Rottingdean canary

It seems to be a bit of a theme that senior people at the club (Anthony Richens yesterday and Dean Smith today - Stuart Webber last season) are upsetting some supporters by being a bit defensive in response to supporter dissatisfaction. This defensiveness is obviously counter-productive when it manifests in suggestions there are shortcomings on the part of the supporters. This got me thinking about my own experience when I feel I'm being criticised or attacked. Many years ago I was running what was a successful business with almost universal praise from customers. One day I got a letter from a recent customer pointing out a list of shortcomings - unfortunately I was too quick to write back and to this day I still cringe at the memory of how defensive (to the point of subtle counter-attack) I was. But I don't think it's that rare - it's commonplace whenever something we are closely associated with is criticised - could be our family, our business, our football club, our religion, our political party, or any group we identify with. So it's understandable how people at NCFC are reacting but obviously unhelpful, so what to do? Should they have more media training? Emotional intelligence training? Or only let the people speak who have that intelligence address the issues of the disconnect with some supporters(I thought both Richens and Smith spoke very well on other topics)? Or maybe a senior figure or friend of the club should facilitate a review of the attitude towards supporters and the local media? That might be good for everybody. Any comments?? - perhaps your experience of being (or not being) defensive and what you suggest for our club to communicate more wisely

If it's the Stranglers concert at St Andrews Hall that I remember, as I recall it Hugh Cornwell said there were skinheads (or some such) waiting outside to beat up the punks at the concert. He then said "Go out there and show them your strength". A bit naughty of him but I can't remember seeing any signs of trouble outside. Certainly nothing compared with football matches in those days

He's turned into a top all-round player. I noticed a fantastic bit of wing play to set up a chance in their last game. It's a shame we hadn't manged to keep him after our loan (although it's been a few years for him to develop) but I imagine Southampton must feel even more strongly about selling him

I'm only replying Robert just to keep this up the topics list in the hope someone more observant than me responds. I watched the match from about 20 minutes in. To be honest, I didn't notice him much but I think that's the nature of a player in his position that they don't have to stand out. I was at the Watford game and watched him very closely when he came on and he's certainly got the qualities that we miss - good defensive positioning, good tackling, able to do simple passing - but I'm not sure we should expect him to do anything more creative. I did wonder whether our rather more chaotic defending in the second half might have something to do with him tiring but that's pure conjecture on my part.

I thought it was one of our best performances for a long time. Lots of fast and fluid attacking moves which just needed a better finish. Nunez was a bit better than in the last couple of games but I would still prefer Gibbs in there at the moment - more stability defensively and Gibbs is also a good passer and, as we saw with the penalty, can be an attacking force. And I want to mention Todd again as his energy levels were through the roof and he lasted the 90 minutes and generally got a lot more things right than wrong. Of course, a bit more end product would be good but I hope he stays in the side.

What a wonderfully committed team performance. All of them but a special mention for Cantwell who is giving it everything

Beale turned down Wolves to stay stay at QPR earlier this week

And Luiz sent off just a few minutes after Emi came on. Interesting statement in Guardian preview "it’s the latest last-chance saloon for Steven Gerrard. Stories of Mauricio Pochettino coming have been hotly denied by Villa’s people but the fans ain’t happy with Steven, not least because Steven’s dour demeanour is reflected by the sheer unwatchability of his team." A bit ironic that Gerrard replaced a manager who is seen in a similar light by our fans

Harrison Reed has matured into an excellent Premier League player. Excellent goal too.

I'm very surprised so many people have included Nunez after his performance first half against Watford (before being hooked) and how poor he was when he came on against Luton. Poor guy needs a break. Perhaps the world Cup will be a good time for him to go home and remember what a good footballer he can be.

That article is a spoof of course

I feel strangely more optimistic after last night's results. I won't be able to watch Saturday's match so it might even last til next Tuesday!

Didn't it coincide with Hanley, and Byram getting injured? The defence then looked much less secure. Zimmermann was also out so we had to bring back Klose who was nowhere near ready. I think it was the problems in defence that did for us.

Very true AJ but while we might not be missing much, if he doesn't discover form at some point then we're going to lose a lot of money on him - an expensive purchase last summer who could end up leaving for very little. That seems one of the main problems at the moment - the depreciation of our assets. Perhaps only Sargent has increased his value this season - all the others going in the opposite direction.

Thanks Ricardo - as always an excellent, balanced view of the game - I was going to say an enjoyable read but that's a bit of a stretch when there's so little positive to report. One thing that struck me was how far down the list of topics this report has gone - I can't remember when so many new posts were made in a short space of time - I guess a reflection of the mood among supporters on this forum.

It's quite sad watching players who used to look so good and promising (eg Aarons, Cantwell, and more recently Nunez) now looking so average/poor

I predict Carlton Morris will be more of a threat than Jerome

I thought the switch in the second half made Max look better too. On the basis of last night, I'd rather Max be on his "wrong" side than Byram

I only caught a few snippets of the match this evening (Hull lost 2-0 at home to Luton) but it was very competitive and two decent sides. Carlton Morris has looked a very good championship striker whenever I've seen him for Luton this season. Glad to see him flourishing. If he hadn't got that bad injury on loan at Shrewsbury maybe he'd have ended up thriving with us

That was a really good finish by Sinani. Should erase memory of that miss against WBA

Our goalie Caleb Ansen looked good - great distribution leading up to our goal as well as some fine reflex saves. Of course, too brief highlights to come to any conclusion. Incidentally, vis-a-vis even the club report https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/under-18s-chelsea-0-1-norwich-city describes it as a smash and grab job!!

I've seen a few bits and pieces of their games this season and I thought they looked much better this season and have been unlucky - although a report of last night's match said they were very poor. I wouldn't assume they are a poor side. They have good players who can play good progressive football ( I was surprised in view of Bruce's reputation as a bit of a dinosaur).

I don't have Sky or Now TV so happily paying my £10 to the club to watch on Canaries TV - video and audio working perfectly COYY OTBC

Thanks Pete. You've done a great job with great humour. Wishing you all the best for the future

I quite enjoy these tactical analyses. For anybody else who might be interested https://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2022/08/31/tactical-analysis-birmingham-1-city-2/