Ark

Given all the trouble with injuries this season, I wonder if it might just be best to bed in a first choice eleven and see what they''re capable of with that consistency... I think that would put Grant in a great position to decide what he needs to bring in in the summer. Much better, in a sense, than "giving youth a chance" just for the sake of it and probably ending the season on a bit of a wobble.

50 points has been enough to avoid relegation in 9 of the past 10 seasons... 8 games still remaining... Great opportunity to build for next season?? Discuss...

Interesting topic....If there''s any risk of him picking up injuries or cumulative fatigue then I think it''s best for everyone if he''s not playing a full 90 minutes twice every week... And he has proven very effective from the bench. BUT at the end of the day, if fitness wasn''t an issue, then I''d like to see him starting every game.

The last two days, the pinkun news has just been full of Grant and his players whinging about the performance of the ref against Derby... Disallowed goals, penalties not given, and now not enough stoppage time... GET OVER IT GUYS!!! How can we hope to build for the next game against this kind of background... Previously, I have always been full of admiration for PG''s post-match comments, he''s usually pretty honest and doesn''t pretend we had a great game when we didn''t.These guys have to face facts...We conceded two poor goals in the second half after taking the lead... Whatever game the ref had, we let ourselves down with sloppy defending, and that''s what the team needs to be concentrating on... Credit to teenager Chris Martin for being the only one so far to publicly acknowledge it and not point fingers!

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"][quote user="Shack Attack"][quote user="nutty nigel"] The clue is in the timing jas What happened at the club when it all started to go wrong? The cynic in me suggests it was the foreign investment! It couldn''t be though.... could it???   [/quote] It certainly didn''t help, but surely the main problem was that a bunch of one season wonders suddenly started to believe the hype. Look at the performances of Harewood, Zamora, Ferdinand and Reo-Coker this season and I think you''ll find that''s where the problems lie. It''s interesting that Reading are already looking into the effects of ''Second Season Syndrome'' in readiness for next season. Now there''s a quality manager! [/quote] There is a strong school of thought including the statisticians who support Finkelstein in the Times that West Ham massivley over achieved last season and that this season is not so much a falling away but more a correction back to reality.  The fact that some players either thought they were better than reality or that the Prem was easier than it is doesn''t help either. Pardew did not fail this season so much as massively succeed last season. [/quote]We saw the same when Ipswich were last in the Prem... qualified for Europe and then decided to start spending like an established Premiership side... I think we all know the rest of the story!Given a continued improvement in form until the end of the season, I think Grant has earned himself a chance to start with a fresh slate next season. I''m still hopeful that he can be the right man to get us competing for Top 6 season on season...(Curbishley was never in line anyway... Let''s face it, he wouldn''t have come to Norwich, and whatever pay packet he''s on at West Ham, it''s not one we could afford.)

Good question.... Ideally we don''t want to sell either but, on a purely financial level, I''d probably consider letting Earnie go... If we could get 5million, I think that''s the most we''d ever get for him, whereas Martin might well continue to increase in value during next season and beyond. HOWEVER, this all depends on Martin keeping up his scoring form and looking like he can lead the strikeforce in the long term. Equally, Ryan Jarvis returning to the side in scoring form would make the decision to sell Earnie much easier.Another thing to remember about Earnie: He wants to be playing in the Premiership, whether for Norwich or anyone else... He might be willing to wait until the end of next season given his long injury layoff, but certainly not beyond - so the question is, what could we sell him for NEXT summer? (if we don''t get promoted).

My mate who supports Wednesday told me that Worthy was offered the job there (he was captain at Hillsborough for quite a while, so still has a lot of kudos), but that he turned it down. I think it was only a couple of weeks after he left Norwich and he''d made a promise to his family to wait until the new year before considering new jobs... I guess he''s probably regretting the decision now though. Mind you, with the managerial merry-go-round they''ve had up there for the past few years, it''ll probably position-vacant again within the next 6 months.

[quote user="GazzaTCC"]With 44 points from 34 games, 12 left, another 36 points available, that''s a maximum of 80 points. You usually need circa 75 points to guarantee a play-off place. Can anyone realistically see us dropping just 5 points in the next 12 games? I think not, so, unfortunately, it''s a BIG NO from me. [/quote]Nice to see someone actually doing the maths... This is a ridiculous ask... We''d almost need to score as many points in the final 12 games as we have done in the 34 played so far. I''m pretty sure that''s never been done by ANYONE!

Okay... clearly I was watching his game through an over-critical lens. I wish the guy all the best, and hope he matures into a top player... And, perhaps, starts scoring a few goals.Also, it''s good to see how many are leaping to the defence of one of Grant''s new signings!

One thing I have to say in favour of the Chelsea fans was the big cheer they gave when David Marshall was stretchered off the pitch... I remember the jeers that greeted Luke Chadwick at Portman Road when he was paraded around the pitch, and wondering whether we would do the same back at the Rud.Other than that, they''re obviously all glory hunters and nobody could possibly be a proper football fan if their team plays in the Prem. (seriously though, I do feel sympathy for Chelsea''s "proper" fans.)

I have to admit that Chelsea was the first live game where I''ve seen Brown in action. I''ll also admit that he was left on his own at times, and generally his positioning was fairly good - I say that he was second to too many balls because he seemed so sluggish to react to 50-50 balls, his own first touches etc... But he just looked clumsy on too many occasions... He struggled to take the high balls down to feet, and his passing was downright awful at times. Plus he just didn''t look dangerous in the box.

I''m not the manager, so I think I''m allowed to pick out individual players for criticism.Yesterday, Chris Brown was second to every ball, didn''t hold up the ball well and looked poor with the ball at his feet. I thought the rest of the team did their bit as well as could be expected. Saf and Etuhu held their own well in the centre in particular (considering what they were up against and how poor we''ve been in this regard of late). Lappin and Croft brought good balance on the wings. Hux found good positions and made some good defensive contributions. The back four generally looked strong and linked up pretty well on the wings.... So, although a target man can be useful, I''d definitely give Chris Martin a go in the next league outing and leave Brown to fight his way back into the team.

Should be a great opportunity for the likes of Chris Martin to test themselves against a top team. Even if the result is a heavy defeat, beating players like Essien, Terry etc to the ball on a couple of occasions, or pulling off a few good passing moves as a team should outweigh the damage of a defeat on confidence. Equally, a 6-0 loss is a hell of a kick up the backside without any damage to points or goal difference in the league.

[quote user="Road 2 Rouen"]I''ve done this a few times over the last couple of seasons for the very same reason as yourself Ark...but it is a terribly frustrating experience...Southend away this season was the pits...stuck amongst the shrimpers in a most claustrophobic stand, vision impaired by those bloody pillars...couldn''t say a thing as we levelled and added two more...then surrounded by apopleptic Southend supporters as we gave them two back.... The only time I felt comfortable showing out was our away game at Watford at the end of our Championship winning season when, beside myself with our fantastic run in I stood and celebrated the first goal and was comforted that there were also a good number of Norwich fans also where they strictly shouldn''t have been...cant imagine doing that at Stamford Bridge this weekend...as if there would be an opportunity! [/quote]I try to avoid stands that are supposed to be the most raucous... My experience has been pretty good generally - I don''t exactly jump up and down when City score, but people are normally okay if I shout and applaud the "wrong" play. I often go along with neutral fans, so I can justify being sat in the wrong stand to the fans around based on that. On a slightly different note, one time I went to watch City play up at Covenrty and left ticket-buying to my friend who thought that getting home tickets would be easier (even though it wasn''t a sell-out... doh!), but we actually found ourselves sat next to a couple of other Norwich fans who came with Coventry-supporting friends.At the risk of trying to over-justify my misdemeanors, actually being at the ground is always better than watching on telly, whoever you''re sat next to.

I usually rely on getting tickets in the home section for away games these days... I''m not a season ticket holder, I don''t live in Norwich anymore and I tend to get to only about 3 or 4 matches a year - mostly in london, where away allocations almost always sell out to priority groups - so basically, I just have to cope with having to remain anonymous as a fan during the game.As a result though, I''ll be at Chelsea on saturday, and made it to the Derby at Ipswich earlier in the season (that one, I''ll admit, was painful). But I''d say it''s better than not getting to the game at all... (plus you can almost always get student concession tickets in the home stands.)

For the first time I actually feel as if we''re screwed... Relegation seems a more realistic prospect right now even than under Hamilton... Let''s just hope that the loss of Earnie galvanises the rest of the team when they realise that they can''t lay back and let him save their balls anymore!

At least Grant isn''t in denial about the situation... His post-match comments on the BBC website:"We were poor. In the second half it went from worse to worse."To concede two goals from free-kicks beggars belief. Too many players were mentally weak, content to pass the buck to someone else. It was unacceptable."We do not give ourselves a chance when we play like that. Too many players are in the comfort zone. The group will be changed, make no mistake about that."But at the same time he didn''t criticise individual players in public, which would always be the beginning of the end... Also, in my view, I think Granty is the kind to jump before he''s pushed so I can''t see this dragging out beyond the season if things don''t get better. However, if we''re in league one by then I guess its not much of a consolation.

Defence:Drury - gave the ball away numerous times with unnecessary long throws forward. Otherwise not such a bad turn out.Doherty - slow to react, ever erratic.Shackell - positioning poor today.Colin - as good as could be expected.As someone else said, FAR too many tong balls out of the centre of defence. It was embarrassing in the first 15 minutes... Tamworth were winning all the headers, yet we were the team playing the up-and-under.Low/waist height crosses up front... Not such a bad ball to play since Earnie, for one, isn''t going to score many from the high balls, but need to mix it up.

[quote user="7rew"]my bid: Electric six - fire (album) 1. Dance Commander in my pants 2. Electric Demons In Love in my pants 3. Naked Pictures Of Your Mother in my pants 4. Danger! High Voltage in my pants 5. She''s White in my pants 6. I Invented The Night in my pants 7. Improper Dancing in my pants 8. Gay Bar in my pants 9. Nuclear War in my pants 10. Getting Into The Jam in my pants 11. Vengeance & Fashion in my pants 12. I''m The Bomb in my pants 13. Synthesizer in my pants where only track 13 doesn''t work. (and you have to respell white as right) and my favouite. 40'' in my pants - Franz Ferdinand [/quote]Woo... I thought I was the only person aware that Electric Six had any songs other than Gay Bar. I quite like the second album, Senor Smoke, and my favourite song happens to be called "Vibrator in my pants". Also includes:Devil Nights in my pantsBite Me in my pantsPleasing Interlude in my pantsBe My Dark Angel in my pantsBoy or Girl in my pants?

"Mercenary" is a harsh word... I don''t think there''s a player under 30 in the side that wouldn''t jump at the chance of playing for a top premiership side... The only reason Earnie gets these kinds of opportunities knocking is because of how well he''s been playing for NORWICH... So that should hardly earn our wrath with some of the pap that he''s been playing alongside.

I just hope the board shares your common sense! 3.5million was a bit of a gamble last season for a striker low on first team opportunities and low on confidence. Now, 4million for the top scorer in the Championship... I hope the board just laugh in their faces! Too much to turn down, my arse!

[quote user="Konstantin Pobedonostsev"]UMMMM ... only as a lesser replacement for Ashton. Ark, my point is that our current team is dominated by the glut of players brought in directly after relegation. Earnshaw was merely the best player available when we couldn''t hold on to Ashton any longer. After a year at the top we should have had a stronger squad in the championship than what we have ended up with.# OTBC   [/quote]I''m sorry, but I don''t remember Ashton being top scorer in the division this time last year. A lesser replacement? More like an excellent piece of transfer business. Also probably worth noting that Ashton''s hardly setting the World alight at West Ham right now... Whereas Earnie was the main force that kept West Brom in the Prem when we were relegated (also with Ashton).Most of Worthy''s signings last season were pap. I agree. But you can''t just selectively ignore the great signing that he made in Earnie.

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]This and other imponderable questions such as why are we discussing Sutton again will surely be answered in my fortune cookie tonight... [/quote]I think it''s worth bringing back up for this reason... If Lerner loosens the purse strings at Villa in January - a definite possibility - and O''Neill brings in a couple of new strikers, Sutton could well be out of the side. In this situation, a swoop from PG might be seriously considered if Sutton''s main desire is to get first team football... And would O''Neill seriously turn down a transfer request from Sutton given both of their connections with Norwich? Sounds complicated, but given a few new signings at Villa, the rest might just fall into place.

[quote user="Evil Monkey"][quote user="Sherlock Holmes"]I think Sutton would make a great signing but I doubt he would want give up playing the Premier League for the Championship.  I also doubt that the Board would want to sign anybody on £20,000+ a week.[/quote]Yes, but don''t forget, Holmes, that Sutton''s golf-playing brother has told many people that the player is wanting to see out his days at little old Norwich, and is willing to play for practically nothing on a pay as you play deal.  At least, that''s what we were told in the summer on these boards, anyway...[/quote]Actually, more than that, there was a pinkun article that said Sutton''s people had been in contact with the club... Meanwhile (although not directly in response) Worthy said he was looking for younger players than Sutton.

[quote user="Konstantin Pobedonostsev"]What frustrates me so much Wiz is how we reacted to Premier League relegation. Not only did the 5.0 hangover unforgivably drift through most of last season but Worthington brought into the club Jarret/Robinson/Hughes/Etuhu/Colin/Thorne. Only Jurgen (after a less than impressive first year) has proved his worth (arguably). [/quote]UMMM.... Who signed Robert Earnshaw then???(selective memory par excellence!)