bigbear

If I remember right, Sunderland had a very good team before Keane got there.  In about his 3rd of 4th game in charge they played us.  he was unbeaten up til that point, also by that point he hadn''t been able to buy any players so everyone there he had to inherit.  They completely played us off the park with chance after chance and we had 1 chance with Earnie and he put it away for us to win 1-0.  What I''m trying to say is, that I believe that we do have a half-decent team out there.  It''s just down to the management and tactics and team selections every game.  Do we scout against other teams?  Do we train to play long ball (which clearly hasn''t worked, for the last few seasons)?  Do we train on fitness good enough (as half the players look shattered after an hour, and usually we play a bit better in 1st half and rubbish in 2nd)?  Do our players get told to stay well off the attackers with the ball to allow them to shoot or pass with ease unchallenged?  Do our players get told not shoot unless they are 10 yards out or have a free-kick or keeper makes a mistake leaving an open goal? Grant was classed as a very good, well respected coach at West Ham, how come his coaching is so awful at Norwich? If you remember the 1st 25 miins against Cardiff, where we played some of the best football I have seen Norwich play in years, then it proves that we can do it when we put our minds to it.  It''s just a point of getting them to play like for the majority of games.  As we know, we have played about 90 mins of good football this year so far, in comparison to about 720 mins of utter rubbish.  Clearly not good enough. 

I noticed that Wolves lost at home on Tuesday night.  That and the fact that they haven''t had a great start to the season, means that they will play us off the park as they usually do at Molineaux.  With Dublin out, that obviously means that Shacks will probably be back, with The Doc who has more lives than a cat.  With the hours I work, I was in bed before the end of the game.  I got to work, and was told that we managed to concede 2 pens.  My 1st words were, " was it docherty who gave one of them away?".  Did I need to ask the question? We will play with 2 centre backs who can''t play together and we could have any number of formations and players in the midfield and up front.  When Grant came to the club and we beat Birmingham away (which he wasn''t really in charge for anyway), he said that we shouldn''t be scared of anyone in the league.  Unfortunately, Grant picks the teams and formations that suggest that we are. How many chances are we going to keep giving Brown?  He may play quite well, but him and Cureton clearly do not link up.  From what I have seen so far, whether it is a poor header from Brown and poor reading of the flick by Cureton, i''m struggling to remember one single time that Brown has flicked the ball on to allow Cureton a chance.  Too many long balls with Brown up front anyway in my opinion, especially as 2 seconds later the ball is at the feet of the opposition as he has mucked it up.

It was the lack or marking which made me (and Lappin) most angry on that 2nd goal.  But if you noticed, Docherty had exactly the same chance up the other end, open header, 12 yards out, but as per usual he couldn''t get it on target.  I thought this man could play as a striker!!  He has a good chance in each of the last 4 games, and he hasn''t got any of them on target.  Useless 

On that particular ''injury'', it was the ref who stopped the game.  I thouht that the referee was only meant to stop the game if there is a serious head injury, while it was clearly his leg, so play should''ve continued.  About 10 m,inutes before that Drury went down clutching his head and the ref let play continue. The ref all in all had a game of 2 halves.  The 1st half, I thought he got everything pretty much spot on (except maybe the dissallowed goal, but Dublin was climbing a little bit).  In the 2nd half, the ref missed some blatent body checking.  2 good handball shouts in the area which I''d like to see again.  He seemed to give a couple of fouls, when they were clearly fouling Norwich players. Same garbage referees, different season   

I am still very worried about our lack of action with transfer dealings in the defensive department.  We have a single left back, as I''m afraid, I really don''t see Lappin as a replacement there if Drury gets injured, to be honest I don''t see him as a winger either!  Just someone who can play in and around that part of the pitch.  We have no cover at right back unless we go into youth team, as that is pretty much what takes up the entirity of our reserve side.  Same again with our center backs, we have Dion as cover and that is it except for youth teamers.  We really will see our defensive frailties when we get a suspension or an injury, god forbid. We either have to start bringing our youngsters through, if they really are good enough, or we have to get a couple of defenders in quick.  But also, if our youngsters were really as good as the management are trying to make out, they why do they do so badly in the reserve league, when a lot of other teams have a very young side.  Playing and doind well at an under-16 level is a far shout from adults teams

I took my girlfriend and her daughter to there 1st to the Vitesse Arnhem game.  Her daughter being 5 and not really knowing the rules I had to try to explain a hell of a lot before and during the game.  She had been pleading with me to take her to a game so I thought that one would be the best 1 as there wouldn''t be too many people and it wouldn''t get too boisterous in the stands with shouting and swearing, etc.  She loved the 1st hr of the game, but then boredom took hold, plus it was quite late for her so she began messing around a bit, and trying to do stuff with us rather then watch the game.  She managed to see the goal though and feel a little bit of atmosphere, as much as 7,000 people dotted around the stadium can do.  She told me she enjoyed it, but as I said, it was probably only the 1st hr.  Because of that, I might leave it til next years pre-season friendlies before I take her again, maybe trying to get her to watch some games on TV with me, and take her to the park with a footy.  Hopefully, by the next time she watches a game, she will know more of what to expect and what she is watching.

I have noticed that everyone on hear has been speaking great things about Otsemobor.  I for 1 am a little concerned about him.  He DOES have great pace and DOES look pretty good going forward but it was the defending which worried me.  Contrary to what others have said about the Arnhem game, most of their chances fell on Otsemobors side.  They ran down Drury''s side, who held them up or they got a cross in.  Or they pulled the ball across to our right side where they always seemed to have a player unmarked to recieve it, with Otsemobors positional awareness lacking.  Or, they would run at him with Otsemobor struggling, he did however put 2 or 3 very good tackles in, but quite often it was left to Russell to have to go over and help him out. Anyone remember Matthieu Louis-Jean, he used to do that (in the 2 games he did actually play for us).  I believe Otsemobor is better than him however, and with good coaching on his defensive side, he could do very well for us. He has a chance of being a very good player for us, I just hope that the main job he is there to do, which is defend doesn''t become the main talking point in weeks to come. 

Surprisingly there have been.  I''m sure there have been at least 2 groups, one called NR1 and the other called the Barclay Boys.  There has possibly been a couple of others.  Even though I have never took part in anything like that, I have found myslef quite interested in it, after watching films, TV documentaries, reading books on the subject over the years. The Brimson Brothers are 2 blokes who have written a fair few books about their old escapades before they started having kids and settling down, etc.  Norwich, even have appeared in them a few times, but quite rarely to be honest.  Just like with England supporters, it all goes down to reputation.  If you have a bad reputation, opp fans want to take you on to build there own reputation.  Norwich never had one, so most fans wouldn''t come down here looking for a fight, even though it did happen sometimes but not as bad or as often as with other teams  

every year as has been rightly said, a team who has spent next to nothing, brought in next to no-one has excelled themselves with their workmanship and guile.  And also, one or 2 of the bigger teams who should do well, due to moneys paid, etc does badly.  Spending money can work, but does it always.  Look when Forest, Sheff Weds and last year Leeds all went down unexpectedly.  On paper, I kept looking at Leeds and thought that they should win comfortably, and then they lose badly.  They had 3 or 4 very good Championship strikers, a good, hard working midfield, but they just couldn''t gel at all.  That is the key, when Reading went up, what big name players did they have?  None, but by the end of the season, everyone had heard about them for how well they had done, the same with Watford. Every team has a right to be optimistic for the coming season, even with the bigger teams having bucket loads of money to spend.  Just like every year, there is also one of the newly promoted teams who produces a lot of shocks and has a great 1st season (sometimes getting relegated in their 2nd though!). I was born a pessimist and always will be, so instead of "knowing" Norwich are going to win, I just live in hope, that they will prove my pessimism wrong.  Thats what I got a season ticket for, that hope and that want of success, even though my brain tells me we haven''t got a chance, my heart pushes me to every game.

People are worried about us having lost Etuhu and possibly losing Safri.  I too, am concerned,. especially as I''ve already posted something about that already. Loan signings could be the key to aiding this possibly.  Now isn''t the time to worry that we can''t get anyone yet and the Prem clubs aren''t releasing players to teams like us.  Of course they''re not.....yet.  Look how much money is being spent by Prem clubs at the moment.  They all seem to have bought 5 or more players and they''re still going.  They might wait til about 2 weeks before the season starts to decide whether to loan players out or not, especially if they''ve just bought more players in certain positions. Come, the new season, if Safri goes as well, I believe we need 2 centre midfielders, especially a goalscoring one as somehow I don''t believe Brellier''s going to trouble the new scoreboard much.  Also, we are crying out for a decent centre back.  We certainly aren''t good enough there, and I think the last few seasons have proved that, and we haven''t improved that at all

On his day, Etuhu was immense, unfortunately, he only turned up in 25% of the games he played in.  However, he obviously seemed to be a big part of Grants plans for the coming season.  With Brellier allowing him to go forward, I think they would''ve had a very good partnership.  Then with Safri, a good sub for one of those 2, maybe even a starter ahead of 1 of those 2, our midfield would have been pretty formidable.  Now, Etuhu gone, Safri possibly on his way, we are up the creek without a paddle.  If Saf goes, we certainly need 2 midfielders to replace them, and I don''t mean playing Doc in midfield either! Getting £1.5m for Etuhu, I think was not bad, I would''ve bitten Keane''s hand off if he would''ve offered it at Christmas.  People say that theres nothing the club can do if he has a clause in his contract.  The money offer could have been upped.  It wasn''t as if he wouldn''t sign if we added another million onto it, that is rubbish.  The same goes with Earnie, the clause should''ve started at £5m.  I bet Earnie would''ve allowed that.  He wanted away from West Brom and we were offering a good contract and 1st team football on a plate.

I, just like all you others out there, are a bit dissappointed by the departure of Earny for a paltry £3.5m.  It was obvious he was going to go from the moment he said a few months ago that he loved the club and wanted to stay.  Aren''t all players told to say that unless they are an out of contract rebel?  He did a lot of good here, and if we had better and more consistent players around him, I''m sure we would have up there by the end of the season.  For what he did with us, I wish him the best of luck. Also, even though I didn''t think he was much cop for us , I''d like to wish the best of luck to Ian Henderson, who I believe went to Northampton a few days ago, hopefully he will do well for them without coming back to haunt us! From now, Norwich have to look to the future.  At the moment, with out strikers, I don''t hold out much breath.  Brown seems poor, Dublin would be used as back up mainly I believe whether in defense or up front, Martin, I''m very unsure about, he started off brilliantly, but then went so long without producing anything towards the end of the season, I hope for ours and his sake that it wasn''t just a flash in the pan, Jarvis, yet again, I can''t see a whole lot coming from him, maybe Hucks should be played more as a striker than winger(?). With Earny, I''d say that we could go without getting another striker as he was so good up there by himself  but now we need 2.  Cureton wouldn''t be bad at all, but due to the way he plays and his stature, he needs a good plyer alongside him to flick on and link play up with him.  Dublin could do it, but certainly not all season long.  Everyone knows that Sharp was never going to come here, and I''m unsure about Eastwood as he seemed quite hit or miss last year.  He had 2 very good spells, but had a very long period in the middle where he did absolutely nothing.  You never know though.  We need something and we need it fast.  And contrary to most of Grants beliefs, it might not come from the lower divisions or Scotland. From my recollections, apart from a couple of good keepers, Grant hasn''t really brought in anyone of any calibre, which includes Lappin and Fotheringham and Chadwick who seems destined to spend his entire Norwich career in the physio''s room (he may prove me wrong and I hope he does).  Grant has been given money, so far he has done nothing with it.  Marshall, another keeper wouldn''t be a bad thing, but if we get him, why get the lad from Rochdale when we already have another 2 or 3 keepers? Rant over, have a nice (but wet) weekend 

Whenever I seem to watch the cricket on SKY, at England games (usually tour games away to be honest), there are Norwich flags to be seen  

I watched the Arsenal v Chelsea game in my local on Sunday then headed down to Riverside, in Squares were some familiar faces.  There were Doc, MLJ and Hendo.  They were surrounded by the usual dodgy, bleached mullet haircuts of the youth team who clearly believe they are better than everyone else, not just at football, but in everything.  MLJ and the Doc didn''t look too bad, had a smile on their faces, chatting for most of it, but Hendo looked close to tears for the short time I saw them in there.  I saw them in there for over 30 mins and I don''t think I saw him talk to anyone, just stare into space presumably listenening to the others talking.  Do you think, us not extending his contract could do sserious damage to hsi confidence?  I doubt if Rotherham would want him back either as he wasn''t exactly prolific was he.  MLJ is probably just glad to see the end of Norwich and his injury nightmare possibly in the future.  Why can''t they take the Doc away with them though?

i''m sure some other people will have added to this by the end of the day

If Norwich are going to look in Europe for new players, I was wonderig if the club would offer me the job.  They wouldn''t have to offer me a big wage, but might have to foot my bills for hotels, clubs, bars, etc. I would be more than happy to go to Amsterdam, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Berlin, Vilnius, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Warsaw.  There are a few more places that I would go to for the club in Europe, but I think I would be a bit knackered after doing all them!  But there is the January window as well.  Do they have many good players coming out of Thailand?  The bad thing is, that I myself am rubbish at football, but can talk a good game, and sometimes make it sound like I know what I am on about.  I''m sure there are scouts out there like that.  How about it?  I''m sure I could find us the next Tomas Risicky, Petr Cech, Shevchenko, etc.  They might be more likely to talk to a bloke who loves his beer, isn''t going to push him around too much, would take him to strip joints (which would only be for their sake and not for my own of course).  All that wining and dining would make it a sure bet that they would come to us.  I would be brilliant (I think). 

We all know that Norwich have a small squad.  We have just got 5 players off the wage bill.  Does that mean, that we will look at 5 players to come in and replace them?  Or, are they seen as players who weren''t getting a game anyway so they don''t need to be replaced?  To be honest, I can see Gallagher, Colin and Safri all going as well, so that will leave us ridiculously short.  I certainly don''t see Fozzy being a replacement for Safri, but he might get better with time, I hope. We need many new players to be making a decent fight of it next year because the teams coming down will all have money and are all good clubs which might attract good players.  Even though Norwich in my eyes is a great club, it is still in the middle of nowhere and a pig to get to. 

marty, i hope you''ve got a moustache, you would look like Borat then!!

apart from some of his kicking, when did Marshall ever let us down.  The only bad thing he has ever really done in his career (very stupid I must admit), was go to the binners.  Anyone else and he would still get cheered every time he stepped out onto the Carrow Road surface.  I have to say that I rated him as one of the best shot stoppers we''ve had in recent history

In the Barclay Upper, there were quite a few people leaving the ground after 80mins!!  I can see why people may want to leave a little early to get to their car to beat the rush, but it''s the last home game of the season.  Surely people can stay for a few minutes after the game and endure a bit of a traffic jam for 1 day in a season.  If those same people leave 10 minutes early at every game, imagine how much money they have wasted throughout the season by missing so much of every game.  Even though the players haven''t been too much cop this season, they deserved better than that.  Well done to those of us who did stay,  as quite a bit of noise was still made.

Erm....NO Somehow I doubt either of those things would happen, but I would certainly be far from unhappy if it were the case.  I''m not going to make a proper educated guess at next season until the day of the 1st league game next season.  As everything hinges on who we end up getting rid of, and who we bring in.  I would see next year as a success if we end up in the playoffs, anything less than that, even with a strong league, wouldn''t be much good to us, as our finances deplete. Hoping for the best though  OTBC

Thanks for the help.  I''m going to have to try and get myself down to the ticket office on the 22nd May with my mate and hope for the best.  If not, the atmosphere is nowhere near as good in the upper Barclay, but the view is good and hopefully we could get close to the front of the teir to be somewhere near the Lower Barclay.  

Ashton, just after he had a goal drought and also just as there was speculation of him leaving for West Ham.  Then a few games later, he was ''injured'' so he couldn''t play in the FA Cup, then surprisingly he was fine a short while later

I worked as a steward at the club for 6 seasons, and I decided to get myself a season ticket.  Unfortunately I did it very late, and all the seats around my friends in the Barclay Lower were all taken.  The only seats available (apparently) were either near the back of Upper Barclay or Upper N&P, or of course the corner stands at the N&P end (somehow I always doubted I would choose them).  I opted for Upper Barclay, great view, except I have to duck down to see the scoreboard to see how long has gone in the match or to see who the oppositions subs are, because they are usually players i don''t recognise. Anyways,  i''m hoping to get in the ''movers and shakers'' this season.  Does anyone know when they are going to start doing it, does anyone know the likelihood of me getting where I want in block D or E of the Lower Barclay or in the snakepit (even though there have been many matches where there has been big gaps in the snakepit, a season ticket there was never offered to me for the start of this season)? All my mates who sit in the Lower Barclay are all renewing the same seats so getting near them might be tricky, however another 1 of my mates is getting 1 this year, so does anyone know how likely it would be for me and him to get 2 seats together in those areas? Would be good if anyone knows these, especially if they work in the ticket office and can sort it out for me, hint hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more

A good referee??  Did you not see the 3 penalty appeals the ref turned down.  The 1st one, in the 1st half where Dublin has 3 players man handling him in the area, with the ref only a few yards away.  For the most of it, he was quite good, quite lenient, which helped the game flow, as if he would keep brandishing cards , it can either wind the players up into going into mad challenges, or it can make them go namby pamby so as to stop themselves getting sent off.  There was a few, very tight offside decisions made also at the end of the 1st half