Marty

wizard, you are a waste of oxygen. It seems everybody (like yourself) has the answers, so why aren''t you a football manager? Do I recall over recent years a club that went through mangers like there''s no tomorrow, where did that get us? He hasn''t done a particularly bad job, people seem to expect our club with its modest budget and resources to compete in arguably the toughest league in the world. OK, so we look destined to go down, now by my logic keeping the manager who got us out of that league in such impressive style would be a good person to have on board next year, yes? I eagerly await your fascinating (and probably banal) reply.

[to rich] oh shut up! you''re a waste of space with comments like that.

Oh here we go "Holt is useless" etc. etc. So who was any better in our midfield today? that''s right, no one. Would Safri have changed the game? I doubt it. It is a team game, our team is not good enough. Stop singling out players, we were out muscled by a half decent side, fact! Also, what is the manager supposed to say? we were useless?

I think it is futile to rate the new players in what can only be described as a struggling team. I am not being harsh, just realistic, we were always going to struggle this year since our resources were limited. So how would we rate players that were here last year? all of whom will have scored highly last year. For example Huckerby, you wouldn''t give him more than 7 this year, he missed goals i could have scored. And Hucks is one of our best players. So how do we expect players from other countries or lower leagues to come in a change an average to poor premiership side? on the budget we had it wasn''t going to be easy. I think Doherty looks fine and gets too much critism. I think Stuart is doing as good a job as you could expect and looks like one of the most productive midfielders we have at the moment. Let''s be realistic, we only notice individuals because the team is not performing as we have hoped. In a good team Bentley may look awesome, so might Helveg, but in a struggling team none of these players has the ability to change things, the perfect example is the difference between Huckerby last year and now. It is a team game. How well can a keeper do well with a poor defence? how can a defence cope when the midfield is weak, how can a sticker score when he has no service etc. Our players haven''t turned bad overnight, it''s just the opposition has got a lot better, that''s the crux of the matter. 

pompey boy, I think you are a prime example of how our education system is going seriously pear shaped. A/S level English, is texting part of the course? I''m afraid I don''t have A (or A/S) level English, so unfortunatly most of my coma''s can be found in the correct place !!!!! As to imply that you are more educated than the average poster here, I doubt it, anyway it seems the eduction and qualification have little reflection on your intelligence. I think the average forum member here seems pretty smart, at least most can write! As for me, I am significantly more qualified than you. Now please go and do something more useful and constructive with your day, for instance post on your own site, where some people might understand more of you illiterate ramblings?  

please answer my original question, are you under 12 years of age? (r u under 12?). Quote "u no nout" OK, so i don''t like the lazy text slang, I''m not overly keen on the Yorkshirism either, but you should be able to tell the difference between no and know? So this big Pompey fanbase, do you think they know how to use apostrophes? It''s about time someone in the Portsmouth area invented the roof too!

cheers, you''ve just reinforced my opinion of Portsmouth fans! Just out of curiosity, are you (or should I say U since you may not understand non bastardised English) under 12?   Shouldn''t you be doing something more productive at school?

yeah why not get rid of a majority of the team (most of which got us promoted), makes a lot of sense. We have limited resources and the gap between the two top leagues is huge, as all promoted teams are discovering. But if we get rid of most of the team we''ll do alright next year yeah? even considering most of those players are good Championship quality. You''re off your head, as soon as the going gets tough people like you get your head out of the sand and come out with this dross! this football management lark must be easier than I had imagined then, go back to your prawn sandwich!

Alan, that is junk, why not get beaten week in / week out on a Sunday league style pitch. It makes no difference, as i pointed out before, how come we haven''t won away from home where some of the grounds have been poor? I have another plan, since we can''t out-football teams let''s buy a load of overly aggressive players and change our tactics! Oh we can''t do that because West brom, Blackburn and B''ham have already done it, it''s working well for West brom. To suggest that we should not aim to have a good pitch is moronic.

interesting post but the idea of having a pitch like a ploughed field and hoofing the ball up to the front men doesn''t appeal to me! And who''s to say we would be more successful doing that? afterall, how many points have we taken away on these so called "poor" quality pitches? I think that nips that theory in the bud doesn''t it?

Rich, if you think Francis is head and shoulder above all other Norwich midfielders you are watching the wrong games. Last night our midfield was not too bad, in fact as a unit they matched man city. It seems some people think that if a midfielder scores a few goals he is exempt from other midfield duties. He was not in the game last night, i thought our full backs were more effective in the middle of the pitch that he was. Stuart did OK and Holt worked hard. I get the impression people are just blinded by goals, yes they do help but he didn''t score yesterday and is a midfielder, please feel free to add a true comment on his performance last night, and indeed in recent games!

Silver Fox, that has not been playing 1st team football he ran his socks off and although he misplaced a few passes he actually looked like he tried to play with a little imagination. Safri looked average coming on, not the sort of player you want to up the tempo really, solid but nothing else. Keep the same team (maybe change Fleming for Doc) but with Hucks on for Johnson. We did OK last night, it was defensive errors which cost us a convincing win, so why completely change the midfield, I don''t understand.

I think it is harsh to have a go at Drury, i agree Charlton has done well but Drury has more pace and defensively did very well tonight against one of the worlds best players, give him some credit. I do agree that the Doc has done little wrong to be dropped though.

I know I will get grief for saying this but it looks likely that we will be going down, I don''t think we have had too much luck this season but I am also realistic enough to know that we lack the quality and experience too. But I think we should remain upbeat and support the team as long as they continue to give 100% like they did tonight, and they were unlucky to lose. The most important thing is that we have a first class striker who can prove himself a real handful in the premiership let alone the Championship. With that and the core of the Div 1 winning team from last season we can look forward to an exciting season again next season. With that in mind I think we should keep supporting the team 100% and not get on players backs. I''ve had a few beers tonight during the game and I was gutted when Man city scored but now I think we really need to get behind the team and show our support. I say that because I fear some people might me a little less philosophical! Anyway, whilst it''s still mathematically possible we still have chance - it''s only Chelsea and Man U up next....!!!!! On the ball City.

Notts Canary, at least if it was in St Annes you''d get a bit of exercise on the way home dodging the bullets! I''m Loughborough based but i''m armchair bound tonight i''m afraid, sounds like there should be some yellow and green in West bridgford mind.

Worthy Nigleton, I don''t think a player has to be rubbish for "fans" to get on their backs, otherwise our whole team is rubbish since every player has been slated at one time or another here. but what do I know, I''m only a Sunday afternoon bruiser! I only say that because both my Saturday 11-aside and Sunday 6-aside teams are top of their leagues! I agree Henerson can be a little lightweight but you can''t fault his effort, it''s not as if anyone else is setting the right wing alive this season is it?(I know he is not a winger).    

Well Notts, I think that a quote like "The bloke is so s***"  is fairly spiteful and unnecessary, unless s*** means something polite and I have miss predicted your partially written word?

Ok, everybody has an opinion, but I have to say that some opinions here seem pretty banal in my opinion. I understand constructive criticism but not criticism of a player who has barely played this season and has not been given a chance, this sounds a little more vindictive to me. It seems that people always need some player to slate at any one time, we seem to go through the whole team picking a new player to slag off each week, maybe that''s the average mentality of football fans, maybe I am over estimating their intelligence? Give the guy some support in his recovery and let him have a go before ripping him to pieces. Football is a confidence sport and i''m not surprised we are near the bottom if the players read this dross. What a capricious lot you are.  

with fans like that who needs enemies? I, for one, would like to wish him a speedy recovery and think that with a limited sized squad any competition for places is good news. The only players I will critise are ones who play like they don''t care, ones that obviously put in the effort get my support, of course I still have opinions about their ability.

sounds like you "bottled it" !!! What''s that i can hear........ Boo Hoo !

Glad to hear many people stick up for Holt, considering his injury he has made and impressive return and seems to be up to speed already, a real demonstration of his character, determination and fitness. I am aware of his weaknesses but i do think we have missed him. Even though Francis scored a vitally important goal I thought he was a bit patchy too but since he scored he is always going to be exempt from criticism. People who bash some of the players should realise that with the resources of NCFC we will have our weaknesses but the character they show is always beyond doubt and shouldn''t be underestimated. I think the defence has had some stick over recent weeks, well people seem to forget the defence is not merely 5 players at the back but the whole team from front to back, if the midfield is playing badly they expose the defence and therefore the defence looks worse than it actually is. I reckon if played in the heart of the Chelsea defence even i would look half decent, put me in the Norwich defence and i would get run ragged!  

No, he is a midfielder, getting goals from midfield is a whole different kettle of fish to getting goals as a striker. Strikers do other jobs too, they hold the ball up, the receive the ball with their back to goal and basically make nuisance of themselves in the penalty area. It is often the hard working effort from the strikers that enables a midfielder to come in a bag a few goals. Some teams have strikers that get them 80% of there goals (i.e. Palace) and some spread the goals around like us, lets just stick with it. 

SS, In reply to your quote; "Well this must be something of interest otherwise you wouldn''t be posting!" Actually not, I don''t even live in Norfolk and therefore do not listen to the aforementioned reports. I do however live in loughborough, Leicestershire and always check up on the Shepshed Dynamo news in the local paper, i don''t say, "what a waste of paper put more stuff about Leicester City FC in it" do I. Some locals do care about local football, simple as that. I have friends that play local football (including myself) and like to hear if they have scored, played well or indeed made a howler! Simple as that really, no other motive.

you''re making very little sense in your post. OK so most people don''t want to listen to the local reports and turn the radio over, that''s their choice. It doesn''t therefore mean that no-one wants to listen to the reports. With your sort of logic we would be watching nothing but shallow fly on the wall documentaries and moronic (so called) reality TV simply because it pulls in the ratings. OK then let''s get rid of any arts, cultural, news, history based TV since it may only pull a relatively small audience. Lets cater for the masses and scr*w everybody else. Get real and post something of interest. 

I think it''s good to support local football, OK a majority of us want to hear about Norwich but you can''t always please the majority only, of course some people care about the local scores. If Norwich keep winning 3-2 i''ll listen to as many reports of the Diss games as is humanly possible!!!