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andyc24_uk

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Posts posted by andyc24_uk

  1. Posted · Edited by andyc24_uk

    Here's an alternative thought: What if the rules were just changed so that red cards could be appealed, reviewed and overturned in real time by the Fourth Official, without significant delay to the match? 

    - A player gets sent off. They leave the pitch, likely faster with less protest as they know that the Referee's decision isn't going to change and their appeal/argument/frustration will be heard off the field - The quicker this happens, the sooner they might be back in play. The game continues with minimal disruption.

    - The 4th Official immediately reviews any footage available - every match at this level is filmed and broadcast in some form, so making that footage available shouldn't be a problem.

    - They either confirm or overturn the Referee's decision, with the bias being assumed in the ref's favour to protect their authority - It's only in clear cut cases like Sainz where a red card should be overturned.

    - If the 4th Official determines a clear error was made by the referee, he can signal to the Ref that the card is overturned and the player can rejoin the game at the next break in play, as they would if receiving treatment for an injury.

    An innocent player in Sainz's situation is off the field for maybe 5 minutes at the most. The game is not delayed for VAR nonsense. The referee is somewhat protected from the immediate scramble of protest (which often delays the game as much, if not more so, than a VAR check would, if we're being honest). 

    Perfect solution? No - There will still be situations where the opposition score while a club is unfairly reduced to 10 men, and a player wrongly red carded after about the 85th minute may not get back on the pitch at all.
    Fairer than the current situation? Surely.
    Better than full-blown VAR delays? Without a doubt!

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    Realistically, we're only 6 points off the playoffs in mid November, so it's far from a complete disaster.
    We have Barnes and *maybe* Hanley coming back hopefully after the international break and Idah and Hwang looking like slightly more of a threat the last few weeks.
    There are huge issues to fix in the squad but they can only be fixed with recruitment in January - Any new manager coming in now will (a) likely not be much of an upgrade on Wagner and (b) have the exact same squad of arguably not good enough players available for the next ~10 games.
    What worries me about Wagner is his stubborn refusal to change things when it's blindingly obvious they aren't working - In particular, the usual hopeless suspects at the back. Now he's been forced into making changes with Gibson out so he has no choice but to play one of Batth or Warner.

    Do I think we need a new manager? Yes.
    Do I think making that change now is going to help us in any way? Honestly, no.
    Stick with Wagner for now, see how he and Knapper get on and if he can turn things round, and if it's not working out, give Wagner his P45 in January and bring in a new boss alongside some new signings and an actual coherent strategy for the next 3-4 seasons spearheaded by Knapper. 

  4. Posted

    Problem is, Duffy seems to offer more and I'd say is definitely the better of our two central defenders but seems to always make at least one glaring mistake per game. 90% good defender, 10% catastrophe. He's got to cut those out and maybe needs some specific coaching on keeping his focus on the game and positioning himself better. Gibson makes fewer obviously horrendous mistakes but is just generally cr@p throughout and offers very little. In terms of overspending on a poor player, he's got to be one of the worst signings of the Webber era - Yes the likes of Tzolis didn't work out but he had a lot of potential; Rashica had a decent reputation and looked like a good buy before he decided he didn't care; Gibson we basically knew exactly what we were getting - someone who was barely good enough to sit on Burnley's bench, and that's exactly what we paid £8m for! 

  5. Posted

    Seen absolutely nothing to suggest Springett deserves to be anywhere near the first team squad - he looks a league 2 player at best right now. Maybe he'll develop into something eventually but so far he's got to be the least exciting youngster we've see given a first team chance in probably the last 5 or 6 years. We released Josh Martin who honestly showed far more promise in his handful of appearances than Springett ever has so no idea why he keeps getting game time when he's clearly nowhere near the level required.

  6. Posted

    1 hour ago, Barry Brockes said:

    Having so narrowly missed out on promotion to the National League last season a significant number of their better players decided they could do better than another season in National League North and moved on.

    This, plus the manager who had got them into title contention walked out late last season chasing the $$$ elsewhere and his replacement was cr@p. New manager in now, hopefully can improve results for them.

  7. Posted

    Gibson was a terrible signing who has never looked good enough, he has the odd game where he achieves the bare minimum but they're a rarity and I don't recall a game where I've actively been impressed by him.

    Duffy I was impressed with until this weekend when he had genuinely probably the worst individual performance by any Norwich player since Theoklitos. Absolutely abysmal. I think he's shown enough to deserve another chance and McLean, Sara and Gunn all share some responsibility for continually leaving him exposed but that performance was just unacceptable from a so-called professional player.

    I would definitely be starting Warner and bring back Tomkinson as well - would much prefer to see young players get game time and they literally couldn't do worse than this weekend's clown show.

  8. Posted

    11 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

    Barden wasn't injured. He had cancer. Its about time we gave some of the academy players a chance. Barden did nothing wrong when he played in the 1st team. Now he hasn't had a chance to show what he can do. If he isn't what they want them surely its time to move him on and give him a chance to impress somewhere else. Like Carlton Morris.

    You're absolutely right, I was confusing him with someone else. Glad to have him back in and around the squad.

  9. Posted

    According to Pinkun front page. Good signing I think - We need to keep bringing in this young talent to develop and I assume he's not costing us much. Not really convinced with the backup 'keepers we have beyond Gunn and an ageing Krul - I had high hopes for Barden when he had to play a few years back but not heard much from him since he got injured; Mair and McCracken I don't see making it here from what I've seen of them.
    This new lad has dual Chilean/American nationality too, I wonder if there's any input there in terms of potentially trying to grow our US support and connections further with Attanasio now involved? 

  11. Posted

    Barnes is a smart signing... Not going to be the 20 goal a season striker we need to replace Teemu but an experienced no bull excrement head around the place to encourage some 'bite' in our players, which we've lacked for years, and a solid backup option off the bench. Promising start to the rebuild if we can get him over the line. 

  13. Posted

    6 minutes ago, randy.stand said:

    I don’t usually post on here, I’m a Villa fan and I generally browse some other clubs pages from time to time. Happy Deano has recently found some form for you, what a guy. Love Deano.

    The reason why I wanted to post this morning was on this very topic. I read some of the comments in this thread and it saddened me to be honest. I don’t think some of you possibly realise the bigger picture and the repercussions of some of your words. 

    I’m a 29 year old, gay male. A football addict. Just your usual standard guy, not camp or living up to any gay stereotypes. I’m just a bloke who is attracted to the same sex. That’s all. I’ll start with the first comment I came across in here and probably in jest but I thought I’d tell you how I felt about it. It was the comment about ‘getting drag queens on the pitch at half time’. Now that I’m assuming is in jest, and it wouldn’t hurt me, but why the need? Do we have to continuously stereotype? Why do you think all gay men enjoy that camp’ness, drag queens etc? Most Straight guys in the stadium wouldn’t enjoy that, why would you automatically think the gay supporters would?

    Secondly, people saying ‘homophobia isn’t so much a problem anymore’. Your right it isn’t like it was back in the 70’s etc but I have to take issue with this. When you have homophobic attacks happening in city centres each and every week, no footballer and very limited sporting professionals feeling unable to be themselves, other countries still classifying being gay as illegal and killing people for the like, then it is still clearly a problem and just because progress has been made, it doesn’t mean people should stop fighting for equality.

    And lastly I just want to share my story and feelings with you. So as I said, i’m 29. I’m a senior Nurse Matron in the NHS, from Birmingham and I adore my football. I started going to the Villa in the late 90’s and have been home & away every week for some years. When I was in my late teens I realised there was something different with me compared to others, I liked guys rather than girls. I struggled with this for so long, hated myself for it, wanted to get rid of that part of me. I didn’t feel the courage to come out to my family or friends til I was 21, even though I realised when I was 16 or so. I’m the gay world, explaining to other guys you liked football was so taboo and was a source of constant frustration for me. Obviously as life moves forward your friendship group changes and in the last few years I developed a new friendship group who I go on all the away days with. I eventually came out to them as well which was difficult but they’ve all been supportive. But the footballing arena is such a scary place to do this. The friendly lad banter you hear on the coach or on the terraces, the little remarks of ‘Your so gay’ etc- just think how that can make someone who is already fragile in their own head space feel. When you finally do come out and you get asked questions about your sex life on a coach in front of everyone else, like your a circus clown providing some entertainment. As a gay person, you come out multiple times each year as the attitude is still regarding being straight and the questions thrown at you such as ‘Have you got a girlfriend’. I am probably now at the point when I don’t care what people think or say anymore, but it’s taken such a long time to get there. You may think it isn’t an issue, but your blind sighted to it. If you was in the position, you’d hear so much more which can be deemed as poor taste.

    Some people think it’s banter, but for someone who has struggled with it all, it’s much more than that. I know some of you won’t agree with me or understand me, and that’s ok. But I just ask be mindful of what you say, be mindful of who’s around you, who may be struggling inside with their sexuality, who may just want to be a normal guy going to the football who doesn’t wish for their sexuality to be judged, they just want to watch their team and have a beer. The world has evolved, football is slowly getting better but it isn’t all rosy in that garden just yet. 
     

    all the best for the rest of the season and look after our Deano!

    Thanks for this mate, it's people like you who might actually get some of the idiots on this board to pull their head out of the 1970s and think about the consequences of their actions. Some are irredeemable at this point, but testimony from a bloke who's actually experienced this first hand will hopefully make a few change their behaviour.  Hope you Villains have a good season and Buendia starts banging in the goals for you like we know he can! 

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    20 hours ago, Dean Coneys boots said:

    How about the millions killed by pol pot, Stalin etc - the people shot by Che Gavara - who if he was right wing would be rightly condemned as a murderer not held up as a poster boy. Go ask the miserable people living in Ecuador, Cuba or North Korea what socialism is actually like to live with - that’s my answer 

    Ecuador? We're talking about the same Ecuador that has a multi-party democracy and consistently ranks as one of the most pleasant, safe and stable countries in Latin America, right? The Ecuador whose population ranks above average for global happiness indicators, and which is regularly voted as the world's best country to retire to? As well as Cuba, which is only held back by US sanctions without which it would be a successful modern economy; and North Korea which is not actually socialist at all? 

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    4 hours ago, Tzol Machine said:

    Homophobia was relevant 15 years ago

    Now we're at Heterophobia

     

    Btw why would you support queers and trans people if you're gay? Isn't that counter productive?

    I dont feel gay/bi people should associate with the other groups if you asked me

    Literally nobody did, though, did they? Nobody cares about your homophobic, transphobic, bigoted and just downright moronic nonsense. Go play in traffic.

  16. Posted

    No, and I won't be doing so. Been reading the Pinkun for years but I'll be honest, if I'm going to have to pay for football journalism I'll be going for Michael Bailey's content on The Athletic. The Pinkun's jounalists do a decent enough job covering Norwich but their reporting for me often seems too uncritical and almost afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions, especially when players and/or staff aren't pulling their weight and deserve legitimate questions and criticism; and follows the official club line. Fair enough for a free service and that approach is valid in and of itself, but MB at least has more independence and if I'm paying for content then I want the best I can get.

  17. Posted

    An extra international weekend was added to the calendar this year - From what I understand it's largely because COVID caused the rescheduling/postponement of quite a few World Cup qualifiers over the past 2 years and we're running out of time to get caught up. UEFA is done bar the ridiculous playoffs/Nations League backdoor nonsense so no European ties but all the other confederations still have multiple rounds of qualifiers to go. CONCACAF teams (So I guess potentially Sargent if he gets selected for the USA) have three games over that period!

  18. Posted

    Guaranteed to start in every game he's available regardless of performance it seems so I'll be very surprised if he's not in the starting XI. He's a solid Championship midfielder whose energy and work rate at least can't be questioned, but he very clearly doesn't have anywhere near the level of talent required in the top flight, hence why he's looked abysmal pretty much all season. Effort and team spirit will win you games at lower levels but mean comparatively little on the money-drenched pitches of the Premier League, something the club seems unable to get their head around despite multiple seasons of evidence.

  19. Posted

    I don't think Tzolis has been given a fair crack at it to be honest - Whereas Sargent has played multiple games, seems to get on the teamsheet or subbed in regardless of form, and has shown zero indication that he's good enough for the Premier League whatsoever. I'd like to see Tzolis loaned out for the rest of the season at this point as I think there's a top quality player in there but he needs to be playing week in week out to fulfil his potential and that's not going to happen with us this season unless he magically starts scoring tonight.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by andyc24_uk

    We need to create more chances and the midfield simply aren't good enough to do so; so using the wide areas more effectively is the only option we really have. We also have players who we know are capable in getting forward and supplying pressure from wide in Aarons and Giannoulis, but who are both suspect at getting back and defending. This seems like a very sensible move TBH.

     

                                  Krul

                Hanley    Kabak     Gibson

    Aarons             Sorenson          Giannoulis

                               McLean

           Placheta                        Rashica

                                 Pukki                        

    Bench: Gunn, Byram, Williams, Lees-Melou, Tzolis, Dowell, Cantwell, Idah

    This won't happen of course, because DS seems to dislike Giannoulis for whatever reason; but I'd like to see it. If we're not going to go on the offensive we're going to get crushed yet again. Placheta, for his technical faults, offers pace and unpredictability which we desperately need, so I'd gamble on him over Cantwell or Dowell.

    Sargent probably needs to be left at Colney with someone who can explain to him technical concepts like what a football is and how to stand up.

  22. Posted

    With Lampard seemingly out of the running and questions over Knutsen's availability and Smith presumably not even being in Webber's thoughts when the decision to axe DF was made, what other lesser talked about options do people think we could potentially go for?  The one that stands out for me is maybe Urs Fischer at Union Berlin... Track record of taking a smaller club up to the top flight and establishing them there; plays good football; would possibly see the Premier League as a step up and a new challenge given Berlin have probably reached about as high as they'r likely to go and aren't likely going to be able to compete for trophies with the bigger teams in the Bundesliga...

    Failing that, on Football Manager Norwich for some reason always seem to appoint somebody from Turkey, so who knows?!

  23. Posted

    I think there's a role for both of them to be honest. Pukki hasn't looked quite as sharp since the injury he suffered before the Euros and I wonder if that half a yard of pace is gone for good given his age; but he has the intelligence to move into spaces and unlock opportunities that Sargent doesn't seem the type to do. If Big Josh's physicality can be used to distract the Burnley defence and generally cause a nuisance, I think that could give Pukki the opportunities he needs. On their own, I can see either of them being effectively taken out of the game, but get them working well together and we could really have something good up top. 
    If we're going with 3 at the back and wingbacks again, I'd like to see both Pukki and Sargent up front with Rashica and Cantwell if available, Dowell or Gilmour if not, playing slightly more centrally behind them allowing the WBs to overlap; Normann in behind as an enforcer.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    No. I'm fed up hearing  this '6 defeats = the end of the world' rhetoric - We've had, as far as I'm aware, the toughest opening period of any team in Premier league history (I can't remember any other club ever having played 4 of the previous season's top 5 in their opening 5 fixtures; might have happened but I don't remember it). The Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Leicester games were always going to be defeats - we lost them the second the fixture list came out, and nobody at the club would have been counting on any points from those games. Realistically even if those games had been spaced out through the year, the expectation would be that we would lose them all.
    The Watford performance was abysmal and players and manager deserve all the criticism they got from that.
    Against Everton we were significantly better and undone by two individual moments of poor decision-making from Kabak and McLean. 

    So we've actually lost two 'winnable' games, making definite improvements in the second one. We're only 3-6 points behind where we would have realistically hoped to be at this point in the season and, while things absolutely MUST improve fast and anything other than 4 points from our next two games will genuinely start to look worrying - I really don't think it's panic stations yet. 


    There are obviously significant issues, especially in the defence, and I think we need a serious discussion about whether some of the coaching staff are good enough to be working at this level or whether that side of things needs an overhaul. Clearly some players are not premiership quality and completely out of their depth, but - and this is the crucial thing - we have options this year to replace them.  Normann looked like a huge upgrade in the middle and a real battler who is going to do big things for us. The likes of Rupp and McLean will know they're probably on their last chances at this point, if they continue to put in poor performances or make moronic schoolboy errors they know they're likely done because there is genuine competition now for places. Pukki, much as I love him, looks off the pace - as he has since that injury late last season. If he can't get his mojo back fast, I can see him starting on the bench sooner rather than later. Same at the back, Williams hasn't impressed me that much to be honest and I'd be surprised if Giannoulis isn't back in for Burnley - Having learned the lesson of what happens when you give a half-ar$ed performance. 

    I do think it's fair to say these next two games are the most important of the season - but writing us off to go down already? No way. 
     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  25. Posted

    Anyone know when the away and third kits are supposed to be released? I'm holding off on buying a new shirt until I've seen all three of them to pick my favourite, surely can't be the only one doing the same and as I live abroad it would be nice to actually get one through the post before the start of the season. I thought they might release one each week but still waiting... 

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