USAcanary

"No, it''s not that simple - what if Palace, Fulham and West Brom win all theirs?" I would think thats its almost a lock that we stay up if we win the last 3 games. 2 wins and a draw would probably be OK too. No way does WBA beat both Arsenal, Man Utd and Portsmouth, Southampton cant catch us if we win. It would be cool if Fulham lost the 3 games before ours meaning its all in our hands. 39 is a lock, 37 may be enough as well.

What could be interesting is if Norwich win the next 2 games and need 1 point to stay up and Fulham end up needing 1 point to stay up! You may witness the most boring game of football in the history of the universe with both keepers taking the day off!

Hucks, as good as he is, must share the blame of missed chances this year. When you compare his chance/goal ratio its quite poor compared to Leon and Deano. In a lot of ways Deanos last 3 goals have been nothing but half chances he turned into great finishes. Both headers were not clear cut and his solo run at palace was all his doing. The real shame is if we had a better defence then hucks given a more free style role could be devestating sitting behind the front 2. I can only dream of a solid 7 mid/def unit tracking with Hucks free style and Deano and Leon up front. The amazing thing is when we are behind we tend to play like that anyway. The real shame is I think we are very close to being a very good (young) side.

I said this a few weeks ago we have a very good young nucleus of a team who should be mid to upper mid table in the prem. Green , Shacks, Drury Safri, Francis and Hucks Leon And Deano. We create chances, Hucks has been guilty of not enough goals when you look at his chance/goal ratio. Where Ashton has a very good chance/goal ratio. I think with Ashton in the team earlier we would have scored as many goals as the mid table teams. The problem is obviously at the other end and we can`t make excuses. Even if we get relegated what is the point of sticking with a defence that won`t be good enough for the prem. It means we will have to rebuild again if we come straight back up. Let build around shacks with another quality Young centre half. I think its a real shame that Craig was so good for us in the championship but has been really caught out time after time in the prem.   The table doesn`t lie, the goals against says it all. We cannot make excuses. We ship far to many goals. If we do stay up it will be with one of the worst GA in the histrory of the prem.    

Manager of the month? If we win 3 of the next 4 games he should get manager of the decade! What would be so exciting if we could stay up is that not only will we be able to keep our quality players but with the success of Ashton it might encourage the board to invest more money in defensive players. It would be nice to do a "charlton" without the the relegation bit!

already said it in another thread but I feel relegated or not our defence will be almost totally new and built around Shackell. No point in playing with defenders who are clearly not good enough for the prem in the championship and then if promoted turn around and rebuild the defence. Give them the chance to play together in the championship and gain oganisational experience (which we have lacked rather than speed). I think this year we can be positive as its been a good learn experience for the club plus the extra cash it brings in helps us build for the future. We tried to run before we could walk, no shame in that, the players gave it their best shot but as they say the table doesn`t lie. I think we can come back stronger and much better prepared both finacially and skill wise ala Charlton.

This post hit the nail on the head. We have not really been undone by speed as much as oganisation, especially at set plays and crosses. Saying Malky was not fast enough hardly comes into it, experience is often worth a yard of speed. I think The bottom line is we can learn a lot from this year and come back stronger regardless of relegation or not. Personally from all the games I have seen I would keep the following nucleus of players to build around for the future Green Shackell Francis Safri Hucks Ashton Leon. And to be honest hucks is marginal, great for getting us back in the prem if relegated but I would use sparingly after that. On the bright side if we could build a good defence I think we could actually compete in the prem as I think Ashton and Leon can cause any defence trouble. I just hope Ashton doesn`t have a "sell if relegated" clause in his contract.

Peter, I understand, just a shame they could not send a message to us subscribers to let us know. Anybody who want to chat about the URL send me a PM  

I guess the admin deleted my post. I think most people like myself are current subscribers who pay to listen to the audio feed. I was lucky that someone sent me the URL or I would not be listening to Norwich right now.  

Guys, you have to remmember these people write columns because they can`t get a REAL JOB in football. If they knew so much or were such experts, clubs would be lining up offering them a job.

11,200 tickets already sold. You want that wand regular or extra crispy?

Something is in the wind because they would not have left it open. My bet is still on Crouch.

Rolla, missouri. 100 miles from St Louis

We already have enough points in my opinion. Sunderland will not get 83 points as thats 12 from the last six games. I think they lose or draw at least 3 of the next 4 games. All 4 teams will be looking for points against them. Not scoring against the Ipswich defence marks them a team unlikley to catch us on GD.

1st Wizard wrote "Hands up all of you who can''t grasp this. Whatever happens, even if Sunderland win all their remaining games (very unlikely) and City win their''s (very likely the way we''re playing!) we would still be 5 points clear at the end, simple." My hand is up! As sunderland and Norwich play each other it would be somewhat difficult for both teams to win every game. Your math is so far off its comical.

As a manager with certain resources you play to your strengths. If you have somebody in your side who can scare defenders then play that way, if you lack midfield skill but have big strikers then often the long ball game is the way to go. Lets say, god forbid, hucks and Leon could not play, then if you went for Matty and Iwan up front your game plan would change a LOT! Horses for courses. It would not surprise me if worthy went for 4-4-2 against Reading. He knows that a draw is actually a good result. People act as if we are going to win every game of the run in. Its just not going to happen, the good news is that its also not going to happen to the teams below us. The math is getting simple as I post this, Millwall are getting buried, WBA are drawing so a win vs Reading and a Sunderland loss will make us an almost certainty to go up. If Sunderland lose and WBA draw today and we only draw thats a great result also with our GD.

lets see. Hucks misses a penalty which doesn`t end up costing us much vs all the goals he has scored and set ups for other players to score? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm If thats the worst thing we can write about him then we have nothing to worry about.

This makes perfect sense. If Iwan has lost a yard of pace why not use him at the end of the game when the other team is tired and the yard doesnt matter as much. When you are defending a lead or draw you often want to hoof the ball up field towards a Iwan type player. Its vital once you have a lead to hang on. People forget that and just look at goal production A player who can unsettle a defence at the end of a game is vital in wasting minutes. They give away corners and throw ins which waste those minutes. Norwich has been very good this year about not giving late goals away. Hell they have been good about not giving hardly any goals away. Last 10 games we have scored 13 and conceded 5, hard to not win the division when you only concede an average of half a goal a game.

As i said before we only need 3 wins and a draw as I don`t think any team will get more than 80 points for third. The math is simple, every game we win we elliminate 2 teams who can realistically catch us. Even though teams won today because we won it makes our position even stronger, most have run out of games. All the playoff teams play each other which is something the people who are saying 5 wins are not looking at. Lets hope for lots of draws. It looks like its only realistically Sunderland who can upset us. I just hope we have it all wrapped up before we go to the SOL.

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I will bet with anyone that 3rd place in the table will not be above 80 points. All this 85 points is BS. Its 85 points if one of the teams below wins nearly every game. It just wont happen. Any team picking up an average of 2 points per game over the last 9 games will be on fire and that will unlikely. If we get 3 wins and a draw that will be enough. If we win the next 2 games and teams below us each either draw or lose 1 of those games we are almost a lock with our GD. You have to remember a lot of the teams playing for a playoff place will play for away draws because every point is vital with so few games left. This helps WBA and Norwich because teams need to win to catch us, draws are useless because there are so few games left.

One thing worth remembering is our GD is worth an extra point. We need to keep solid and not concede too many goals. If you look at the table we just need 3 wins to be a lock. No club chasing will get 80 points. Ringing huge changes is a mistake although I do like bringing players in on loan which can shake things up.

I will wager that 80 points will get automatic promotion. Thats 3 wins and a draw ;-) I cannot see any of the teams below us getting 80 points. Infact if one of those wins or draw is against Sunderland we probably wont need 80 points especially with our GD.

The fans, players and management all need to calm down. Everybody has to accept that we are so close and so much is at stake that things will be said and done that don`t represent the true feelings. Everybody was edgy because of this important must win game after the Cardiff defeat. Worthy is no doubt feeling the pressure and will probably say things he doesn`t mean or in the wrong context. Good news is that I expect tremendous support on Saturday at CP where a victory and other results going our way will make it very difficult for us to not get promoted. It would be so nice if we could lock in promotion with 5 games to go. The advantage we have is none of the chasers are looking like world beaters and they will often settle for draws and a playoff place rather than victories which will catch us and West Brom. With the playoff picture being so tight it actually helps us and west brom

I am out on my own but to me it doesnt look like we need wholesale changes if we get promoted. Yes we need a bigger squad. I am not sure there is any proof that buying big with big wages makes it a lock for staying up. It just puts you in a bad spot if you get relegated. I say play those who got you to the dance. At least give them a chance to succeed, they have proven they are better than the first division and might just prove they are better than 6 or 7 teams in the prem. The one huge benefit we have had this year is, touch wood, very few injuries. And virtually no major long term ones. How many teams in this division could lose their best 2 strikers and still go out there and be competitive. Norwich could.