Tumbleweed

I read the last 2 posts from TGMD and he/she has written pretty much what I am thinking, but far more eloquently. It is ironic that the " reward" for promotion , in the absence of £100m+ is to hope you don't get embarrassed too much on any given match day. Even that spending guarantees little, as the experience of other clubs has illustrated. I think I'd rather us finish 3rd and lose the play off semi final on goal difference.....As said it is an indictment of the PL not our club.

Just because one may not like the manager yet does not mean that wins cannot be cheered and celebrated. The two are not mutually exclusive. I'd rather have an unpleasant manager and win (Lambert?) than a lovely guy manager but lose (Hughton?) every week.

Well said.

I thought Kenny was excellent filling in at LB tonight. Seemed to give us an extra option with his midfield experience. I also thought the Sky pundits were fine, McAnuff very measured and rightly called the Sargent tussle for what it was, which was pretty much 50/50. This Millwall team were good, very well organised and physical. They could do well. But we were most un Norwich like, matched them well, harried and looked "up for it". Sinani superb, Gibbs looks exactly what we need in the centre, and Onel's unpredictability is exactly why he deserves a place. But Nunez, wow. Very pleased for Sargent, a handful all night and a great No 9 performance. Well done.

From memory Marshall said he had a really horrible time as he had to live in some castle thing in Norfolk. Tough life.

I look back now on that time as a golden one. But among the two great promotions was a pretty poor first season, one dreadful relegation and half of an even worse one. Strange, but Farke really did revolutionise things.....Funnily enough the one I'll probably remember most is Stieperman!

Seems like a top chap, shame to see him go but good luck to him.

I like the idea of yellow and black. Dortmund do it very well, looks good.

I agree this time feels more dispiriting. The causes are probably many and varied, not just one thing (although just one DM could have made a difference). But I do feel that the club is just not run very professionally, nice but dim perhaps, who are no threat to Delia and have the same "oh well never mind" attitude. Perhaps all too jolly and nicey nicey. If those issues re POTS are right, then one does wonder about how the bigger issues are managed. All sems rather amateurish. We don't have the most money so must at least get the basics right.

All things come to an end. Sadly I do now think it is time. This is a watershed moment. For me its about culture . She is not driving a success orientated attitude. We have had good managers, good players, good crowds and gazillions of parachute payments. Its all been there. But a defeatist " we are just happy to be here" approach has undermined it all. Time for a new era.

Smith does now seem like a knee jerk reaction, but he needs time to clear out and rebuild Webber's mess. Still staggered that when Farke left there was no succession plan, that is surely a key part of a DoF's role.....But I think the whole culture is just too cosy and not performance driven. The lack of money doesn't help but we just seem to prepare for, and accept, failure.

I don't blame Smith, Dean. But we are so far off it is embarrassing. We look like a non league team, there is a chasm to bridge. It is possible to have inferior players but still make a fist of it.....

I've been a staunch Delia supporter as I think her heart is in the right place. But this is dreadful and it is time for her to move on.

I agree with Ken Foggo, I don't think I have felt so disinterested in football ever, even when we went down to Lge 1. Even a home win against Rotherham at the start of next season may struggle to get my motivation levels back... !

Can we substitute the lot for the women's team?

I agree we do need to win realistically to gave a sniff of the miracle escape occurring. An advantage we have is that DS should know the strengths and weaknesses of this AV side inside out. I'm going 2-1, we are creating some decent openings now and I think tonight we'll see a couple go in. Main worry is CBs, not sure who is fit, and the adrenalin and backs to the wall attitude of Sat may be a bit diminished.....

2-0 Spurs. The only thing we have in our favour is 2 extra days rest but I think they have too much for us and will still be stinging after a poor result last week in Europe.

Well said Numan.

Smith has been here less than 2 weeks, away game, midweek, raucous crowd all up for it, long journey, some injuries, still finding feet after horror run, Howe expecting own new manager bounce, and we are still tevovering from press battering. At 7pm I'd have grabbed a point deffo. But it really should have been a win, that's for sure. In the scheme of things though it was big for us not to lose and I am sure that as Smith gets more time with the squad we will play better and with more consistent confidence. Disappointed? Yes. Downhearted? No. I'm looking forward to Spurs,could be v interesting.

I'm not so sure Newcastle will come roaring out leaving space at the back. That could really backfire for them. Since it is such a pivotal game, arguably more so for them now, I reckon Howe will look to keep it quite tight, at least initially, to make sure the crowd don't turn and to avoid us getting momentum. I think it could possibly be a steady, going on turgid first half then they will increase the tempo second half for the win. Howe won't want to have to chase it, but I do think they will be fired up and suffocate us, we have some errors at the back in us so they can be a bit more patient. I'd be v. happy with a point, I'm forecasting 1-1.

Massive result! A bit more confidence, a full week for Smith with the team now, and a teeny glimmer of hope. At least if we still go down looks like it will be with some dignity after all!!

Got to be Robert Fleck. Will never forget his shrug of the shoulders to us when he missed a sitter against us at Stamford Bridge! Plus THAT goal vs Millwall. And read his chapter in Tales from the City. Really humbling.

There are quite a few teams in this thread I'd be happy with. Shows that if the squad is all firing and available we do have some good options.

I think thats ok, but hopefully no "free hits" or "don't expect to win"s......anyhow we shall soon see!

That looks like a decent line up.