GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary

if you had to handpick the opposition for our next 2 home games you wouldnt look too far beyond Swansea ,who are on the beach and who we have a good record against......and Reading who will be as good as down by then. If we dont get the points we need in these 2 games, we''re running out of games that we can? Villa will be far too tense , leaving just the WBA game. that Holt penalty miss vs Southampton is looking more costly by the week.

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary"] just driven back from Wigan and heard Hughton on the radio bleating that we didnt deserve to lose, whilst that maybe the case today if you have one attempt on target you leave yourself with very little margin for error. Swansea is huge.......unfortunately I can''t trust Hughton to pick the right team [/quote]   So what would have been the right team? We had Holt on the bench which was what was wanted. We had Snodgrass on the left. Ditto.   The right team for me is the one that played ealier this season with Hoolahan playiong off Holt and Tettey and Johnson centre mid. We don''t have Pilks which is a blow. But playing Snodgrass on the left just compounds it and what''s Elliott Bennett done to justify Rudolph''s faith in him and to justify moving Snodgrass from his best position.     [/quote] for a team thats scored 5 goals in the last 11 games ,I can''t see any  justification in leaving your (still) best stiker at the club on the bench? When Kamara joined he was described as a player that operated in from wide either side of the main striker, as he should have been today ,left of Holt with Snodgrass ,as you say, on the right. It was surely never part of the plan for someone to come out of the MLS to act as our lone striker?!?!?.  There isn''t a single Premiership side that is fielding a weaker "strikerforce" than Hoolahan and Kamara and we wonder why we can''t score goals?

The players are being straightjacketed ,especially away from home, by Hughtons restrictive,negative tactics. can anyone really believe that the players would want to play this way were it their choice? Snodgrass after the Man Utd away game bemoaned the fact that the players weren''t allowed to have a go at them how would he feel after that today? The fact is that the only game we''ve won in the last 14 was the Everton match when the players took it upon themselves to go for the win in injury time after we equalized when Hughton admitted after the game he''d have been happy with the draw. This is anti-football and it pains me to say that if I were a neutral I''d be saying the the Premier League would be better off without teams like us.   

just driven back from Wigan and heard Hughton on the radio bleating that we didnt deserve to lose, whilst that maybe the case today if you have one attempt on target you leave yourself with very little margin for error. Swansea is huge.......unfortunately I can''t trust Hughton to pick the right team

can''t believe Hodgson''s persistance in Cleverley yet can''t find a way to utilise Lampard in his current vein of form?

Tin hat on here but when Robert Chase resigned in 1996 his parting shot was the sentence........... "If in the next 10 years this club finishes 3rd,4th and 5th in the top division, gets to 2 FA Cup semi finals and plays in Europe...then come back to me" and to be fair to him we were nowhere close. Whilst those acheivements of course weren''t solely down to him he must at the same time be attributed to having some hand in the most succesful decade in our history whilst he was Chairman..........and before anyone asks ,I was no fan of his, I did my time during the "Chase out" protests and was trampled on by police horses and chased around the river end car park by police dogs. History however should still recognise a good period for the club whilst here was here.

[quote user="Blurboy1980"]I so wish I could find the post on here about this a few months ago...it was in relations to Twitter and McNally and when we signed that contract with that American advertising company. I knew it would happy. They are from Philadelphia so I can almost guarantee a game there :) if anyone knows how to search :)[/quote] dont know much about Philadelphia?..........other than the "Rocky steps"!

...dust down your passports!! New York Red Bulls in July would be nice?! https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/315885664983977986  

[quote user="smooth"]For me these are the games I want go to. Away games where we have a chance of a win are more exciting than the Chelsea Man U away games. WBA, Wigan, stoke etc are much more appealing than the big grounds which only have an atmosphere when they play teams that they see as rivals, we are not seen as genuine competition and hence just a team where impatience may kick in. I cannot wait to be at Wigan, a game I have looked forward to all season. 1 because away support can be so noticed 2 cause we might actually win 3 no arrogant away fans 4 Wigan play good football and hence bodes for an exciting game 5 pints can be a sensible price. Just feel we will have really prepared for this one, we were robbed at Sunderland and holt throw away two points. I feel we will be right for this one and have a good game. For me it is these away games which are more appealing to go too, rather than man city, Liverpool etc.[/quote] I''d agree with all of that exept this , Stoke away last season was the worst football match I''ve seen Norwich involved in ,in my 33 years of watching.....can''t say I''m looking forward to the return trip this season!

whilst this may not be the biggest game of the season, I''d say that should we lose ,the following game at home to Swansea is, which considering  have Arsenal away the following week would be a nervey occasion?!

I dont think by playing Fletcher and Graham up front together was doing either of them any favours as they both work better as a lone striker. This will force O''Neill''s hand and may well turn out to help them if Graham starts to score now.

[quote user="AJ"]GJL, that list would be 22 players, meaning we still have 3 spots spare. One would be a third keeper One would be an extra defender (versatile?) One would probably be a striker (Becchio?) We need a youthful leftback to learn from Garrido We need a CB, Davies would be a great signing and one that is quite likely with Hootun''s ties to B''um We need another central midfielder, with either Johnson or Tettey missing we are clutching at straws to fill the gap - Howson isn''t the answer, he''s too attacking. We need a left winger, someone to really pressure Pilks into playing his best football again. I''d like to see us get an out and out winger down that flank. We need a central attacking midfielder, a playmaker. Hoolahan is one of a kind, but we need a similar player who can thread passes, I don''t think Butterfield is that player, at least not yet. Striker wise, I''m not sure Kei Kamara is a done deal yet, he still has to earn his stripes. Would people prefer us bringing in Hooper or another striker, or signing Kamara permanently? I''m not too sure. I hope Kei makes himself irreplaceable in his time here, like Hux, he''s doing a good job so far.[/quote] yes, I guess Rudd would be 3rd choice and will be over 21 so would have to be included in the 25 man sqaud, Becchio will still be here you''d think?, the extra defender may well turn out to be Ayala. Midfield is the key next season as to how much Hughton plans to change th emphasis from a containing team as we have been this season to a more attack minded one. In order for that to happen it would be a choice of one of Johnson or Tettey in midfield not both at the same time, plus someone with a bit more vision. The other key signing is the "2nd striker" position, whether it be competetion or even a replacement for Hoolahan who can contribute more goals from that position......a Robbie Keane of a few years ago?!

[quote user="City1st"] " the over exciteable posters who seem to think its all but done or dusted this season", "one of those people celebrating our season before we have actually achieved anything".   And where might these people exist, other than in your fevered imagination ? In the real world nobody thinks anything is ''done and dusted'' with 27 points to play for. Winning the next two games could see us in 9th place. But that isn''t the aim, is it ?   "A couple more draws and a win will do it".   Will do, what exactly ? Stop us being relegated. No mention that a win would put us further up the table, merely further away from Wigan. No comment that any lack of points will stop us climbing the table, just this fixation with relegation   Get off your knees.     [/quote] will you still be using your stock phrase of "get off your knees" if in a weeks time if our cushion from the bottom 3 has very feasibly eroded from 10 to 7 to 4 points in the space of 2 rounds of games.......doesnt take a lot to work out what could happen in another 2 beyond that?...I think I''ll concentrate on getting to the safety mark first and if/when that happens we''ll see where we can potentially finish in any remaining games.

2 players for each position...... Ruddy/Bunn Martin/Whittaker Garrido / ? Turner/ Bennett Bassong / Curtis Davies?? Tettey / Johnson ? /Howson Snodgrass / Bennett Pilkinton / ? Hoolahan / ? Van Wolfswinkel / Holt   5 required signings in my opinion....including Curtis Davies

eh?, who''s saying QPR are safe?!? It''s all about Wigan in my opinion, if we win ,I think we''re safe, draw and we''re almot there......however if we lose, I don''t think anybody would consider any team in any league in the world 4 points above the relegation zone ,with a worse goal diff than anyone outside the current bottom 4 with 7 games left not to be concerned about their position?, don''t see why we would or should be any different??

Without wishing to mention the elephant in the room, doesn''t any of this depend on us being in the Premiership next season??

If we lose at Wigan we will be 4 points from relegation,the closest we''ll have been from the bottom 3 since September, with 7 games to go. Include the fact that our goal difference isn''t favourable to anyone outside the bottom 4 and I can''t see how anyone can say we''re safe? ''If'' however we were to win at Wigan, you''d then be asking them to win 4 more games than us from the last 7 matches, so I think you could then say we''d just about be there.

The FA are pathetic, if they really wanted to,they have the power the impose whatever ban they want for anything over any length of time. If they''re unsure (or if the player isn''t "high profile" enough) they hide behind this myth that they''re bound by laws. If it was Joey Barton ,I wonder what theyre decision would have been?

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]Well Steven Taylor got a call up so I can''t see why not, I wouldn''t swap Taylor for Turner. They were talking about Turner playing for England when he was at Hull in 2008/09, and he seems to have rediscovered that form. Not sure he''d get away with his rugby tackles with continental refs though. Not sure why Shawcross hasn''t been given more than one cap, he may be a psycho but then so was Terry Butcher.[/quote] Shawcross'' display as a 20 minute substitute in the away freindly in Sweden (the Ibrahmovic overhead kick match) is the reason why he wont be called up again.

regardless of whether any of the other results go in our favour or not in the next round of matches, the only certainty is that if we lose at Wigan we will be 4 points off relegation , that will be the closest its been since September last year........the only question being how many teams would be between us and the bottom 3?.........a nervous fortnight ahead awaits.

Odd day today, up 2 places in the league yet 2 points closer to relegation!. Truth is there''ll be other clubs cusring that late Wigan winner more than us tonight......in the next round of games, Villa v Liverpool, Southampton v Chelsea, Sunderland v Man Utd. we''ve only lost 1 in the last 7 and I''m confident we''ll get what we need from our remaining home matches alone. ....besides which I still want Villa down, its therefore a necessary evil that Wigan had to win somewhere along the line?!

you can currently still get odds of 16/1 with Ladbrokes (see attachment) on our relegation.......may not be quite so high this time tomorrow?! http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/relegation maybe worth putting £20+ on?.....if the worst happens you''ll at least get a holiday out of them!!!

i know our  goal diff puts us at a disadvantage but arent we level on points with about 3 other teams!?

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]....you don''t think us having to pay down the £9(?)m debt to have been a constraint?[/quote] presumably, if we were making the bids we had the money??......unless it was all a PR stunt?

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]There''s a long way to go, almost a quarter of the season, so plenty could yet happen, but the sides cut adrift will be feeling the pressure as they can''t afford many more slip-ups. I fancy us to snaffle a point tomorrow, and edge closer to safety. It has to be said that at the start of the season almost everyone said they''d be ok with finishing 17th and though our sights ought to be higher (win tomorrow and we can go 10th) we should be ok if that is what happens: we''ve had financial restraints this year that won''t be with us next and we can regroup with a much stronger squad next season.[/quote] ''financial constraints'' !?, w were making bids of £6-8m for a striker 2 months ago?!?.......if we go down with that left unspent there would be some serious questions to answer?!?