Woodman

Leaving aside Ipswich as a given, it'd be Liverpool, Leeds and I find Chelsea quite unlikeable. Wolves were a close 4th for the Muscat years, but my dislike for them is easing as the years go by. Mind you, this season, Villa are really getting on my nerves. Turned off as soon as they scored the winner last night. The media are desperate for them to stay up. Perhaps its just Grealish I dislike...

We were all crying out for a CDM pre-season, most were saying Tettey and Trybull weren't up to it, so when he arrived, he fitted what we needed. However, we quickly went to needing another centre half with Zimmermann, Klose and Hanley getting injured. He played very well v Man City, but all 11 (14) did that day. For whatever reason, he hasn't been able to dislodge Tettey or Trybull in the holding role, and with McLean doing well and now Vrancic, Duda and Rupp here, he's an expensive back-up CB - especially with Klose close (sorry) to being fit again and Godfrey available post-suspension.

I seem to remember the structure of the Maddison deal with Leicester included a significant amount of the total fee up front - which we needed at the time?

A team with Adrian, Matip, Lovren, Fabinho, Origi plus subs like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Salah, Firminho, Keita & Alexander-Arnold should have beaten Shrewsbury. 8 of them were in the Champions League final squad FFS. He knew beforehand that there was the possibility of a replay and when it would be played. To cry wolf now is massively disrespecting the competition and Shrewsbury.

I'd 'rest' players like Krul, Aarons, Tettey, Cantwell, Pukki & maybe Zimmermann or Hanley. Defensively, we don't have many available to be able to afford to rest them: Fahrmann injured (again), Godfrey suspended, Klose injured.

Klopp's been given £100s of milliions to spend on a team. I often wonder how any of the likes of Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola etc, would get on managing clubs like ours.

Farke's talking about 6 more wins and 'a few' draws. Tomorrow is another free hit as far as I'm concerned; even though they're not in good form, they're still one of the top 6-8 in the division. This one, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester are the ones which I'm expecting us to lose, so if we pick up a point or even a win, that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, I'd go with that - I thought McLean was one of our better performers on Saturday. Someone said Tettey pulled up at the end of the game, so if he's not fit, Trybull or Rupp might start.

I've done Run Norwich 3 times for CSF and they support you really well. They did some specific training sessions last year at the Nest which were awesome - not just for experienced runners, but for beginners too. Thoroughly recommend Run Norwich, it's a brilliant event. The crowds are great, the course is challenging and the atmosphere is brilliant. Word of warning - it'll be warm in mid-July, make sure you do your training. Everyone will tell you that running up Rose Lane is a killer, but for me, the hardest part is the climb from Magdalen Street up Tombland and onto Castle Meadow at 8-9 kilometres in. I'm running this year for Cruse Norwich.

In other news, Wolves are rumoured to be looking at Oliveira (9 goals in 15 games). Can't see it myself...

Agree about how close the Bournemouth bench were to the monitor. You can see one of their staff looking at the screen while the ref reviews it and is clearly saying something to influence him. The other thing I didn't like about the sending off was how the ref didn't say a word to Godfrey (from what we were shown on the highlights). Just stared into his eyes and pulled out the red card, almost with pleasure.

Did this kick or nudge go to VAR?

Totally agree, he could and should have been booked in the first half - kicked the ball away, verbally abused the linesman and the flick out at Krul. Poor tackle from Godfrey. With VAR, any tackle of that sort will look worse when it is reviewed three or four times.

To be honest, Leitner might be good there too. I don't think Bournemouth play the same high press that other clubs do, which doesn't allow Leitner the time and space to do what he does best. In theory, any combination of our central midfielders should be capable. At the start of the season, I'd have said, on paper, Amadou and Leitner would be our best combination, but no-one apart from Tettey has really grasped that position and made it their own.

Let's face it, only Cantwell came out of the Man U game with any credit. I'm thinking the same about Byram. I agree with playing Duda if he's ready to start; really don't know anything about Rupp, so I'd be really surprised if he started him ahead of one of Tettey, Amadou, Trybull, Vrancic, MacLean or Leitner. Everyone's assuming Godfrey and Pukki are both fit to start as well. So, assuming all the above are fit and available, for me, its: Krul Aarons Zimmermann Godfrey Byram Tettey Trybull Buendia Duda Cantwell Pukki

We're certainly not going to sign him at £15-20m, especially with Duda already signed and with Cantwell, Buendia & Hernandez plus MacLean and Stiepermann as back up. The other question is, is he better that what we have already got? Has never played in the Prem and I seem to remember him being pretty anonymous when we played them at home last year - could've been a one off performance of course as we were rolling teams over with ease by that point in the season.

On new signings, if Duda and Rupp are improvements on what we have, that's great. With every signing we made last summer, bar maybe Amadou, I struggled to see who they were 'better than' in our squad. And that was what we needed then and what we need now. I'm still hoping for a centre back and a back up striker.

I assume the 9 in the corners column is goals conceded? Another negative stat for Zonal marking. If Fahrmann can stay fit, I assume we'll see him at Burnley in the cup.

I think our home games are going to determine our fate. We have Bournemouth, Liverpool, Leicester, Southampton, Everton, Brighton, West Ham and Burnley. Realistically we need to win 6 of those 8. I accept that we've only won 3 all season and haven't done well against teams around us, but if we can just get a win and some belief back, who knows. Away games look grim - Spurs, Newcastle, Wolves, Sheff U, Arsenal, Watford, Chelsea, Man City. 5 of the 8 look like defeats to me.

someone suggested 3 at the back with Lewis and Aarons pushed further up. We haven't had the luxury of changing formation at the back all season due to at least 2 of our CBs being injured at the same time. That's also had some impact on when and how Amadou plays. With no direct replacement on the bench, it's unlikely Farke would play 3 CBs and Amadou in the same side.

Nah, that's a rubbish idea...

Interesting how The Athletic's MB says no and the EDP's 'Chief Norwich City reporter' is claiming we are in pole position (albeit by regurgitating a Bristol Post article). Who has the better inside knowledge?

Can't win, can we - "we must sign someone, anyone!". Then when someone does sign its only on loan. Oh, and he hasn't signed yet! Sounds very promising to me - competition / an upgrade on MacLean and Stiepermann and a current international footballer.

Even with my yellow and green goggles on, Wilson's goal for Livarpool was pretty special...

I do agree, but at the start of the season we had Klose, Hanley, Godfrey and Zimmermann as our 4 CBs, and unless we's signed another top quality one, they were always going to be given the opportunity to play - and many of us thought they were good enough, despite the 58 goals conceded. Personally, I think Klose and Godfrey would have been our 'best' pairing, but I don't recall them playing as a pair at all this season and injuries to all of them have destroyed any consistency in that area. But yes, I take your point that it is/was an area that needs/needed improving.