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I think Pukki would be exhausted running from one end of the pitch to the other. Would you have Krul on the bench?

Really? It might not have been a classic but the first 70 minutes of the Leeds game - despite a lack of distinct quality - was a good game. But for a howler from Krul, it was a competitive match. People dig out Kabak but the first part was class, read the game, won the ball but overran it and then nobody closed Rodrigo and Krul closed his eyes presumably. I ****ing hate losing but I still have a nagging whisper in my ear that we could still make a fight of it. It is starting to sound like it’s in the distance, admittedly, but if Rashica can get on the ball more, Normann can have more influence, we can integrate Gilmour and Cantwell……….. Yeah, it’s a long shot. We nearly did it under Worthy with 8 points from 13. 2 wins in our next 3…. No. I’m not convinced either. All I can do is get behind them. If it’s Farke, I’ll back him. If they sack him and appoint Dave Bassett, I’ll back him. That’s all I can do. 🤷‍♂️

If we're happy with a draw at Brentford, just relegate us now and spare us the next painful , long 6 months

An absolutely incredible time. A season which will never be topped. Ever. Starting the season as relegation favourites. Going 2-0 down at title favourites Arsenal. Then scoring FOUR GOALS in the second half, two of them by Mark Robins, one of my favourite Norwich players of all time. For two or three months at the start of the season, he was absolutely unplayable. His chip of Seaman was followed by this glorious first time lofted volley against Chelsea in the very next match: one of the Premier League's great forgotten goals. There was a magnificent performance against Forest in front of the Sky cameras which sent us top: both Dave Phillips and Ian Crook scoring fabulous goals. Grinding performances v Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday which kept us top, sandwiched between a comical game at Chelsea: where our team bus, having been stranded in traffic, only arrived 15 minutes before kickoff. Playing like we were still on the bus, we rapidly went two down, then came all the way back thanks to maybe the worst goalkeeping performance the PL has ever seen. By poor old Dave Beasant - whose manager all but sacked him in public that evening! A really enjoyable top of the table clash at Coventry (yes, really!) ended in a draw. Then a rather less enjoyable top of the table clash at Blackburn ended in a 7-1 humiliation. Cue all the national pundits laughing at and writing us off; Danny Baker on 606, bitter forever because of us having beaten Millwall 6-1 a few years earlier, openly ridiculing us; and Alan Hansen on MOTD reminding us that Liverpool had had a lot of injuries lately. This would remain a running theme all season. Almost nobody in the national media ever appreciated us until what happened in Munich the following season. But the resilience we had was extraordinary. Bryan Gunn lost his baby daughter - yet heroically played regardless as we beat QPR, another very good side back then, 2-1... and not long afterwards was one of several season-defining games. Arsenal away was one, Oldham away was another. Robins got a hat trick: the final goal of which was in injury time, and the most majestically placed finish. He passed it through this impossibly tiny angle, and hit the only spot which could've resulted in a goal. The Norwich fans, who'd travelled to the game by a plane chartered by the club (!), went bonkers. Before Oldham, Arsenal had gone top and looked like they were getting their act together. After Oldham, the Gunners faded away and we pulled further and further clear: the highlight being one of the greatest Norwich City performances in history. Away to Villa, who the pundits overrated while underrating us, we could've been five up at half time, so dominant had we been. Mike Walker used a sweeper that day; the pity was he didn't do it more often on our travels. Yet as Norwich will always be Norwich, a 2-0 lead one minute before half time became 2-2 a minute after it thanks to blunders by Gunn and Ian Culverhouse... yet we went straight back up the other end and won it: Ruel Fox jinking and turning, before a daisycutter from Daryl Sutch, who was exceeding himself beyond imagination. We moved eight points clear. EIGHT POINTS CLEAR. At which point, the enormity of what they were doing suddenly seemed to hit the players. We went to Old Trafford in a game which, had we won, we'd probably have won the whole thing. We played decently but kinda passively; the game, and the massive opportunity it represented, sort of passed us by. And crucially, Crook was injured early on. We were nothing like the same without him. Schmeichel saved from Robins (the exact turning point right there), Sutch made a mess of a clearance, Mark Hughes punished us, and everything changed at that moment. We were basically playing catch-up after that. We lost form and rhythm; we went over five games without scoring at all; and in front of the BBC cameras v Tottenham in the FA Cup, the chickens came home to roost in an appalling performance. We had no confidence up front at all; defensively, we were a shambles, and we lost 2-0 going on 8-0. In the commentary box, Barry Davies could hardly believe what had happened to us. Mid-table mediocrity beckoned. At which point, again, the players responded. Again they faced their critics down. A goal down in no time v Crystal Palace, they proceeded to play beautifully in an exhilarating contest, one of the best of the season. Then winning at Everton that weekend (with Sunderland fans joining us and roaring us on after their game at Tranmere had been postponed very late on) via an absolute wondersave from Gunn put us back on top. Incredible! But the reason we ultimately didn't win the title was we just didn't have the squad numbers. Key players were injured around this time - Robins, Crook, Ian Butterworth, Jeremy Goss, Gary Megson - and we ended up bringing in the likes of Dave Smith, Colin Woodthorpe and Rob Ullathorne before they were ready. It's a tribute to them and the spirit of the side that they all slotted in and we ground out draws v Blackburn and Arsenal: very creditable results, but it meant we were falling astern in the title race. A 3-1 defeat at QPR in early March left us 7 points adrift and surely, out of it. Cue, to my mind, amid a whole host of them to choose from, the single greatest thing that side did. Somehow, they picked themselves up yet again. Somehow, they won three in a row, keeping three clean sheets too... and with United and Villa both stuttering, we went top again! Before crashing back down to Earth at Wimbledon, where our passing approach invariably ran into a brick wall. We were tired too; the injuries had played their part in that. Yet what happened? My favourite game in Norwich City history happened: a sensational match v Villa, end to end throughout. Either side could've won, Garry Parker missed an open goal, and John Polston, 24 hours after his wife had given birth, sparked delirium 8 minutes from the end. It says something rather awful that Sky were at Man Utd-Arsenal that night, despite the Gunners being stranded in mid-table. The whole country deserved to see Norwich v Villa and missed out hugely. But it meant that we now had 12 days to think about being only six games from the title. After the Villa game, so many of our own fans, who'd assumed we'd probably come up just short, suddenly believed... but we forgot how good United were, and how brilliant Alex Ferguson was. They took us to the cleaners via one of the greatest counter-attacking displays in PL history: it was the template for so many of their sides in the years ahead. Giggs and Kanchelskis were on fire, we couldn't cope - and that was that, confirmed by a 5-1 shellacking at White Hart Lane four days later, with the players clearly traumatised by what United had done. Shattering their dreams; reminding us, belatedly, of our place in the world. Many Norwich fans wish they could have the home game to United back. I wish we could have the away one back. Because they were pretty fitful at that point, really struggling for fluency and goals, while we were flying. If we could somehow have won that December afternoon, history might be so very different. But as it was, Cantona made all the difference for them - while crucially, we failed to sign anyone until Efan Ekoku on transfer deadline day. Including Patrik Andersson, the perfect solution defensively: but Blackburn snatched him from our grasp because of course, they paid far higher wages. In the last minute at home to Blackburn, Andersson hit a fizzing shot which Gunn did really well to turn round the post. We didn't know it at the time, but that was a moment of quite colossal importance. Had it gone in, we wouldn't have qualified for Europe: which wasn't even guaranteed for anyone finishing below 2nd. Instead, via a glorious Palace-style win v Leeds (Chris Sutton getting a hat trick and announcing himself as a striker, not the central defender he'd been previously), a dreadfully depressing defeat at Ipswich, a scrambled win v Liverpool (our last home win v them to this day) which owed entirely to David James losing the plot and getting himself sent off, and the most mental 3-3 draw at already relegated Middlesbrough, in which we repeatedly tried to beat ourselves, Walker's selection was suicidally over-attacking, but Ekoku and young Andy Johnson saved us, we fell over the line in third... and all became Arsenal fans for the next 12 days. They'd already won the League Cup. Now they were going for an (at the time) unprecedented domestic Cup double. If they won, we'd qualify for the UEFA Cup. If Sheffield Wednesday, beaten already in one final, got their revenge, all our incredible efforts would've been for nothing. The first game finished 1-1. The replay went to extra time. We were one minute from our entire fate being decided out of our hands in a penalty shoot-out... at which point, ex-Norwich defender Andy Linighan headed the ball through ex-Norwich keeper Chris Woods' hands... and we'd done it! We were in Europe! After, remember, being denied it in 1985, 1987 and 1989 thanks to the hooliganism and violence of others. On balance, that we ultimately made such heavy weather of finishing 3rd probably proves that we were never quite good enough to win the league. As does the absolutely extraordinary stat that we ended up in the top three with a negative goal difference. Imagine that! 1-7 at Blackburn, 1-5 at Tottenham, 1-4 at Liverpool, 0-3 at Southampton, 0-3 at Wimbledon were why - yet we took a stunning amount of points from losing positions (including from two down at Arsenal and Chelsea), and had a superbly strong home record, only losing twice. And in the end, we got exactly what we deserved. Those players were all so down to Earth, so likeable, so hugely relatable - and at a time of hoofing it and the long ball, we did things totally differently. Observers overseas would highlight this the following season and laud Walker for his approach: this was a truly enlightened football club winning hearts all over Europe. The tragedy was it all ended so fast - and by the end of 1993/4, Munich and Milan already both seemed like dreams. 1992/3 was the greatest time to be alive for any Norwich City supporter. I'll never forget it. The entire season is burnished into my brain forever. And we did it with a bunch of humble, down to Earth blokes who had the time of their lives - and for the next 23 years, were the last provincial club ever to contend for the title. Celebrate them. Never forget them. They are all legends. As is their leader: Mike Walker himself, who the players adored, was tactically brilliant, and spent the entire season taking the **** out of our God-awful football media. The greatest manager in our history. I bloody wuv him, I do. ❤️

Emery has turned down Newcastle apparently so they’re the favourites for Eddie Howe now - it should be remembered they’re only marginally favourites in front of the England job of course. The Mail’s article states this - ‘Behind the scenes, doubts are emerging about whether he (Farke) can spark an upturn in fortunes.’ I wouldn’t doubt this at all, and I’m very much in 2 minds here how this will play out. I’m sure most people, myself included, would love to see Daniel turn it around as he’s largely well respected as a genuine guy who has had us playing some utterly fantastic football in recent years, and is clearly passionate about our club and even Norwich itself. That scenario of an uplift in fortunes may understandably look very unlikely as of late, but that’s not the point, I think the vast majority would love it if things clicked into gear under him after this rough spell. I don’t believe he’s not beyond the sack though, no matter how much posters like YellowBelly etc on here try to tell you otherwise. Let’s face it, when Webber was asked the question about Daniel’s future the other day, then unless you’re a bit funny in the head, you will know full well he’s not going to entertain that question in a committed way publicly. What’s he meant to say? - ‘yeah I can’t see us keeping him on much longer’ 🤦🏻‍♂️😂. I would imagine there are lots of discussions going on behind the scenes right now and Brentford could be seen as pivotal. My own opinion is I’d truly love to see Farke turn it around, however unlikely the chances of that may feel right now.

Every fired manager hits a point where it's over. Worthington did in October 2005, when we lost three on the bounce to inept opposition. We set ourselves back at least 5 years and took ourselves towards administration by keeping him for another wasted year, culminating in open mutiny v Burnley. Gunn did at Charlton. We kept him on regardless. Hughton did at Man City. We kept him on regardless, culminating in open mutiny v West Brom. Neil did at Brighton. We kept him on regardless, blowing our parachute payments and imperilling our entire future. Farke did at Chelsea. And if we don't sack him during the international break, we'll just be doing it yet again. Delaying the inevitable and poisoning the fanbase for no good reason and only bad ones.

We'll win. And finish above beloved Brentford. Just like we did after they won the league in January.

It’s some trick. Under Johnson the UK has become a banana republic that doesn’t grow bananas and doesn’t have them for sale in the shops.

Fixed for you 👍

McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean McLean Sargent

What do we think of this?

No square pegs in round holes...none of that nonsense selection we saw on sunday. Best players in each position... Krul Aarons Hanley Kabak Williams Normann Lees-Melou Gilmour Rashica Pukki Cantwell ....should have played this side vs Leeds and I believe we certainly wouldnt have lost and would given ourselves a chance to win

This is an astonishing new low for the Tories. It is absolutely beyond me how anyone with an insight of what is going, could vote for them. They resemble looters dragging televisions out of shops during riots.

As he seems to like football stories now in his tosh, how about this one 'One rule for them' But given that Boris Johnson has become fond of football metaphors lately: one of their team was given a serious red card, but rather than follow the decision, they've decided to sack the referee and the player can finish the match.

So how many other clubs of our size have produced / developed that amount of young talent within their first team over a 3 year period? Youre making it sound incredibly common but for a club of our size and financial strength there really aren't that many examples over the past 15 years.

Regarding Talk Norwich City, they do tend to be self-congratulatory and to assume that everyone loves them as much as they love themselves. But in terms of content they could learn a lot from Benjamin Bloom, who is light years ahead of them in intelligence and football knowledge. (At last something Ipswich are better at than Norwich!)

It's not the worst idea floating around .... in fact I suggested it a couple of weeks or so ago. Not that I claim to be particularly knowledgeable about these things, it's just that those forward runs of his, which are becoming frequent, indicate a flexibility not normally associated with the central defensive role. He is a tough tackling unit, after all.

In fairness they were less stupid ideas than Benetez currently playing him at left back.

It's one thing to attempt to change the rules on parliamentary statndards through the introduction of a bill. None of us are surprised that the serial offender Johnson would seek to defend himself and his Tory mates from any level of serious independent scrutiny. It's an altogether new level of corruption to smuggle into that proposal an amendment to exonerate an MP previously found guilty of an "egregious" breach of the rules by a cross-party committee on parliamentary standards. The fact that the government is also enforcing a three-line whip to force this amendment through represents a fundamental attack upon the very principles of parliamentary democracy that was once the pride of this country's reputation throughout the world. What a very sad day that we have a government prepared to plumb to such depths of corrupt self-interest without a flicker of shame on their faces. Truly disgusting contempt for every voter in the country.

What most of us seem to agree on is that we don't want McLean and we don't want Sargent. Guess what we're going to get.

I think even if he was open to staying at the start of the season, I don’t think that will be the case now. Can’t be a fun place for him right now so I doubt he’d want to stay, which personally I think is a shame. Even with our difficulties on the pitch now, there are rumours about that his contemporaries at Liverpool are joining Real Madrid at the end of the season and Webber has been earmarked for the job there. Whilst that will be scoffed at by some, he has still undeniably done some great work here especially sorting our financial situation and also when we think back just a few years ago to when Colney was basically a bunch of portacabins. What he’s done in those respects deserves massive credit. Anyway, not that Liverpool need an overhaul in that department as they’ve just done exactly that, having recently moved from Melwood, but I bet he’s still very highly regarded around the Premier League and I’m sure back at his former employers. So yeah, I will be staggered if he announces he’s staying irrespective of who or who doesn’t want him - I can actually see him taking some time out for a little while. I also highly doubt Neil Adams was giving his current role just to follow Webber around for as long as the next couple of years or maybe more, it all looks to me increasingly likely that he’s off by the end of the season. To me it feels very much like be careful what you wish for, but we’ll see.

I think he is perhaps getting a little confused and mixing up COP 26 with Davos. 😀 A grasp of the facts has never really been his or Farage's strong point - must admit I'd forgotten all about them, what is their pension fund, sorry company masquerading as a political party called nowadays?

Yes, there is an asterisk against that season. We were in decent form, having got past Spurs in the Cup and beating Leicester, going into the lockdown and then no fans. I don't believe for a moment if there had been fans in Carrow Road we would have lost those remaining five very winnable home games. We probably would still have been relegated, but with around 30 points.

I think the last season came with some inbuilt excuses- injury crisis, lack of new signings and lockdown/project restart. The terrible finish to last season can be compartmentalised a bit as it was a completely unique situation, not the case this year.

Morrison’s remove after being accused of racism and stirring up hatred. Apologised, said they didn’t mean it in the context you have posted it, yet you have posted it in that context, very sad.

Inspired post thank you

Don’t you mean it’s up to the udders ?

Jeex, 20 years of this debate - I can hardly wait

We got thumped 1-7 at Blackburn, 1-5 at Spurs, 1-4 at Liverpool, 0-3 at Wimbledon, 0-3 at Southampton, 1-3 at the binners and we lost 0-2 at home to the binners. We conceded three more goals than the team that finished rock bottom, Nottingham Forest. Boo. Everyone Out.

That's fair. But do you think that would be enough for survival? If not, do you not think that Farke would be the most likely to be able to repeat his success at Championship level?

It's all very well to point the finger at Farke and highlight his shortcomings. But you have to ask the question: how on earth do you think his replacement would actually improve things in the short and medium term?

Impossible. I was explicitly told that the reason we lost so heavily was that we didn't have the likes of Bradley Johnson anymore. Proper leaders n all that, which apparently we don't have.

No surprise that fatty Bacon managed to find time to vote for a fellow "snout in the trough" Tory. Rayner was right when she described them as scum.

The Socialists at this very moment are doing a grubby deal with Southampton to let Norwich win on the 20th so as to take the heat out of the AGM on the 25th. This has been done before. Everton two years' ago.

Perhaps his Spanish isn't good enough yet.

or the middle ground, which is conveniently ignored whenever this debate happens.

When things are going wrong in any walk of life it's human nature to look for someone or some thing to blame. Often though, it's a combination of several factors playing a part at the same time. Regarding our current situation, some of the points the OP mentioned are all probably involved I would guess. Far harder though is to put forward solutions that are realistic and could make a difference - that's certainly beyond me anyway.

My comment was meant to be a joke at Budapest Canary’s observation about Brentford being a hard place to go winning wise, but thank you for your direction advice regardless!

Really don't understand that team. Shake things up, yes ,but playing Giannoulis as an attacking midfielder, no way. Krul Aaron's Omo Hanley Giannoulis Normann Sorensen Rashica Gilmour Cantwell Tzolis Get TC back in. Give Teemu a rest. We saw against Brentford that Tzolis's pace can cause problems. Keep it low and play football. With those players our movement could tear Brentford apart

I was a Neil out but I think Farke should stay

I doubt we'll win, but if we do it will just serve to paper over the cracks for another few months, and give Webber an excuse to prolong the inevitable. Let's face it, the season is over.

I can only see another Norwich loss at Brentford.This team just aren't right for the premier League and not sure where they'd be in the championship.Which player is a real leader and where's the belief and drive to win. Hope the players take a good look at themselves and turn up a Brentford ready to fight and bring back 3 points.

Do not question the TuB . He knows.

This is an excellent observation, which I've never really thought about. I just wish we'd realised that there really wasn't an onus on us to attack in the Inter home game. A 0-0 draw would have been a brilliant result, what with our away strength and the away goals rule. Naiveté of our first year in Europe, I guess, but I really wish we'd shut up shop in the last few minutes of that match.

I have no dreadlocks and am still employable. But your bald head needs waxing...

I've been pondering recently about the lack of injuries so far this season. We were bitten badly two years ago, primarily at CB, and the early momentum was dismantled. This season, we seem to fade towards the end of matches and the changes off the bench aren't really making any noticeable impact coming into a struggling team. Is it more than just a dearth of confidence? Has there been some policy change around the training regime compared to two years ago? When Webber was talking about "quality, not quantity" back in May & June, he mentioned changes to the club approach to try and reduce/limit injuries. It's a delicate balance to keep the players finely tuned towards their peak performance without muscle injuries, strains, hamstrings etc... Is this has been the case, it might be working around player availability but it sure as hell isn't delivering the desired outcomes on the pitch or on the league table. Just a thought.

Don't flatter yourself I'm just as eloquent as you are. You are being pedantic about my original reply. You are blaming the fans reaction to the crap playing out on the pitch and somehow suggesting we will be responsible when the team are languishing mid table table in the championship. It's been said before many times football is a results business, the team are not getting the results in fact performances are in no way good enough. Fans are in their right to express frustration and anger when they feel let down.

I Was frustrated with him last season personally, he had such a strong squad yet we barely took anyone to the sword, had issues with players such as Cantwell and Emi, which still goes on today. And was clear what would happen in the prem when we went against the likes of Watford. Once we secured promotion we had plenty of time to try Sorensen in place of Skipp to see what he's capable of in that position but he wasted that opportunity. I was saying so at the time to all those around me too. He's yet to prove any success without a player of Emi's class - demonstrated now, and every time Emi was suspended or injured in games. I'm not going to disrespect the guy, and I refuse to boo at the end of the match. But I can have doubts without being labelled as 'myopic'. Show me Farke success without Emi and I'd put more credit to him solely, but you can't. Now those concerns are cruelly evident to the footballing world.