Jim Smith
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Everything posted by Jim Smith
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He’s got more end product that Gianoulis who doesn’t know what the hell to do when he gets near the opposition area.
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Is it me being biased or is there an implicit admittance there that he got him sent off? Admitting there was minimal contact and then saying: ”some of them have told me they would have done the same…..”
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I don’t want Gibbs and Fassnacht on the wings. Should try McCullum there or chuck Myles in. Need some genuine pace.
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On a different note more evidence for me of how severely limited Wagner is as a coach last night with our reaction to the red card. The players also have to take some blame for their pathetic defending (no surprise since none of them are capable of actually defending properly so we can’t play on the back foot) but it was very, very clear that they didn’t have a clue how to play as ten men and make it hard for the opposition, w still had a lead to defend. We surrendered it immediately and then let them stroll to victory, Wagner changed nothing except move the wrong striker onto the wing. Very poor.
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Minimal contact is not a red card though. I’m not even sure there was minimal contact. But even if it is the case it’s not violent conduct unless there is excessive force or it is considered “brutality”. I do not see how either can rationally be said to apply. We absolutely should appeal.
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It could be argued that his legs were in that unnatural straight position because he was reacting to Howson having lunged into his leg as he did. He was almost reacting to being hurt.
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Agree entirely. Howson’s tackle on the other hand is a red card offence, as possibly was the earlier one by Ayling which didn’t get a card.
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It’s not “violent conduct” though is it. There is no force or movement at all.
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Ayling not even booked for a far worse tackle. Howson went in two footed for the tackle that led to the red and frankly could have been off for that. what frustrates me is that no pundit or commentator appears to actually look at the laws and what constitutes violent conduct or serious foul play because that was quite clearly neither and so is an utter joke. Does not excuse our awful defending though.
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It’s not luck that they continue to score late goals. As I’ve said, that comes from momentum and belief. We had it under Lambert and Farke where I’d expect us to score late if a game was in the balance as we kept going and it’s why it’s no longer a surprise when the sc*m score late at the moment. What i think is lucky though is the sheer amount of deflected goals they get, the amount of sitters the opposition seem to miss or times they hit the woodwork, the lack of injuries to key players they’ve had (aside from Hirst) and the way the fixtures have fallen which has allowed them to build momentum at key points in the season. They were the only team who didn’t play Leicester in the first half of the season when they were red hot, they played Southampton when they were at their lowest ebb and now, they are in the middle of a two month run of games against teams who are all lower half sides but also who are all generally in appalling form. I know you can only beat what’s in front of you and to be fair they are very efficient at it (but like that Watford side with Deeney who never beat anyone top 6 but ruthlessly beat anyone outside of it) but it does help your season when you can build momentum (as indeed we have done to a lesser degree of late) by not facing anyone decent or in form for long spells. They had a similar run in the first part of the season also and really had all their difficult games in one spell in the middle of the season where they unsurprisingly had a slump. I still think back to that Sunderland v Sc*m game on the first day of the season where Sunderland should have absolutely stuffed them but somehow contrived to lose. That was really important in my view as it preserved their momentum from promotion. Sunderland missed some unbelievable chances in that game. So whilst I accept you make your own luck to a degree, I maintain they’ve had done huge slices of fortune this season. The ominous thing is that these sorts of things do tend to go your way in promotion seasons. Let’s hope that is not the case with them and they suffer some bad luck in the remainder of the season, including at Carrow Road.
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Several of them have been lucky but primarily it’s because you have an unbelievably easy run of fixtures against teams in poor form. Let’s see how you go in April
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It’s a combination of belief, momentum and luck. The former two perhaps bring more of the latter admittedly, as we have seen in the past. But they are not that good and they are winning a lot of games they don’t deserve to win, aided by the kind of run of winnable fixtures that teams would kill for.
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I have never seen a team win so many games undeservedly through such amounts of luck. Truly sickening and makes you fear it may be their year. I’ve watched them quite a lot and every time they spawn a win somehow. Sadly the sort of believe it brings, coupled with runs of easy fixtures to maintain momentum, is powerful.
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I admire his resolve and ability to take the flak and continue. He’s a good man manager. He is not, however, a good coach/manager generally. When all players are fit he stumbled across a formation and line up that worked but even then he changed it again last week.
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Good result. Pretty awful performance. Once again a moment from one of our better players gets Wagner a win that his abysmal tactics don’t deserve. we won’t beat anyone decent playing that team in that awful 4-4-2 formation. it only works with Kenny as one of the CBs and Nunez in the middle. Desperately need to find some pace from the U21s whilst Rowe and Onel are missing.
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It must be said that just how bad that run was really hits home when you look at the current table and consider what a difference half a dozen extra points across those games would have made to us. I know it’s all ifs, buts and maybes but if Wagner had just been a little bit more adaptable and able to stem the tide of losses we would be pretty comfortably in the playoff positions.
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The issue for me is not so much that we’ve fallen, but more that we have not taken the opportunities that have been created to truly transform the future of the club and that our efforts at prem level have been so poor. I just think that ownership constraints/desire not to let go have ultimately hamstrung us at key moments and now we risk regressing to the mean whereas we had a genuine opportunity to change our future. Wolves, Brighton, Brentford, West Ham, Palace (to a degree), Leicester, Fulham and a few others have made more of similar opportunities and the fact is that those clubs will never go back to what may have been their “historical” average level barring serious mismanagement. Luton may well do the same to a lesser degree. We, on the other hand, haven’t even managed to expand the ground to build up/increase our match going fanbase. If we’d had a decent crack at the top level and had rebuilt the City Stand it would be different, but all we really have to show for it is a training ground that is a bit better than the average in the champ. I do agree there is a generational element to expectations. I started going to games in the mid 80s. The first 8/9 years of my regular attendance were arguably our most successful ever. I went to Carrow Road expecting us to win most games and I probably still do. That said, I then sat through some utter filth in the years that followed that and in ma y ways did not find that experience as frustrating as some of the recent passed up opportunities. I can handle us being cr*p, it’s when we have good players but waste them that I find most frustrating.
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They aren’t a bad side, but they have had exceptional amounts of good fortune. I’m not just talking about late goals, just winning games they really do not deserve to. When the momentum is with you then luck goes your way I suppose.
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I cannot recall a more lucky, undeserving, spawny side than this Ipswich side. And when you look at their next 5 or 6 fixtures they have been handed the sort of p**s easy run of games that is the stuff of dreams. Their fixtures this season have given them several such runs to build momentum. Everything going their way. In other news Hulls result is ominous as they have gone for it in the Jan transfer window and the attacking players they have brought in are starting to pay off. I note also that Celtic winger we were linked with was snapped up by West Brom and is becoming influential.
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Big test for me with Wagner is what he does when Gibson and/or Duffy are available again. Nunez must not be sacrificed. If he is then Wagner has learnt nothing.
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How much have we missed Rowe?
Jim Smith replied to cambridgeshire canary's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
We don’t miss him that much now others are stepping up to the plate. We would have missed him a great deal more had it happened earlier in the season. Food for thought if a sale has to be made this summer to finance a rebuild. For me, as great as Rowe has been in terms of key goals and moments, he needs to do more in games other than scoring. I know that sounds harsh because scoring is really important but he doesn’t run at teams enough for me and dips in and out of games a bit and I think that’s something he can add to his game as he continues to develop. -
Bizarre last 6 games table
Jim Smith replied to dylanisabaddog's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
Be prepared for Ipswich to go on another good run for a few weeks. They’ve hit easy fixtures up until April. Could pop back into the top two temporarily. -
Sunderland drift from one crisis to another.
Jim Smith replied to A Load of Squit's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
Let’s hope they don’t get rid of him before March 2nd -
I still think it’s taken him longer than it should have done to work out the best 11 and still not entirely sure he has. I still also think he should have been able to adapt better during the injuries to ensure we did not have that sort of run. But he’s a good bloke and he’s going nowhere for the rest of the season so we should back him and the players. I won’t be singing his name (yet or maybe at all) but I did go to the game yesterday determined to be more positive and I enjoyed it (helped of course by how we played) a lot more.
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Yes from what I’ve seen he has the physical attributes to be a top, top player. I’ve been disappointed he’s not got more game time at Walsall so far