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Canary Poirot

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Everything posted by Canary Poirot

  1. This post is exactly the sort of thing we were reading last season about Holt. Apparently he was ''over the hill'', ''past it'' and had been ''found out at Premiership level''.   The point is, if last season Holt was ''past it'', and this season the Wolf is ''a turkey'' when we paid £7 million for him and he scored goals in Portugal last season, maybe we should look more carefully at what has remained constant between last season and this season..... Answer? Step forward Chris Hughton and his ultra defensive tactics.   Playing one striker, totally isolated, against top class defenders, has led to our inability to score goals, or for our strikers in particular, to get amongst the goals. Last season our defenders weighed in with lots of goals. This season our midfield is scoring a lot. But our strikers? Nothing. And it''s all down to Hoot''s negative tactics. If we went 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond formation) we would see a dramatic change in the Wolf''s fortunes. He would score goals! Yes we might be more susceptible to conceding one or two more goals, but heaven help us, we might actually offer a goal threat. Games might actually be entertaining again.   Before writing the Wolf off, lets look very carefully at Hoots and his duller than ditch water tactics.
  2. I find it amusing that people are quick to say we shouldn''t expect any sort of result at Arsenal so as to excuse our 4-1 drubbing. But not long ago in May 2012 we went to the Emirates under Paul Lambert and got a 3-3 draw. Not bad for a team containing Simon Lappin, Grant Holt (who was considered ''over the hill'' last season by some fans oblivious to the fact that isolating him in a 4-5-1 formation basically made him redundant), Simeon Jackson and a certain Steve Morison (described as not Premiership standard on these message boards last week) who scored the equaliser. What''s that, a striker scoring?! Those days seem long gone. But how did we manage a 3-3 draw at the Emirates of all places? Not something to do with playing two up top in a diamond formation was it? Heaven no - we can''t possibly play two up top - Hoots would never allow it, and Hoots is beyond criticism on these boards (according to some). Needless to say, I blame our entire position squarely on Hoots and his managerial team, and most definitely on his stubborn reluctance to abandon a formation/system which is simply not working. Are Van Wolfwinkle and Hooper really that useless? Clearly not. But we could have Messi up top alone and he''d look useless in our team. Hoots has to be braver or else he''s going to take us very very close to the Championship this season (our only saving grace will be Sunderland Palace and one other being worse by default which is possible).
  3.       [quote user="nutty professor nigel"][quote user="Monty13"]   Nutty almost certainly more, but for the fact he lost the game, maybe as supporters we just like moaning? But that doesn’t mean it’s not justified. I’d certainly be moaning if I’d took some holiday paid or tickets, flights, hotel, food and drink and then been treated to that display.     [/quote]   So the majority hold entertainment secondary to the result? Despite all those things, all that money spent, the majority would prefer England to qualify for the WC Finals than be entertained. But if we had qualified with a game to spare and that game was a boring 0-0 draw the opposite would apply.. entartainment more important than the result? But however much exciting football is played, meaningless and friendly matches just don''t have that edge. Not for me anyway. But I guess some will see it differently.   To go back to your Sunderland game I have been to plenty like that. Travel up to Preston on a cold Tuesday night, see another no show, travel back the same night, and then repeat the experience at Burnley a few weeks later! Why?? Because following your team is not just about entertainment I guess.         [/quote]     I think it totally depends on the individual whether you see football as entertainment or a results business. At the end of the day we''re all consumers of Premier League football, either by directly attending matches or subscribing to Sky Sports. As consumers we watch either to be entertained, or to watch our team do well, whether that means being entertained or not.   As for me personally, I''ve reached the point where I simply cannot watch an England match, be it a competitive one or a friendly. They are simply never remotely entertaining. I''ve seen so many god awful 0-0 draws that I''d rather watch paint dry than watch England. And that goes for World Cup finals - anyone remember Albania England last time around?!   When it comes to Norwich I guess I''d rather have results - particularly if I''m not at a game. Even when at a game I''ve seen so much dross over the years that doesn''t come close to entertainment and the fact I still go and watch suggests I''m more of a results man. But generally, as a neutral I want open attacking games and 4-3 results week in week out - now that would be fun and entertainment. As things stand, the Premiership is pretty boring as a whole. The Champions League generally has better matches which are more entertaining as teams have to play to win. In the Premiership teams can settle for draws and that can make for dull unwatchable matches (Stoke V Southampton anyone?).
  4. I take issue with the current approach made by Hughton in terms of the tactical set up of our team at the moment. I feel he, like many managers at the top of football in England at the moment have lazily fallen into a pattern of following the current fashion of received wisdom - that is playing the 4-2-3-1 formation come rain or shine, as it is the best line up for a top team.   Anyone watched England recently playing the 4-2-3-1 formation against Ukraine, groaning at the complete lack of ability to open up the opposition to create genuine chances? Now the problem to me, as it is for us, is the desire to fit players into this formation, regardless of the players'' individual strengths. England lack the individuals to play such a formation as it relies on having two or three genuine world class players with flair, guile and creativity. England simply don''t have players like that (instead having all out action players Gerrard, and goal scoring midfielders (Lambert). Nor do Norwich. Tottenham do. The 1998 French world cup winning team, where that formation came to prominence, certainly did (Zidane, Djokaoff, Henry, Trezaguet etc). I think it''s far better to approach setting up the team and formation to play to players'' strengths rather than rigidly trying to fit square pegs into round holes.   So where did it go wrong against Tottenham last Saturday. Many have moaned about that performance, but for me, aside from the obvious excellence of Spurs, I feel we would''ve played better had Hughton set the team up differently. It struck me that there was little point playing either Snodgrass or Redmond against Spurs at WHL as neither offered decent defensive cover and had zero support going forward. We needed a more energetic workman like midfield filled with defensive minded players sitting deep with a very narrow mindset (i.e. no out and out widemen/wingers). I would''ve played Elmander up top to win balls and hold up play and look to win set pieces - realistically our only chance.   Sometimes it is necessary to set up a team to nullify the opposition. Adaptation of formation and tactics, particularly away from home, will be critical if we are to stay up. Playing 4-2-3-1 come rain or shine will lead to a miserable return in terms of number of points won this season from away games. Against the weaker teams I''d like to see a more adventurous positive formation even away from home (4-1-2-1-2 narrow diamond). If we don''t see that, expect a lot of draws and a long hard slog of a season where we''ll be relying on Palace, Hull, and one other being worse than us.
  5. It''s a good job Jackson is still with us because we''re going to need him next season the way things are going....   The other good news is that Fox, Holt, Hoolahan, Tierney, R.Martin, C.Martin, Surman, Ruddy are all still here. That''s pretty much got our Championship side sorted for next season. Throw in Pilks, Snodgrass, Bennett, Howson and Johnson, and we''ve got a stronger option for right side midfield than Crofts offered. All we need is a new manager who embraces the diamond and a stellar year will be ours.
  6. Sorry Unhinged Canary/Morty - I don''t have a wikipedia entry - I was never a pro. It was all quite a long time ago, for a team long since gone south. And I was only a young thing at the time.   All I wanted to do is stop Morty pulling his "I know more about football than you" card to Indy Bones when I thought Indy was making a very good argument. So I had to put Morty in his place. Of course, if a pro came along he could shut me up as I have no experience of higher level football. 
  7. "Thirdly, how do you know you have played football at a higher standard than me?"   Because unless you''re a former professional, you won''t be able to trump my conference level.
  8. Morty   Have you ever considered that it is in fact you that thinks they more about football than they really do? You suggest taking off a striker and replacing him for another striker would''ve suddenly increased our chances of scoring?   As someone who has played football probably to a far higher standard than you, I suggest that the reason Holt has had such a poor season, and why he comes in for such criticism from you, is not because he has scored only 6 goals, but because he has been starved of any decent service or support up front. You could play any very good striker up top isolated and they would struggle to produce anything of note. Put a guy up against Premiership defenders isolated and they are going to struggle a great deal.   The problem Holt has had this season is our midfield has sat far too deep. And this is all to do with Hughton''s utter terror at losing games. when we played the diamond under Lambert, Holt had lots of support and chances to get onto, and he was excellent, scoring 16 Premiership goals. The problem isn''t Holt. It''s Hughton and his demented tactics.
  9. I honestly cannot see us beating WBA at home with hughton in charge. We''ll set out for a draw. Create next to nothing. And then make one error at the back, or one bit of quality from West Brom and we''ll concede. Hughton will look on clueless from the bench, throw on some attacking players with 5 minutes to go and we''ll lose 1-0. Under hughton we won''t can get anymore points this season. Wigan will win at least two more games this season - they have a much much better manager than us. We have the better squad of players, but Martinez knows that sometimes you have to ''go for it'' and play open attacking football and he can breathe belief into a set of players. We''re now relying on Sunderland and or Newcastle not getting beyond 38 points - unless hughton is sacked before the WBA game.
  10. The reason Wigan are threatening to survive again is because they have a quality manager that breathes belief into his players, and who understands that sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and play to win. Our manager in contrast is terrified of losing and has to have players defending deep all the time. Wigan have a quality manager. We have a garbage manager. There''s little difference between our players - in fact I think our squad is better than Wigan''s squad.
  11. Agreed.   Hughton has to go today. If he doesn''t we all know what will happen in our must must must win game V WBA. A defensive set up with Hughton terrified we''ll lose. And we''ll lose anyway without creating any decent chances.   We need the team to go out and attack attack attack. A real open game and go for the win. A cautious approach which is guarenteed if Hughton is in charge will mean yet another defeat.   Hughton simply has to go tonight. Otherwise we won''t get another point and we will go down.
  12. [quote user="Olly"]The yearning for Lambert amongst some is unbelievable. Please move on already, it''s been nearly a year now[/quote]   Why is it unbelievable? He was one of our most successful managers in the past 25 years. People were yearning after Mike Walker many years after his first spell in charge. Or are you too young to remember those days?
  13. Reply to grant holt''s 3 year contract:   And where exactly did I say get Holloway in you cretin brained moron? If you cannot fathom the empirical evidence of Lambert''s reign as manager where we played entertaining attacking football and wonback to back promotions and finished comfortably in 12th position in the Premiership than you are indeed a numpty of the highest order. ButI suspect both you and I know that you are as evidenced by your ignorant put down of my original post.
  14. We still have four winnable games to play. Home games V Reading, Villa and WBA are all winnable, as is the away game V Stoke, but only if we go out onto the pitch with the intention of winning. That means attacking. That means getting men forward and taking risks. If we don''t then we are toast this season and Hughton should be sacked. Personally I''d sack him anyway, but we can still and should stay up this season. But going all out to win on Saturday is an absolute must.
  15. We need the spirit of Lambert to return to the team for every game remaining. Diamond formation with Hoolahan, Holt and Kamara up top. No more of this defensive shite from Hughton, because if we continue to play like that we WILL go down. If we play offensively against Reading we can and will win. If we play cautiously, we will draw and be right in the thick of things come the end of next weekend.
  16. [quote user="Vanwink"]Well said, we most definitely have gone backwards, as has the development of our players, it''s sad to watch![/quote]     We scored 52 goals last season the way to securing 47 points.   This season, with 6 games left to play, we have scored only 30 goals and have 35 points.   So I can only agree. It does look like we''ve gone backwards this season.
  17. Let''s go for a Lambert style diamond formation and cavilier attitude and stay up... Again.
  18. I reckon we''ll get 3 more points, with draws against reading, Stoke and Villa. And losses to Arsenal, WBA and Man City. That''ll leave us on 38 but it''ll be enough. After Sunderland lose to Chelsea tomorrow, they''ll 4 points behind us with 6 to play. So will have to make up 7 points to survive (as they have a superior goal difference). Their run in is Newcastle (A), Everton (H), Villa (A), Stoke (H), Southampton (H), Spurs (A). I can''t see them getting their 7 points without Fletcher up front to score their goals.
  19. Well I think the Reading at home is a must win game and a real gimmee. 4-4-2 is essential, if not the diamond formation (4-1-2-1-2) which I think would be even better, with Russell Martin becoming the cavaliering right back again.
  20. [quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]A decent result against a superior Swansea side.  Now lets hope Sunderland and Wigan lose tomorrow or it could be proper squeaky bum time.[/quote]   There''s no way Sunderland will win at Chelsea tomorrow. And I don''t think we should be worrying about Wigan. Wigan will probably survive. We need to keep an eye on Sunderland as out of all the teams below us (aside from QPR and Reading who look doomed) they are the ones who look significantly worse than us. I think it''ll be reading, QPR and Sunderland that drop. We''ll survive, just.
  21. Hoolahan was excellent under Lambert. But then we played with two up top and a diamond formation back in the good old days. These days things are very different. Still, good to see another centre back on the score sheet today. It''s Hughton''s way for the time being.
  22. I agree it has been an appalling run of results of late, with some very insipid displays. But I think we will limp over the line more by default than by our own ability on the basis that Reading and QPR are pretty much already gone, and Sunderland are much worse than we are. That''s all that will keep us up though. Not any great managerial ability from Hughton who I sincerely hope is gone by August.
  23. So, what does everyone think will happen tomorrow against Swansea? My prediction.... Norwich 0 - 1 Swansea Hughton will line up with his now infamous ultra defensive 4-5-1 formation and look to get everyone behind the ball, seeking to win set plays in Swansea''s half, to knock hopeful balls into the Swansea box for one of our defenders to nick a goal. Because we all know, if our defence isn''t scoring, we aren''t scoring. It''ll be 0 - 0 at half time, after Swansea had 65% of the play creating little. We''ll have had one shot off target from 20 yards. No doubt Hughton will be thrilled. The pattern will be repeated in the second half until one of our midfielders is caught too far foward, one of our centre backs has a momentary lapse, and Michu breaks through to score. Hughton doesn''t react until the 85th minute bringing on 3 strikers. But it''s all too little too late by then. We go down one nil.
  24. I watched Chrissy Martin play for Derby V Leicester. He scored a very good headed goal. His play overall was good. He definitely has a future at Championship level. I''m not certain if he can play at the Premiership level at the moment - he is behind Holt and Hoolahan, and he needs games for the sake of his career. It''ll be a loss to lose him in my opinion, as he definitely has something about him, and in the appearances he''s made in the Premiership he has looked decent. His biggest problem is a lack of pace as he''s not a ''lump''. But he''s definitely worth a cool £million, as he will do well in the Championship and maybe one day progress to the Premiership.
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