nycanary

despite the fact that i do agree that other topics are worthy of more attention at this time, thanks for bringing this up susie b......i do agree with you completely. i just dont understand the all green. i had the same reaction vs villa. to be honest, why we do we wear the away kit at all...do we clash with any premiership side? all green? a mistake. i guess that''s why we don''t see many other teams use it. i''m all for change despite the wearbility of the green with jeans.

i totally agree. against villa it looked like each of the players was locked in that training exercise where there are 10 lads in a circle and one player in the middle trying to intercept the ball.....it was THAT sad.

it''s been very interesting to read all the posts on this fantastic forum. i, like almost everyone else, have been thoroughly demoralised by our performance at villa. it comes on the heels of numerous average performances and frankly, this was the game that sent us all over the edge and we''re all screaming for action. we''re disappointed. we''re annoyed and frustrated. lady luck isn''t talking to us. but perhaps most disturbingly, we can see and feel that the players are starting to lose belief, fight and have virtually no confidence. this makes this saturday''s match so important. we''re a proxy for canary fans everywhere and if this board is an indication of anything, our frustration could come out in full force at carrow road if the performance doesn''t show signs of a serious revival. this would probably create a vicious cycle where the players belief suffers further and we''re all on a downward spiral to the championship. not good. so i guess i feel like this saturday''s fixture is our most important of the season so far. as much so for the fans as the players. the fans need to set aside all their frustration and annoyance and get behind the team, as always, this weekend. and they have to get behind them for 90 minutes. we have a fragile team right now and fans behavior could push them past the brink. we can''t control what nigel or the lads will do on the pitch but we certainly can make sure that we support them even more so now than ever. so, a plea from a lifelong canary fan in new york who can''t join you -- stand up and be counted on saturday. shout louder than ever -- even if you don''t really want to. OTBC.

today''s [Saturday] performance was terrible. our defence is filled with no confidence and a desire to just boot the ball way too often. there''s just no savvy in them. our midfield lacks any creativity whatsoever and has no mobility. our linkup play with the attack is non-existent. our wide play is single-minded. hux runs head down and maybe out of 10 times it worked once today. jonson simply cant get past a player. he and hux both have to rely on the luck of the bounce to get past their man at this stage. frankly, it''s just not good enough. i have supported norwich from afar for 25 years and yes, i love that we are in the premiership but we''re going to have to show some fight, confidence and ingenuity if we are to stay there. injuries or not, today''s performance was not acceptable. nigel needs to take a different approach and he needs to instill a sense of purpose in the side. right now, they are ball-watching and waiting for it to come to them as opposed to going for it. aston villa is not a great side. they are a solid premiership side. and today, they made us look like we didn''t belong. yes, i am venting. i''m so frustrated as i''m sure all of you are.

maybe i''m the one rueing his departure more than anyone else! i think he had so much potential to be a core, important piece of the norwich midfield. he was absolutely coming into his own when we put him in the center of the park using the 4-5-1 and then everyone starting getting injured and we had to put him out wide on the right again. when he found his right spot in the middle of the park, he started to shine immediately. let''s not fault him for under-performing while out of position. this is a big blow imho. our current midfield, even when fully fit, lacks creativity without bents.

last season they weren''t good....but i think moyes has found the right formation now...the 4-5-1 that is working well for him. last season, they used the usual 4-4-2 and i''m not sure it worked for them. also, the rooney circus, in retrospect, hurt their team chemistry which is something they have bags of now. cahill has been good for them. but the midfield quintet of gravesen, carsley, cahill, kilbane and osman looks very different w/o gravesen in there.

i dont know whether holt can cut it in the premiership. but frankly, having him back as a squad player given our injuries is very welcome indeed. the rest will take care of itself once we have our full squad back.

I have to say I''m impressed that Real Madrid has the intellectual capacity to buy a good player who isn''t a Galactico. Gravesen is an EXCELLENT player. Maybe one of the most under-rated players in the Premiership. He''s just a perfect signing for them or for any team. He may have gone for only 2 million but I think he''s worth 5 million plus.And, I think now, Everton''s successful run is coming to an end. If they had one "we can''t lose him" player...it''s Gravesen....with or without Beattie.Thoughts?

i would take bentley in a heartbeat. at anything up to 1.5 million if we can afford it. simply put, he is the most skilful, vision-oriented player in our squad. and he''s young.if you could build a nucleus of a team around Green, Doherty, Shackell, Francis, Bentley and Ashton for years to come, it heralds a good future for the club. We just don''t have a midfielder on staff like him.

Sheffield United expressing interest now that Morientes has signed. But I''m not sure Liverpool should be letting him go given the troubles they have had with injuries. They have Baros, Cisse, Morientes, Sinama-Pongolle and Mellor. A team like theirs can afford 5 strikers. So.........Mellor on loan? Anyone think that''s a good idea? At full strength w/o Bentley: Green Helveg Doherty Fleming Charlton Jonson Francis Safri Huckerby Ashton Mellor Mulryne McKenzie Svensson Drury/Edworthy

Just what team can we play against Villa? I''ve lost track: Green Edworthy Fleming Doherty Drury Jonson Francis Mulryne Huckerby McKenzie Ashton Subs: Jarvis, Crow, Shackell, Brennan Is that it? Or is someone on this list injured and out of contention?

Umm. YES. Quashie is a quality player. Well worth 800k.

D Charlton -- you''re obviously entitled to your opinion. You believe Norwich are going down. We don''t. You speak of Blackburn putting a run together and some positive statements about Southampton with Palace coping well (even tho they are only marginally ahead of us). A month ago, Blackburn were dead last but they have put a few good games together. Things can change very quickly. But let''s look at this a little more closely, shall we? Norwich have drawn 10 matches this season -- more than any other club in the Premiership. And half of the games we have lost have been by just 1 goal. There is one unassailable reason for the difference between those draws and narrow losses -- OUR LACK OF GOOD FINISHING. We have created chances, played some good football but our final strike has not taken advantage of the situations. If we won just 3 of those 10 draws and drew another 3 of those single-goal losses, we''d be level with Newcastle and that''s not too shabby is it? So, IF you believe that Ashton is an excellent player who can go on to great things, then you should believe that he can make the difference between draws and victories for us, given our already established prior record. As you say, all this talk of a family club is irrelevant. And I haven''t even brought up the experience he will get by not sitting on the bench. Using your own sincerest desires to see Ashton do well, and your perception of his skills, you should logically only surmise that we will stay up because of his ability to be the difference between a missed chance and a goal. It''s not a bad move for him by any stretch. Your analysis is simply inaccurate.

if he doesn''t score a hat-trick, he''s a failure.

er..hate to say this but 3.5 -4 million for Green PLUS we get Sorensen is an excellent deal for us assuming personal terms with Sorensen make sense. he is not a bad keeper at all and to get the 3.5 - 4 million on top? DEFINITELY. he''s in the category of keepers that includes Van der Sar; Jaaskalainen; Neimi; Schwarzer. not bad keepers at all.

listening to the west ham game....we''ve missed so many direct chances. confidence up front is sorely lacking. it''s so apparent that we need a clinical finisher in the side. dean...come on and sign!

i''ve been playing fifa05 on PS2 and got offered a job managing norwich after 1 season with yeovil. what luck! in my 2nd season with norwich we are top of the table mid-year; are still in all cups (including european championships based on good finish in prior season) and the team is: green edworthy doherty shackell drury bentley francis mulryne huckerby henderson jarvis i find the diamond is the best formation and henderson and jarvis are beomcing top players as they get older. leon is doing well too! and huckerby is amazing scoring goals from midfield! i''ve sadly bought some european duds.

shame he can''t play against west ham. he scored 2 against them earlier this season.

if he signs today, can he play tomorrow?

ok...not to beat a dead horse here but i''m curious, bananaman, which left-sided midfield players would you put above huckerby to play for england? i would say: a. stewart downing b. gareth barry not sure who else. if you give cole or bridge a try in left midfield, you gotta consider hux as well don''t you? but if not, who else? let''s also try to avoid putting players out of position as well. another prime example to me, i would NEVER put owen hargreaves in that position before hux, or any number of other players.

if worthy can get ashton to sign and then picks up one more pretty good loan signing, then i think he''s done a good job in this window. fingers crossed. remember, we were ALL saying that getting ashton w/o selling green was a virtual impossibility. we should commend the club on making this happen. GREEN EDWORTHY DOHERTY FLEMING CHARLTON HELVEG FRANCIS JONSON BENTLEY HUCKERBY ASHTON i''ll take that for now.

actually b-man, i think the hux for england shout had real resonance for a few reasons: a. any other position except left side of midfield and hux has no hope to compete with the likes of rooney, lamps etc. but since england suffer badly there, hux had a shot. you wouldn''t try hux over bridge in that position? b. moot point now that downing has emerged. there''s no contest between him and hux. that boro kid is dead good.

copland -- sorry...for some reason i always thought it was UES and not UWS. in any case, i''ll make it up there some day soon...i need to meet fellow canary fans in the city. i''m always the only one at nevada smiths...

james copland -- you do not know me...or do you? i have not made my way up to the upper east side for any matches as yet.

Blackburn may be looking to offload Jon Stead. What do we think? Can he do the job for us?