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A big downside to the Prem for me is lack of fixtures around Nottingham, for family reasons I struggle to get to games in London or on the South Coast, so this season I've just made it to Liverpool, Burnley and Everton so far, the rest I've mostly watched on Sky or streams when Sky hasn't been showing them, and I have half-written match reports for Liverpool and Burnley but never finished them . I decided before yesterday I'd do a report regardless of how good or bad the outcome, so here goes. It was raining for my trip over but (surprisingly for Liverpool where it always rains in my experience), by the time I got to the stadium it was hardly raining at all. I like visiting Everton, it's an old school stadium, I also like the fact that you can see Anfield as you're walking to Goodison Park on the main road, I can't think of any other Prem stadiums that close. I can remember Bassong getting a last minute equalizer here, also an end of season game when City had already been relegated and lost by several goals. But never a win until yesterday. My seat was in row 8, fairly central among the City fans, so very close to the corner flag at the end City were defending 1st half, so I had a great view of that end but couldn't see the far end clearly. Everton began from the kick off chipping the corner at our RB position and sending 2 or 3 tall players down to chase it (an old tactic which is still surprisingly effective). We struggled to clear and they got the ball into the box which caused a few anxious moments before we could clear it and get it down the far end. As play settled down, two things rapidly became clear to me. First, having McLean (mostly) playing the no 10 role gave us a realistic long out ball from defence, he won plenty of flick-ons, but also he competed for most aerial balls which prevents the defender being able to direct a header even if he wins it, so there was plenty of 2nd ball for Pukki and Cantwell to chase. Second, we very quickly looked more composed at the back with Zimbo, not just his personal presence but also he's constantly talking to the other defenders, both during the game and in stoppages. You can't underestimate how important this is, especially for the 21 year old defenders we've playing along side him. As we got past the nervy first few minutes - no one wanted a repeat of Watford! - the team settled down and started to play out from the back a bit, combined with long balls when Everton pressed us high. Going the other way, Everton had limited threat and really the worst moments of the half were a couple of crosses across the 6-yeard box with no attacker getting very close. One break saw Zimbo having to make a sold shoulder challenge at around half way to prevent a threatening move developing and he got carded, which worried me but he managed to avoid any more controversial challenges for the rest of the game. At the far end, Hernandez and Cantwell were both looking useful, I really enjoyed one time when Hernandez got past two defenders into the box although it came to nothing, and Cantwell was standing up physically better I thought, plus McLean was useful throughout. It was noticeable Everton had 2 defenders against both Hernandez and Pukki when they got the ball. No more flying under the radar ! Our best moves were a super pass from McLean which Hernandez ran onto and was denied by an excellent save from Pickford, and another good move on the left which ended with the ball coming across to Cantwell, he wanted a moment too long and his shot powerful went over, from my seat I thought he'd blasted it over, but the highlights later showed the ref was correct to give a corner, the defender had got a touch which deflected it over. So at half time it was looking promising with City edging the first half, just a concern as always whether we'd rue the missed chances. Everton obviously had a rocket at half time and were all over us at the start of the 2nd half, but our rearguard stood firm and Krul wasn't really troubled and we again played our way into the game and fairly soon a long ball from Zimbo was flicked on by McLean from the right to Pukki who came under pressure from both CBs, but Cantwell intelligently ran into the space they'd vacated and Pukki poked the ball onto him and what a composed finish in the bottom corner and what a celebration from players and away fans alike. Apparently his first away goal for City according to MOTD I can't remember him getting one away last year so this is probably right? With a lead, City were more content to sit back and as time ticked past 70 minutes Everton were starting to create a few real openings which was a concern, and from 75 mins or so onwards we were really under the cosh. Cantwell went down injured near the far corner flag and took his own sweet time going off the pitch , eventually substituted for Buendia which was an intelligent move anyway, it took a while for play to re-start with Cantwell getting treatment off to one side of the pitch and this totally wound up the home support. City were definitely deploying the game management playbook, and we have to accept it's a part of modern football, Watford were just the same when they were protecting a lead at CR. Krul was taking just as long as he could for goal kicks without getting a card. As time ticked down, there was one scramble in the box which Byram finally cleared, and one threatening move ending with a shot from the edge of the box which Krul comfortably saved. Towards 90 minutes City started to get more of the ball. At the death as usual Farke made two more subs to help run down the clock and Amadou had time for a useful defensive header from a free kick. Time added on was 5 minutes which I thought was not bad for us, given the number of stoppages. Srbeny came on and we were playing the ball our from our half, Buendia was tempted to go for the corner but that was closed off so he ran into the centre of the penalty box, I thought at the time he flicked the ball over to Srbeny but replay shows it was a defender's interception. Srbeny received the ball under severe pressure but rather than go down he used his strength and put the ball comfortably away in the corner, reminiscent of his goal against Sheff Wed away from home last season. So overall a very solid City performance with lots of good individual performances. We never reached the heights we are capable of IMO, but it was a really composed and controlled away performance. My conclusion - keep this approach and this lineup and we could do well this year. All I can say is this was the sort of performance I was hoping to see from City when we were promoted and it shows we are fully capable of holding our own in this division.

Little tip for anyone doing the free trial, I believe it's a month trial: Be aware that our game at Villa Park is also on Prime on boxing day, Southampton is on the 4th, so start your trial AFTER 26th November to make sure you're still in it for the Villa game too 👍

Speak for yourself, not everyone crumbled after a bad patch.

You can always look back over a season and say what if one specific thing happened differently, but that’s football. It usually balances out over the season, depending on how good you are. Im more interested in the teams above us anyway. Finishing 18th but eight points of clear of Watford is less important than finishing 17th regardless of how many points Watford have got. The Boxing Day Villa game and the game against Southampton are huge games. I quite fancy us to nick a point or three from Arsenal as well.

Agreed, I genuinely don't understand the point - I think there's a massive misunderstanding of what Cantwell offers. Vrancic is a fantastic, languid midfielder, but almost the polar opposite of Cantwell as a player.

I think "brain dead" is a bit strong. They must have some functionality between their ears. Even the guy who called Canarycall to have a rant about "Toddwell"....

The truth hurts indeed. You’re an ignorant, thick, simple minded and racist bigot. Oh, and a compulsive liar and fantasist too 🤐

I've always felt Villa are the most deluded set of fans there are. And I say that as a one-season Leeds Utd season ticket holder (Champions League season). Back in the days of the 606 forum the Villa fans were on another planet. I remember O'Leary went there after they'd narrowly avoided relegation. They had only 16 professionals, but he got a letter from a Villa fan saying 'Welcome to Aston Villa. We expect Champions League qualification'. He kept them up and said he thought he'd done a good job, but he was getting hate mail. Deluded. I remember waiting for the bus after a Leeds game once and some fans were talking about Woodgate possibly moving to Real Madrid. One slack-jawed no-teethed Leeds scr ote proclaimed 'I dont know why he'd want to go there - Madrid's nice and all, but there's NO club in the WORLD as big as Leeds Utd' And he believed it

Superb away day, absolutely up there with some of the best. To a man we were committed, but disciplined, with a game maturity rarely seen. We had a plan today, and it was executed perfectly. The away fans were in full voice, and fully supported the players. There was a connection, and both bounced off each other. Felt great, just like last season and the start of this. Special mention to Kenny McLean and Sam Byram. Kenny has had a lot of criticism, myself included, but in the more advanced role he was really effective and his workrate epitomised the team as a whole today. Byram is as good a defender as Godfrey and Zimm. Perhaps not quite as good offensively as Lewis or Aaron’s, although that can be debated after some of his advances today, but he’s a better defender and I think we need that more right now. He has to keep his place. Brilliant day. Leicester next for me, hopefully. OTBC.

Todd had a pretty good game and took his goal very well, but the fact that Shearer said it is making me think maybe I'm wrong and that Todd had a terrible game; that is how much I don't trust Shearer's opinion. Also, didn't Todd go off with a knock? He deserves another start after that performance, but might not be in his hands if he's injured, in which case, I want Emi back in straight away. I think being dropped for one match is more than enough motivation to enable better performances from him. I saw that hunger back in his defensive work during that 15 minute cameo yesterday.

For Villa, relegation this season would be an apocalyptic disaster. There is a strong chance they might not survive if it happens again after they spent in excess of £100 million in the summer.

I have to admit I feel disproportionately better today. It was beginning to look as if we were already being cut adrift of 17th and I have been concerned about how uncompetitive we have been in several matches I had thought we stood a chance in. It was not so much the points total but rather the seemingly relentless defeats and the inability to score that seemed to have set in. Yet with one win and, more importantly, cohesive performance, the table looks so much better, as does our overall outlook. I know everything could change again in either direction in a week or two but it feels great to have a spark of confidence back and a glimmer of hope to cling to.

.......................and not just the brain dead Cantwell critics but the somewhat larger group of brain dead NCFC critics 😀

The game has been moved because Sheff Utd's game on Prime is on the Thursday night.

...except Steiperman doesnt win any headers ...or havent you been paying attention you f#cking imbecilic moron?

I've watched every minute of every game this season and Todd has been worthy of criticism based on recent performances but today he is worthy of praise. He made some errors in the first half but was awesome in the second and after his goal, he was absolutely everywhere on the pitch. If you compare with Buendia; he has also received criticism for his errors and was dropped to the bench. That's good for him at this stage and will help his development in the long term. The same is true for Todd, he has had a couple of games on the bench and it has paid dividends with an accomplished performance today.

👍

He made Garth crooks team of the week, though only got 2 sentences out of a 3 paragraph writeup actually about him, the rest was about Everton being carp!

We'll not be spending in January. We had the option to in the summer and didnt, nothings changed and were about where we were expected to be.

So 50,000 new nurses is a lie. That didn't take long. After the debacle with the new hospitals claim you'd think the Tories would get someone on thier team who could do maths.

He went off various social media outlets after the last game apparently because of 'fans' laying into him for his mistake. I expect him to be benched for the next game knowing how Farke so often retains a team that has just won a match. He would be really useful to have coming on with 20/30 minutes to go to give teams something to think about in his attacking threat.

In its simplest, concentrated form, why are Brexiters wanting to cost every policy idea except Brexit itself?

I agree with all of that but unfortunately we (maybe like all clubs) have a not insubstantial group of fans who do like to scapegoat a specific player when things aren't going too well and its often quite unrelated to how well that player is actually performing. I'm sure we could all name former players who've quite unfairly been scapegoated when the team is not playing well, usually we seem to stick with one per season even when its obvious that they're not really performing any worse than others in the squad who are mysteriously exempted from the nastiness as they're not the official scapegoat. Criticism as you rightly say is something different altogether, IMO Todd has been on the receiving end of both (from different posters obviously) this season and last. The criticism is fine, the scapegoating definitely isn't - so personally I see it as very positive that at least on this occasion people are pushing back against the stupidity of it.

Yes, they all never run out of other peoples money.

I think Cantwell has received more criticism than warrented in the last 6-7 months and that's the point here. You see it as "gushing adulation with no hint of criticism" so I don't think you'll ever agree with those with the opposite view.

I agree that I think Emi could do so much damage as a runner around the box as he showed with our 2nd yesterday. Was Todd the "Number 10". I think he was more right sided than that yesterday. MacLean was more central which is why he won so many headers.

Brilliant mate , love it !!

Dont worry, Billy does that all the time😉

Has he been banned again or just taking a well earned break and detox?

I think you touch on a pertinent point (in my eyes). The majority of clubs owned by rich owners are all trying to do things the same way, I don't want to support a homogenised soccer franchise, I like the way we try and do things a different way and if it doesn't work, so be it, I will still support the club.

Now , THAT's a photo...

No more likes available Gordo so have a thumbs up 👍.

After having proved that you expect people to believe you're dating an instagram model young enough to be your granddaughter and that you have a loose grasp of basic arithmetic - I would have thought you'd steer away from this kind of critique given your obvious failings in both areas. Seems self-awareness is lacking sorely too.

Just home from Goodison, haven’t enjoyed a match so much since Wembley , great performance, superb commitment, Zimbo was massive, a big piece of the jigsaw back! Fans tremendous, great singing , highly positive from word go. Even forgive Everton’s worst toilets in the top 4 divisions. Felt victory in my water this morning and had a punt at 13/2 - icing on the cake. ( king canary not even a exclamation mark insight - must have been a good day)

Match of the Day singled Cantwell out for individual praise - Shearer was waxing lyrical about his performance.

Being super critical, Cantwell struggled first half. He didn’t offer much, but did work hard and held better defensive discipline when not in possession, which should be recognised as an improvement. Second half though, he played very well, impacted the game in a very positive manner, and took his goal brilliantly. I’m putting it out there though, I’d still rather Emi or Vrancic. Sorry!

Now Srbeny is firing we can let Pukki move on 😉

Allison Person interviewing Kate Hoey on The Labour Party is the equivalent of Myra Hindley interviewing Rose West on childcare

Makes today even more surprising! 😉

@NorwichCityAcad “Our Under-18s put a dominant performance in today to take all three points and progress to the quarter-finals of the #U18PLCup. Great work, lads!”

Very well taken goal. Thought Teemu also did brilliantly to slip the ball through under pressure. 👍

Loved Kevin Reeves and the lad in the foreground is Ginger from Wisbech a top lad.

https://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2019/11/23/everton-vs-norwich-city-highlights-4/ its just the goals but better than nothing

Lucky he was on the bench instead of Sloughbottom park.

Thought Byram was great today. Looked so solid defensively and I’m sure with more game time he’d be burying headers like that one. Is there an argument to keep him in ahead if Lewis?

Where's Ginger now?

I seem to remember that Ginger came from Wisbech or nearby, and also that he attended several games in a Pink Panther suit..!!!! Please could someone confirm that I haven't completely lost my marbles....?

Last time I saw Ginger was at Exeter away in the FA Cup 1990 . He’d got on the pitch with a truly massive Mexican Sombrero on . I was suitably impressed !

Aye, I don't mind people coming up with solutions to our problems but the revisionism gets on my wick.