westcoastcanary

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]I think we should field a strong team but not our strongest. Perhaps Vadis needs a full game to show what he can do, Tettey should certainly be rested and i''d be tempted to rest Bassong as well. Bennett needs the minutes and we don''t want to risk our best defender getting injured. I think i''d give Gary O''Neil a game and play Redmond and Johnson. Howson can have a rest. I''d go with Wes and Jerome for the other two slots.[/quote]If anyone needs a rest I''d say it was Jerome. He''s had to run himself into the ground with Grabban being unavailable for so long. Agree play Bennett for the game time.

The only thing I''d add to what Purple just said is that Highland''s condescending attitude doesn''t do justice to the Championship. From a quality of football perspective, the Championship (not to mention the lower leagues), is barely recognisable from even seven years ago (when the two teams in the automatic promotion places were Mowbray''s West Brom and Pulis''s Stoke). This season we''ve seen Bournemouth setting the pace with players and a brand of football light years away from both those teams. And for all the moaning about Hughton''s use of inverted wingers, we are now appreciative of a manager who prefers to play without real wingers at all!

Even Tettey''s knee is well able to manage one game a week. Fulham represent a big challenge even though pride and exorcising a demon are the only things hanging on it. Finishing the season on a high and going into the play offs full of confidence though would be a huge plus. What sort of preparation would it be to duck out?

[quote user="93vintage"]After the disaster of relegation we should have tried to get the Cook to leave instead of sticking with Adams.[/quote]Disaster? What disaster? The club is in the best health ever and you talk about disaster! On this tasting 93vintage is a pretty raw wine.

Has Alex Neil said somewhere that he would have taken the job last summer? I''ve never heard or read anything of the sort. Jim and others seem to assume that he would have come if he had been approached. As far as I can see it''s an assumption based solely on the fact that he accepted the job in January. But how AN would have viewed it in the summer and how he viewed it in January are different questions and there would have been different factors at play in the summer compared to January. Speculating about how many points better off we would have been with AN in charge is fruitless enough without basing the whole bit if guesswork on an equally speculative premise.

[B]  My sentiments exactly Morty. Great season in a super-competitive league, filled with drama, a lot of good football and plenty to feel good about.

I blame the board for appointing Alex Neil. When Adams resigned we were in 7th place, only 3 points below the team in 6th and just 11 points off 1st place and 10 off 2nd. We had a perfectly good platform for finishing the season in the top two (especially given we have the best squad in the league). That we haven''t got automatic is entirely down to our performances since Alex Neil took over. What a clueless appointment; very inexperienced and such experience as he had only in the wasteland that is Scottish football. Get rid and let''s appoint ....... somebody.

[quote user="Highland Canary"]The issue is less one of entitlement and more one of making strategic decisions that maximise the chance of success. We had the players capable of achieving automatic promotion. What was lacking was a manager. We''re in the lottery now, let''s hope our number comes up.[/quote]Success? I''d say the club has been brilliantly successful since DM came in and the rebuilding started. You lot sound just like disgruntled Arsenal supporters! If we were in Arsenal''s position you''d still be grumbling and holding up banners saying "Sack Wenger, Kroenke Out".

"Bradley Johnson''s left foot" wrote:  Am I missing something? Do Norwich fans not support our team?Yes, you are missing something. I''ll leave it to you to work out what.

Listening to R5L coverage last night a constant theme was the importance of  all pulling together for the success of the club. Sorry to say that sort of togetherness has been sorely lacking at Carrow Road. Too many City fans seem to think they have some kind of entitlement to PL football. Alex Neil put his finger on it straight away and he wasn''t referring just to an attitude among the players.

Well done Bournemouth. What a great night at the Goldsands. Success thoroughly deserved. And well done to their fans who have supported the club through thick and thin over the years -- and I don''t just mean paid for their tickets, I mean supported. Reminds me of how things used to be here.

[quote user="CJRV 2014"]I think people are just a bit suprised. If someone said "which norwich player got in the pfa team of the year" i dont think many would suggest russell martin. Do you think russell martin will be in our top 3 for player of the season because i dont. Do you think hes been our best defender this season because i dont.[/quote]Maybe what should surprise people is not that RM got into the PFA Team of the Year but the discrepancy between their opinion and that of more knowledgeable professionals in the game (not just Russ''s peers who play with and against him, but also his club and national managers who keep selecting him ahead of others at CB and have a big say in contract negotiations). If people can''t understand why RM is in that eleven, it suggests to me they should perhaps start questioning their own opinion.

[quote user="nutty nigel"]Is it possible to make a retrospective change then? One of our players is voted the best by his peers and yet the know it alls on here still can''t show any pride. Well done Russell Martin![/quote]This^ Then there''s also Gordon Strachan''s opinion of  RM. Obviously he hasn''t a clue either (despite the fact that Scotland are actually making a good fist of  trying to qualify from a difficult Group).

[quote user="paul moy"]Grabban apparently put a player in a headlock and then punched him. If so we must never rely on him in a crucial game ever again.[/quote]If  he can''t be relied on in crucial games there''s no point in keeping him. He''s let everyone down big time -- except his old club Bournemouth.

[quote user="CANARYKING"]Anybody got a link that works on my iPad ?[/quote]Try replacing "desktop" in Nigel''s link with "mobile"  orhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vzFKuox5nRY&app=mobile

[quote user="TCCANARY"][quote user="westcoastcanary"][quote user="TCCANARY"]It just shows that we are a team, not a rag bag of players being dragged into a false position by one or two players. [/quote]So ''Boro, Bournemouth, Watford, Brentford are rag bags of players dragged into a false position by one or two players? Are you serious TC? Maybe what it shows is rather that we lack that extra bit of quality in front of goal which would have converted good chances into goals and points on several occasions this season.[/quote] Why are you so keen to talk up other teams and belittle our players?[/quote]I''m not belittling our players. I''m questioning your and other posters belittling of other teams and their players. My comment about us needing an extra bit of quality in front of goal is simply repeating what Alex Neil himself said when he spoke of us needing more clinical finishing. What that Top 10 tells us is that, while we may have good strikers, they are not among the best in the Championship this season. Do you dispute that?

[quote user="TCCANARY"]It just shows that we are a team, not a rag bag of players being dragged into a false position by one or two players. [/quote]So ''Boro, Bournemouth, Watford, Brentford are rag bags of players dragged into a false position by one or two players? Are you serious TC? Maybe what it shows is rather that we lack that extra bit of quality in front of goal which would have converted good chances into goals and points on several occaisons this season.

Rather than rubbish opinions that we don''t like, it might be more useful to the Norwich City cause to take them a bit more seriously. This Top 10 is the collective opinion of  Championship managers. Maybe we should look at the list and try to understand the footballing reasons behind it being as it is and why none of our players are on it.

Jimmy, I think you underestimate Brentford and are almost certainly wrong in suggesting they, like Blackburn, are likely to lose their best on-field assets. They have done better than they expected this season, so I think their expectations will be to at least match it next season. A lot''s been made of the impending departure of  Warburton, but Benham''s track record shows that he knows what he''s doing. Guardian piece about Benham''s "other" club here

In my opinion a two year period of re-building is exactly what we need. To have a decent chance of  establishing yourself in the PL you need to arrive there with a largely PL quality squad requiring just one or two better quality additions to keep improving. We didn''t, and that unpreparedness (plus the commitment to pay off the external debt in the second season) means we are still short of where we need to be in quality terms. Does anyone seriously think that the present squad is basically good enough to survive more than a season in the top league with just a bit of tinkering? I don''t, even with AN in charge.

Re. "the emotional/rationality disparity gap", better understanding doesn''t mean less emotion. Any chess aficionado will tell you that! The  dichotomy is not so much between emotion and understanding as between ill- and well-informed emotion. Better understanding is emotionally enriching.The supporters of certain clubs e.g. Liverpool and Newcastle, have the reputation of  "knowing their football". These are also clubs where it is not uncommon for the away team or an opposition player to be applauded off the field. That doesn''t come simply from generosity of spirit; it comes from appreciating the game.

Stan''s other tip for automatic was Watford -- with a special mention for Troy Deeney.

[quote user="Crabbycanary3"]For gawds sake westcoast, put some green and yellow specs on![/quote][:D] My specs ARE green and yellow -- but they don''t have distorting lenses! 

[quote user="woostercanary"]Yes, one of the best threads on here for a long time. For the tactically illiterate (me) it is a helpful insight into what I miss when watching football. Thank you.[/quote]And thank you from me too Parma  [B] . One question: what happened to Masterclass 5? Searching only brings up 1--4. 

[quote user="TCCANARY"]You should always look to improve, if you stand still you''re probably going backwards, so even if you do get knocked down you should get back up again you should never be kept down.[/quote]I''m not disputing that TC; you should always aim to be the best you can. My point was that "the best you can" does not imply "you can be the best". There''s a reason why we can only dream about winning the PL: money. And the idea that we might be taken over by a seriously wealthy owner with ambitions to win the Champions League and challenge the Real Madrid''s of this world is an even more extravagant dream!And in reply to Jimmy, there is nothing that makes "a good sustained period" in the PL "long overdue" for us. That implies we somehow "ought" to be there. There''s no "ought" about it. Yes clubs in our bracket manage it -- you cite Stoke and Bolton, you could add WBA, Wigan and Swansea. The fact is, though, that 46 clubs have spent at least one season in the PL since it was founded, which means 26 are currently "swanning around the Championship" or lower  leagues (not to mention another 19 or so who have never been in the PL but did feature at some time in the old First Division). No doubt there are plenty of fans of  those 45 clubs (the Sheffield clubs, Leeds, Ipswich, Charlton, Brighton, Cardiff, Birmingham, Wolves, Blackpool, etc. etc. etc) who also think they are "due" a prolonged stay in the PL.