Bovril

The below graphics show the general pattern of play using an algorithm from sofascore.com. The home team for each match is shown as the green bars and the away team as the blue bars. Norwich 0-3 Liverpool Man City 5-0 Norwich Norwich 1-2 Leicester Arsenal 1-0 Norwich Norwich 1-3 Watford Everton 2-0 Norwich Burnley 0-0 Norwich Norwich 0-0 Brighton Chelsea 7-0 Norwich Norwich 1-2 Leeds Utd Brentford 1-2 Norwich Norwich 2-1 Southampton Norwich 0-0 Wolves Newcastle 1-1 Norwich Tottenham 3-0 Norwich Norwich 0-1 Manchester Utd Norwich 0-2 Aston Villa Norwich 0-5 Arsenal

We look shambolic and utterely devoid of any ideas or game-plan against a side that has also lost the last 6 and can't even score a penalty when gifted to them. It's got to the stage where we can't even find our own man man with a throw-in. Gilmour might as well be replaced by a school kid who is in their school's Under-15 cross-country team. We could then push Normann up (the only one who can turn/make a progressive pass), put Lees-Melou as the holding mid, and just let Kenny carry on running all-over to nowhere particular.

I believe it goes/did go into the 2-3k range.

For anyone on the waiting list for Season Tickets I purchased mine today for next season and I was #751 in the queue this season.

The trouble is with relegation all but secured it now goes back to the timing of Farke getting sacked. Straight after a morale boosting win, with clearly no strategic appointment coming in (and hence Dean Smith despite him being in a job at the time they had made the decision to sack Farke). Webber has given us some good times and put the club back on a stable financial footing which he should rightly be given praise for, but now he must die on his sword after two shockingly poor attempts at staying in this division via his recruitment.

It's the fact who all our reserve players from our previous stint in the Premier League (where the players above them weren't good enough to stay in the league) are somehow now our main starting players despite our finances improving. That is the black and white of it all. It's not Mclean's fault, it's not Rupp's fault. They are trying to the max of the potential. They just genuinely don't have the quality needed.

The squad just lacks a complete lack of quality. Promotion next year leaks very bleak indeed, that's the worst thing.

Normann and Lees-Melou need to swap roles. Lees-Melou needs to play the sitting role and Normann the more advanced box to box.

The substitutes from both sides at half-time changed the game. The removal of Azpilcueta and Loftus-Cheek coming on at right wing-back coinciding with Rashica playing against him, completely changed that side of the pitch and gave us a constant attacking outlet. Normann also looked gassed after 20 minutes and looked completely off it bar his one shot. So a question of us putting on our best player and Chelsea removing their most consistent player over the last 10 years.

Same. The best time to get a ticket is actually on match-day itself. Plenty of options to choose from for every single game this season. Ironically, as they are the smallest team, Brentford was the hardest game to get a ticket for. Mind you at £40+ for most casual tickets this year for Adults, it's no great surprise.

Farke is a better manager than Smith given unlimited resources. However, the club does not have unlimited resources and as a result unfortunately cannot currently play Farke-ball in the Premier League given the players (and the finance needed to purchase said players) needed to suit. We needed to be more pragmatic in order to stand a chance of survival, given our level of finances. This is where Smith comes in, who is able to add this part to the game. This was evidenced in our away win at Watford as despite not being great to watch, we were able to comfortably grind out a 3-0 win if that doesn't sound too oxymoronic. In summary; we stand a better chance of survival under Smith and once this is achieved we would need Farke back to push on to a level similar to Brighton (which is what they have done by appointing Potter after a few more pragmatic previous managers).

Here is the full extract from the article with the reference about Gilmour: "Gilmour’s loan deal from Chelsea does not come with a contractual obligation to play him, but Norwich’s fee reduces the more Gilmour plays. Of Norwich’s four wins this season, one has come with Gilmour on the pitch. Of their 17 points, six have come with Gilmour’s contribution. On the flip side, only three times this season have Norwich taken points from a game that Pierre Lees-Melou has not started. He has been unlucky to miss out in recent weeks and it would be interesting to see if the Frenchman alongside Rupp and Mathias Normann could make an impact against Chelsea. If it works, then the midfield to face Leeds may have picked itself."

Hanley and Omobamidele Hanley has been our most consistent player this season and deserves POTS but as well as he has played, that tells you everything you need to know about the level of our squad.

Forget the bench. I'd start him up top with Idah.

It's gone beyond a joke with Mclean and Gilmour. It's so bizarre when all the fans can see it but the management can't. This is poor, poor stuff from Dean Smith.

The chances of Lewis returning I'd say is very high.

Rupp is an honest, hard-working midfielder who lacks the necessary technical skill level to play at Premier League level, the exact same as Mclean. Both will always give it there all but ultimately just not good enough for the top level. This is of course not their fault, you can only ask that players give it there all, but at 31 years of age, I would get rid.

Let's be honest, it doesn't matter what formation we use, we simply don't have enough quality.

Looked good last night, well done to the club for that.

You weren't the only one to notice that... Southamptong goalscorer Oriol Romeu to Sky Sports: "Norwich didn’t have any player on the edge of the box so I knew we’d have chances.

I agree with the main point being made here by everyone re: passing out at the back against a high-press team. It continues to be bizarre how we don't aim all our goal-kicks out wide to Sargent. Whilst Sargent was generally poor last night, the one thing he can do on a consistent basis is win his headers/flick-ons, especially against fullbacks rather than the bigger centre-backs. This would then give Pukki something meaningful to chase, knowing that Sargent would win at least 70/30 of those headers. It would also prevent the ridiculous situation of putting us under immediate pressure from trying to pass out of the back. It seems such an obvious, quick, easy adaption to make which would immediately help us offensively and defensively.

Southampton were very impressive tonight with their constant high press and use/spread of the ball. Many have perhaps forgotten they absolutely pummeled us at Carrow Road too. How we won that match is anyones guess.

I've no idea why people constantly get wound up by MOTD/similar shows. We are the smallest/one of the smallest clubs in the division and the equivalent to a Wycombe or Rotherham in the Championship. The general viewer of MOTD will care more about Liverpool than Norwich, that's just a fact. Hence, they will produce the show to get the highest ratings and viewers possible. They do this by focusing their analysis on the bigger team, whether they were good or bad, it's natural. The sooner people accept this (it's the same for us when we're the 'bigger' club in the Championship and the respective highlights programmes) the sooner it will stop winding people up. I'd do exactly the same if I were director of MOTD. On the theme of over-used scenarios, also see below: 1) When fans say 'it's the [INSERT CLUB] way to make it hard for ourselves' 2) When pundits and commentators say 'that's what the fans of 'INSERT CLUB' have always demanded. They want to see attacking football with 100% effort'.

Not enough options up top. The defenders see right-through our strikers at the moment.

I think it’s the right decision by the club taking only 2,000 for the reasons below: - timing being so close to league match and hence many fans will only choose one trip - very long return trip (10+ hours) - midweek 8:15pm kick off during school - novelty from playing a big club absent due to already playing in league - on ITV Had the FA Cup been played on a Saturday at 3pm with us not having played Liverpool so recently in the league/supporters making the same trip, then 7,000 may have been on. No chance under the above, even with the admirable free coach offer from the club.