a very good performance against a pretty shocking Newcastle. Therefore we should not draw too many conclusions from the games so far, good or bad. Someone on here said the "acid test" was Chelsea. It wasn't, but West Ham will be. There are lots of positives to draw from the performances so far, a few negatives too. We are going to have to learn how how to attack and defend as a unit, how best to play the new goal kick rule, and make better use of substitutions. I love the way we play, we just need to be a bit more savvy when we do have the chance to attack in numbers and when we have goal kicks and play out from the back!

Feel free to support someone else then, assuming that you do actually support Norwich. Arsenal lost 3-1 to Liverpool. Have they decided to "prepare the club for The Championship next season" ? Then there's Chelsea. They lost 4-0 to Man U. Have they also decided to "prepare the club for The Championship next season" ? Maybe West Ham, who lost 5-0 to Man City are another team who have also decided to "prepare the club for The Championship next season". All these clubs that have decided to "prepare the club for The Championship next season", they'll all be fighting for the bottom 3 ! I presume that you know of a number of billionaires that are itching to throw away more money than the NHS budget and are eager to take the place of Smith & Jones? Pathetic.

Then your gripe is surely misguided. Chase's top flight tenure nearly led to bancruptcy but Delia's top flight tenure has led us to financial well being, the ability to hire top talent and that has seen us bounce back again and again and again. On your earlier point, I remember the football of Williams and Stringer too and it was fantastic, but it was of it's time and football has moved on. It's a shame you can't seem to move on with it. You should try it, it's the most joyous time to be a fan - and it's happening now, not 30 years ago.

Great shame, and yet two clubs so close you would think someone would be suggesting amalgamation rather than oblivion for both.

Wow, how you can still be pi55ed at a time like this for NCFC supporters is completely and utterly staggering. Unless..... 🚜🤔

If that’s one of Tils images then put my name down !

Had it not been for Bowkett, McNasty and Lambert our stock would be junk status by now. And we are still owed an explanation by the SS as to why Bowkett left just after being re-elected by shareholders.

Chase had nine seasons out of ten in the top flight along the way and we had a national profile as a top flight club. Delia has only managed six out of twenty four and in the process downgraded our national profile to Championship status. This is the essence of my gripe against Delia.

You should try having Brian Kerr, ex ireland manager commentate, he waffles about everything but the game. His co commentator often has to remind him to concentrate on the game while tells a story about a 15 year old Damian Duff, during a 88th minute corner with the score at 1-1.

Let us not forget Delia took us to the brink of administration before she was bailed by Bowkett, McNasty and Lambert.

And how many players has Delia had to sell to make good all the mistakes she has repeated over and over? Answer: many more than Chase and in every position you care to name.

Correction: the best football ever played was under Stringer and Williams. Fact. And when Chase spotted we needed a CH he went and got us Andrew Linighan, arguably our finest ever in that position.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/norwich-city-jimmy-jewell-appointed-as-manager-80-year-ago-1-6233760

Whilst following our current financial plan foisted on us from the profligacy of previous management leaving the cupboard bare. Not spending millions and investing how we have done this season is entirely prudent. We may well not survive which many expect but the evidence of the first 3 fixtures it will be an enjoyable experience not a Hughton or Neil spending spree which resulted in an experience which was definitely not enjoyable.

Those prudent and careful owners who managed to put us in the situation at the end of the season before last that the sale of Addison managed apparently to avoid administration. Saved by Webber and Farke who can describe as prudent not the sainted Delia who with the Board managed as Webber put it pi55ed previous PL riches up the wall. Just hope Webber continues to weave his magic until our next financial calamity. Sure as eggs is eggs this is inevitable. Splendid Rush forever the optimist and apologist poor deluded soul.

It may take one or two famous clubs going to the wall before people realise that not everyone can live the dream.

Seriously concerned that a football Club, possibly two could go out of business. Easy for the likes of Pete to continually whine about our owners, a quick look around shows where we could be. As for that lot down the road, the less said the better.

You certainly did Vinnie.........

To be honest after i rewatched the match on youtube and slowed it down, Abraham looked offside for their third goal. If var can disallow sterling for having the tiniest bit of shoulder offside then why did they barely look at abraham?

"I told you all well before the season started Norwich City were going to come a cropper because of the lack of defensive preparedness for this season at this level." Well thank **** you flagged that up because no-one else did. Fans, opposing players and managers and every pundit you could name was saying our greatest asset was our defensive strength and resolute determination not to even let an opposing player cross the halfway line, let alone have a shot on goal. It meant we would have comfortable wins in each of our opening three matches, especially after showing our ham'bition by signing Harry McGuire and the boy Busquets.

Never gets old....

Don't bite, just don't bite. Oh, d'oh!

Do you think that the number of goals conceded may be something to do with playing away to the Champions of Europe? What a silly post

No worries there- wife keeps that and she’s staying in Norwich! If that’s even still a thing I wouldn’t imagine they’d even bother getting out of bed on a Saturday morning for Norwich.

Fair enough, but if Klose or Zimmerman come back against Man C and we concede 6 or 7 I wonder if there will be half a dozen threads on here dissecting their every move. Tbh, I'm not sure that Farke knows what his full strength side is and that's a good thing, our Team evolved over the course of last season, injuries had an impact, I don't see this season being any different.

Whilst we could possibly have defended better as a team, let's remember that the oppo are a talented bunch who get paid the big bucks to beat defenders it's what they're good at. When we score we naturally applaud our attacking play and so it works at the other end of the pitch. It's called football, if every defence was better than the attack there would be a lot of nil nils and how boring would that be!

So is this what the whole Bolton thing is about with them, a playoff match that happened almost 20 years ago? Not like them to continually focus on the past is it...

Saturday must have been a gruelling 90 mins or so, and with West Ham next the starting 11 from sat will need all the rest possible And I believe the teams named above should be up to a win, if not why / They are expected to be up to PL standard, so creepy Crawley should not be too much of a threat. (I hope)

Three clear penalties in our game, Man City game and Spurs game all missed. Var isn’t being used correctly here, it’s as if the refs are not giving major decisions based on the knowledge it will go to var, then var is backing the referee who’s effectively bottled the decision

Yes, there was one particular moment vs. Newcastle where he completely threw them by simply letting the ball run past him & surging into the gap, rather than playing the obvious pass to midfield. It turned defence into attack in an instant. He's got a genuine footballing brain, which is a priceless asset.

He's a Premier League player. He's young. His form will dip at some point and when it does we stick by him rather than give out stick.

Thing is, if they'd analysed our defending you'd be moaning they weren't being positive enough about us.

Time for a bit of realism. We've just come up with an inexperienced team with loads of young talent who have been thrust into the PL and having to learn as they go. The same squad that took us up. Our main objective is to stay in the division if we can. So a long negative post pointing out how our young stars and forth choice centre half fell one goal short of a multi million pound top six teams is singularly unhelpful and totally counterproductive. You'll need to get used to it OP as, surprise surprise, it's going to be a tough season. We have enough quality to survive in my opinion and I think we will we improve as we go along but it's going to be tough and we will need luck with injuries if we're going to succeed. What we could do with though is some recognition of how well we have done with the resources we have and support that cuts the team some slack while they are on this learning curve.

I’m don’t think they meant the Chelsea game will define our season (nor will West Ham). The point was surely that we didn’t learn all that much from the Liverpool game (we got stuffed, but most teams will get stuffed by them this year). We didn’t learn all that much from Newcastle either as they were woeful (and I think most teams will take points from them this season). Chelsea though was a good chance for us to see where we are. Yes we lost and we didn’t play our best for large periods, but we weren’t stuffed and could have got something on another day. We looked like a decent premier league club playing against slightly better opposition. We didn’t look like relegation fodder completely outclassed and stuffed by three or four goals, nor did we look like one of the “best in Europe” as somebody claimed on here in the last week! It wasn’t the ideal result, or performance, but I’m actually fairly confident and positive after today.

Jobsworth seems to have morphed into Knobsworth

Hope the festival is/was as good as I expect. You only missed each side scoring with pretty much their first efforts! We put up a good effort today against one of the top 6 but came up just a little short - not totally unexpected, we need our best players and firing at near-100% to get results against the likes of Chelsea.

I've just wasted three minutes of my life by looking up who the Binners played to win the UEFA Cup . Apparently it was (according to Wiki) Aris Saloniki (Who?) Bohemians (from the now defunct Czechoslovakia) Widzew Lodz (See Aris Saloniki) Saint Etienne (now i have heard of them to be fair) FC Koln (yup Cologne) and finally AZ 67 (who have since changed their name so they don't really exist any more) All refereed by someone called Adolf from East Germany ( I don't make this stuff up you know) which of course doesn't exist either. I suspect if we hadn't drawn Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Vitesse we might have beaten a few teams from Greece Poland and Prussia.