Essjayess

Join the race?..i question this, seems like just a rehash of our supposed interest from early in the window and even then there seemed no actual concrete evidence that City were strongly in for the guy. I can understand Soton being very interested, the guy would likely walk straight into their first 11. I really cant see City splashing out 10 mill on a CB for Gibbo and Hanley when weve already Omo and Zimbo as cover, albeit the arguement on whether those two are adequate for Prem level. But then who am i to know what City are after, im just a fan who guesses everything. A DM seems way more important position to fill to me..hey why not sign Adarabioyo as CB cover and push Omo as a DM...he has the physique...there we go..my know nothing fan type knowledge solves a problem.

Has always seemed a bit of a mystery why Sorensen is mostly on the bench and not on the pitch, it feels like DF views him as a kind of utility player who can fill in at a few positions, but then only if for whatever reason those also on the bench beside him cannot fulfill DF's tactical changes during any game scenario. Personally feel Sorensen should have by now cemented a starting place in City's matchday first 11, but if the above has any ring of truth then i guess Sorensen is destined to be a bench warmer. Only DF knows what DF wants.

Understand what you're saying Lakey but fact is at very least we do need someone else to cover the full back positions...having just 1 guy, Mumba, to cover two positions is not what the club desires...it only takes one injury to Max or Dimi...or indeed to Bali...and then any cover is gone. But Man U are in a similar state...if Alex Telles foot injury does not recover as planned then they may not sanction this Williams move as they would be left with 1 guy to cover 2 full back positions. As it is its the reason why the loan may not be done until next week anyway.

Bizarrely i am to, even though i believe City are seriously chasing down yet another football league record, most consecutive defeats in the Prem. They now stand at 11, just 4 more to equal Sunderland's 15 of nearly 20 yrs ago. And this coming after record number of away wins and points ever in the 2nd tier. I know theyre still the only club ever to achieve above 50% of draws in matches played in a season in any division and possibly the only club to finish in top 3 of Prem with a minus goal difference. Anyhow...yea...1 goal scored and 27 conceded in those 11 defeats...yet here we are...full house still at the Carra and a genuine warmth for our head coach still...only at Norwich i say. Can lose all we want, but i wont be denied in believing SW and DF are and will continue to strengthen us and stay up or go down i will be excited about the players we have already here. OTBC.

yes...no more big waves either direction...thats faded away. Seems we have found a settled form of stats, be they good or bad. 25-30k ish new daily cases, 100 daily deaths and 6k hospital admissions...looks like its going to be the norm for some time now.

depends what you mean as being a yo yo club...obviously the thinking is league position, bouncing from Champs to Prem, rinse and repeat. That, to fans who only think of, or mainly think of, league position as the be all and end all of being a City fan and measuring the success of failure regarding that, is to me only part of of being a City fan. The absolute biggest point for me in these past 4 years is the transformation of the club in finding a self funding model that has given the club solidity, both financially and on the pitch, improving Colney beyond measure, getting very good profits from player sales, whilst still playing good football and retaining a head coach most fans are actually content with. We are the only club that has achieved such a thing as is and is what Lakey rightly alludes to...look at the club as a whole and whats not to like? But...if to take your question in isolation..can any City fan be happy with being a yo yo club...well, sgncfc does'nt mind and i would go further, yes, im happy City being a yo yo club. I would be happier to if we could have a few seasons in the Prem continous, but should that not occur im still happy..competing in the Prem against some of the worlds top clubs is tremendous, but also playing in the Champs is great to, its such a competitive and tough division..we get to taste both each other season.

Agree with this and DF has said already that Tzolis will need time to develop etc etc but no doubting hes one of Europe's most exciting "prospects" for his age, given to that hes on a 5 year contract means he is viewed as a long term player for City. As Lakey alluded to, guys like Tzolis and Sargent are already a step up from when we signed Buendia, these guys have played regular seasons in Bundesliga and Greek Super league, have caps and scored for their respective international first teams, hence they've cost 2 or 3 times as much as Buendia, but are still very young and not the finished article. Who knows if we have enough creativity and goals to keep us in the Prem this season, that relies as much on defence as much as offense, but i do see in these signings as a step up and leading to exciting times ahead, maybe not immediately but for sure in the longer term. Also, thou costing us a good bit of transfer dosh, most of these lads once again have the potential for big sell on fees later down the line which of course is the lifeblood of our club.

Todays local media report did kinda say it could be another 24 hrs but yea, its been a bit of a slow process it seems for quite a few weeks to get Christos signed up, but as DF said with transfers...be patient.

SW will leave when he deems its time to leave, this is really a stupid non news feature thats indeed just click bait rubbish. Of course he will exit, he said early in his time here that he was "just passing thru", meaning every employee leaves a club at some point but the club remains. Alex Ferguson was just passing thru Man Utd. We have lost 2 important guys in their respective roles in last couple of weeks already in Bill Kensell and Kieron Scott, its the nature of any organisation that has hundreds of employees for comings and goings to happen most weeks of any year. Just as has been said already, nothing to see, move on.

Exciting...well i really hope so Lakey..but for now this is the reality of where we are..on a run of 10 consecutive Prem defeats...in those 10 games we scored 1 goal and conceded 24..the record streak of defeats in the Prem is held by Sunderland back in 02-03 at 15...and sure enough the computer hit us with the hardest possible start to the new season...i would be over the moon to get 1 point in the first 5 games, its not a record i wish on City. Anyways, i do agree that up front is looking exciting...Pierre and Billy Gilmour already showed glimpses that they will be good for us and im so looking forward to seeing Rashica, Sargent and Tzolis added to Cantwell, Dowell and Teemu..it could be somewhat testing period until these new guys get up to speed but if they can click as a team at some point in the season then we could be about to see some real great times at our club. Reserve any judgement on our defence until end of the month.

Just wonder if there is now some evidence starting to show of a pattern of prolonged stability in these figures, certainly for weekly new cases and hospital admissions. Hard to put an exact number on those two areas, but maybe 25k new cases daily and about 6k admissions could be with us for at least the next few weeks. Things may change from Sept. with schools reopening and weather cooling down. Deaths still rising a tad but no significant speed to it, perhaps that is starting to stabilise to. Whether these figures are enough for us all to consider we have returned to normal and living with Covid remains to be seen. As for our dear NHS its most burning issue now is the long running problem with a mountain of back logged stuff that was already huge before Covid but now must be far far worse.

Yep, ive said it last day or so, Lakey said it to, now Bill to..one needs to look at our attacking signings this window and for me Sargent feels a much more potentially good signing for City than Armstrong, because along with Rashica, Tzolis, Lees Melou to add to Cantwell and Dowell, never mind Pukki himself, there are potentially goals to come from any guy at anytime...that flexibility to be able move around and keep oppo defences on the spin and guessing who is going to what and where could be fascinating. I think Teemu could work with this as hes been used to Emi and Todd doing such things, but agree with Bill in some respect that it could make it harder for Idah to work with such a scenario.. We will see as the season develops what is to be, but no doubt a few tonkings in the first few weeks but SW has done what he promised and given DF the ammo...now its up to DF to use it..im pretty happy with our new signings and must admit a bit awestruck how much we have spent on these guys. OTBC.

Still dont understand why guys are putting Sargent in the same mold as Pukki..sure he had some time as centre at Werder but its clear that hes much more than that and joins City as a flexible player who can play in a few positions up front. We have Idah if Pukki gets injured and / if Idah cant do the job im certain that DF may use Rashica or Tzolis (if we get him) as much as he may use Sargent. It looks clear to me in the players who have come in this window have the flexibility to majorly fill the position Teemu plays in should he not be able to play. Thats another reason why i think City left the Armstrong offer long ago and moved on.

Just cant put any credence into this, the local boys said City had moved on from Armstrong quite awhile ago and since then have spent what must be a majority of the piggy bank unless Todd or Max move on, which is becoming more remote as each day passes. In anycase if its true that Palace offered 12 plus add ons they must surely know that times running out and Blackburn have not budged an inch of their valuation for Armstrong. If they came back with 15 or 16 plus add ons then im sure Blackburn may well change their stance but im not convinced the City offer is any longer there. Way i look at is Pukki is still the main man but if Idah, Cantwell, Dowell, Rashica, Lees Melou, Tzollis and Sargent between them cant add enough to our goals tally then we may as well give up.

Obviously in the last few years Colney was the area that needed the most upgrading, which seems to have been done wonderfully well considering how new players enthuse now about the facilities there. We all know the City stand has been the ongoing spot for possible redevelopment for absolutely yonks so all we can hope is that now Colney is up to spec that somewhere down the line...sooner rather than later of course..City and the local authorities can make this happen.

Obviously hoping never to see this forum or its name disappear as its been synonymous with reporting the fortunes of our beloved club down thru so many generations and indeed with local football in all its guises, but should it ever sadly happen then i to would happily contribute financially as best i could to keep it alive in some format.

Starting the season vs. Morecambe while we start vs. Liverpool. Sums it up.

This started out with TVB posting a vid of a guy who TVB was alluding to say he had never seen anyone so one footed before and has expanded into a topic on the credentials of Sargent as a Pukki replacement...kind of. Begs the question...is Sargent being actually brought in as our bona fide 3rd striker? Seems to me more like he is another player who can adapt up front in any of the positions, much like Tzolis, Rashica etc..DF loves flexibility and im positive that Tzolis and Rashica can fill the 3rd spot as well as Sargent. Look TVB...signing guys young, bringing them on etc..to sell at a profit...in case you had only just realised...IS the way we invest to survive as a football club. If you were meaning the word survival as being able to escape relegation for once, well..Webber and DF's aim was to make the team overall a stronger squad at the end of the window than at the beiginning, to hopefully give us a increased chance of staying up this time...Sargent, if he signs, is just one of a plethora of ins and outs that are happening right now and we all, as at every club, just have to wait until the season gets going to see how it all pans out. Also, i dont think PLM is a 19 year old rough diamond..so look at the overall squad, not just at a select few.

We cant now really bash Villa if do get both Emi and Todd as we are doing the same, grabbing 2 of Bremen's best in Rashica and Sargent, notwithstanding Dimi and Tzolis from PAOK, albeit with a slight gap in that one. Anyways, Pukki, Idah and Sargent feels stronger than Pukki, Idah and Hugill...potentially at least, time will tell us.

Included are couple of factor ins yes and may or not include add ons but fag packet time..Gunn / Lees Melou 10 mill..Dimi / Gibbo 15 mill, Rashica 10 mill, Tzolis 10 mill...thats around 45 mill spent on permanents so far in the window and maybe couple more permanents to come..we are definitely spending money for sure.

We should pretty much soon see what is the actual state of affairs concerning Tzolis..if there is any truth that PAOK are looking at 20 mill euro for Tzolis then City will very quickly up stakes and walk away..but unless its a sudden big upping of the amount they want for the guy then i find it strange as there seems to have been a business like but stable interaction between City and PAOK with City bidding 3 times, each time by a million or two euro..so City would presumably have some knowledge about PAOK's general valuation for the guy.

No idea where Alan Nixon got his source from but plainly not from Norfolk, with the timing of the rumour about Armstrong coming so soon after Villa signing Ings, likely some mischievous Lancastrian who normally sources Rovers related guff. Its been made clear at least, City had interest early in the window but realised Blackburn would not shift from their 20 mill +, hence City dropped their interest in Armstrong and moved on. Knowing Webber's quiet way of doing negotiations City have likely identified other striker targets for some time and ones far removed from a 20 mill price tag, we were never going to buy any striker anywhere near that amount. Looks like the Tzolis story is nearing its completion hopefully, also expecting the Cantwell move to be done pretty quickly to soon , the way Villa move and act has been the most significant feature of this transfer window...unless they are after Ward Prowse that is..who knows.

Interesting to see the 7 day rolling stats in a graph form for the 3 areas of new cases / deaths and admissions for the last month or two. New cases had a pretty sharp rise followed by a pretty sharp decline in last couple weeks, deaths started to rise much later than new cases and continue to rise but there has been no sharp increase, just a slow rise. Admissions started to rise later than new cases but earlier than deaths, the rise was moderate and as Ricardo said seems to be stalling at present, not really rising or falling much.

The latest from Sportime in Greece this afternoon about Tzolis was a rumour from France that Nis had been interested in the guy but that Sportime think indeed it was "had" and not "have", they do say even after City's 2nd bid was turned down the situation is to be taken seriously.

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-norwich-city-open-talks-to-sign-bournemouth-star-billing/ yes i know, its Football Insider, but this is a rumours topic so here we are.