birchfest

I guess a lot of what of you who seem terribly impressed by this need to ask is 'Just how important is football'? You willing to shut your eye and ears to atrocities because.. your football team will win some matches and you get a warm fuzzy feeling for 20 minutes at 5pm on a saturday. Personally I think we are showing a way to do it without that. Colney being another step forward, a state of the art training ground we should all be proud of, paid for with money the club has generated.. and not a single EDP journalist bumped off!

you should be happy, didn't ipswich win midweek?

Pathetic response as per usual suspects. We spent a record transfer budget, but we are also putting into action steps that will benefit us irrespective of which league we are in. The pool and rehab resources in particular are a key in the game of finer margins of football, if we can take 20% off recovery times from injuries, help post match recovery and do prevention work then it will have a massive impact. Players come and go, but spending what won't have been anywhere near the 4-8 million extra on top of the 10 million for Ajier for something literally permanent is the right move. Also id suggest by the end of the season Kabak will be rated higher.

Might be an unpopular opinion but Id rather drop out of the league than be bought out by this lot, honestly the price of success at literally any cost. Rotten to the core, another step forwards towards the death of football, meanwhile the greed of fandom will see many up there turn a blind eye, a good metaphor for many problems in this country right now.. I don't care what happens to anyone else as long as I get mine at the end of it.

I don't think anyone here is singling him out, with the greatest respect LDC. I think its more a general concern we all want to see him succeed but thats going to be hard to do coming on in 89th against Burnley here and a League cup start there. It begs the question what the plan is for Adam, as we know from that bit with the Irish press even he appears to be becoming frustrated.. and that not so much that he isnt starting for us, but more the fact he seems to know that he needs football too if he is to stand any chance of making it at the top level,

Hugely unlucky to have picked up an injury at the same time as Pukki and Hugill last season. This season I think its going to look more and more of a mistake to have not tried to get him a quality Championship loan. Swansea who were screaming for a number 9 and with Martin as manager would have been a good fit, especially with the style they will try to play. Instead he will have bit parts and cup games, a player who still hasn't had a full season in English football. Lungi has had more games than him, so I must confess our desire and dependence on him suddenly being top flight ready is a tad alarming. He can be, but he NEEDS to be playing somewhere.

I think it’s pretty tin pot and little old Norwich to be going after the squad. Again. After a positive result. In the first week of October.

I think I'm in the minority who think, whilst Gilmour IS an excellent player, he would always find it hard playing for us as opposed to a side that has much more of the ball and doesn't have the same defensive responsibility as he would for Norwich. My worry is we will look back and say the enthusiasm of Scottish and Chelsea fans about him clouded what he could actually offer what we need in terms of a club of our demands and stature. I also don't view him as the progressive player that Buendia was in terms of the passing to create chances, he's much more of a move the ball on to a winger or a number 10 than a direct supplier, you need only look at some of the pass maps of his for Chelsea and Scotland.

Normann looks every bit a top flight player, and whilst different to Skipp (I'd say he's like a hybrid of some elements of Skipp, some of Vrancic and even a bit of David Fox at his spraying best) it seems that at least that position is pretty much nailed down for him now. The key now seems to be who we can put in around him who will offer the work rate defensively, but also capable of creating those guilt edge chances for Pukki and Sargent. So far it seems Lees-Melou and McClean are the preferred options, both in the 4-3-3 and the 5-3-2, however with players such as Cantwell and Dowell waiting in the wings to come in (not to mention actual wing options in Tzolis and Rashica), would it require sacrificing one of the current two to add that spark? Would that require another formation shift, perhaps for games we should hopefully view as winnable at home (Newcastle, Southampton, Brentford, Leeds, Wolves) and back to a 4-2-3-1? Something like: Krul Aarons Kabak Hanley Giannoulis Normann Mclean/Gilmour Cantwell Dowel Tzolis Pukki Games away where we need the physicality and experience to weather a storm and be looking to get a decent point could see us using the same 5-3-2 that we had in Burnley, could be useful for Chelsea, West Ham etc And then for games where we are able to accept we need to attempt to counter and there will be space to do so we have the 4-3-3 with pace bring the prime objective; Leeds away for example something like Krul Aarons Kabak Hanley Giannoulis Lees-Melou Normann Mclean Rashica Pukki Tzolis Anyway, feel free to tear it apart. I just feel slightly more buoyed to have a player in the centre who looks to be a 'first name on the team sheet' player. The defence tided itself up and if we can just become a little more creative offensively I think we have some really positive results to come.

Heart says we do an 'Everton' of 2 seasons ago, a weird performance where we take our chances and the other teams just offer nothing. That bit of luck we need, to put away a chance and the opposition to have an off day. My head says we will be playing well and then Burnley will score with their first or second chance around the 30 minute mark. We will rally after the break, maybe even pull one back but we won't be able to go the full 90 without another unforced error and that will be that. Cheerful, but I feel like the pattern we have seen so far this season has started to condition my expectations. Still, I back them and I hope my heart is right on this one.

blimey, what do you plan on getting up to at football?

no

Right, before the pile on ensues, I'm a big Pukki fan and I think him every bit good enough for this level, provided we play to his strengths. This isn't reopening THAT debate again. That being said, whilst we are still trying to get set into this new formation and with the particular opponent we have this weekend, would it be the right game to start Sargent ahead of Pukki and with that allow either Tzolis or Rashica to start to add a bit more pace to try to combat Burnely's physicality. I'm almost certain Josh will play as he has the physicality that we will need to compete but it would also allow us to have the option to bring Temmu on later in the game where his movement could cause problems against tired legs. Anyway, I'm not 100% sure on this myself? What do we recon, would that be hiding to nothing? Do we need Rashica breaking and then supplying Sargent in the air?

You watch that and then go on Twitter to see people saying 'fArkE hAs lOsT the dReSsinG rOOm'. Seriously, thank goodness our squad and coaching staff appear to be made of sterner stuff then a section of our fanbase. I tell you what is little ole Norwich; Waving the white flag in September. I still believe the players will get going and can turn this around, and seeing bullish interviews from Normann and Krul makes me more, not less, confident of that.

This is all very charming, the notion that we need simply had said no to Buendia and that would have solved all our problems. As i said earlier in this thread, and I say this as a huge Emi fan, by hook or crook he was getting himself out of Norwich this summer past. To use Wes and the brief flirtation he had with Villa is a poor comparison, there you have players on completely different career trajectories and Norwich already in turmoil with Hughton. We have to look at the facts with Emi; He caused that much of a fuss at the start of last season he had to be left out of the side, including against Bournmouth who at that stage in the season was a huge game for us. It was that much of an issue Farke even outed him to apply pressure back on the player and his agent. And remember that was without a single formal bid coming in, we know that only Lewis, Godfrey and Aarons were actually contacted about. You then read that detailed piece about Norwich and their transfer dealings in the Times, I believe, which suggested that 'the mood music from Buendia and his agent' throughout that season had made the situation at times almost unmanageable. So you have a player and an agent all season long saying 'this time next year, I WILL be somewhere else', a player who managed to cause enough issues when there wasn't a formal bid, who then early in the window is subjected to two serious bids. He's off. The trouble it would have caused and the issues it would have likely presented us just out weigh the fantasy that he was the type of player who was willing to quietly get on with it, for a second time I might add... he just wasn't going to do that. I think the club have been relatively tight lipped about it out of respect for Emi and the relationship he had with the fans, I don't say this to suggest he is a bad guy or anything like that. I think this is actually the norm these days, and whilst I'm sure he now has fond memories of us, you cant expect him to display the same loyalty that we feel, as a young Argentinian who likely didn't know a thing about us before his move here, and an ambition to reach the top of the footballing tree. I also don't view Buendia being sold as the tactical masterstroke by Webber. To reinvest was a necessity, they couldn't sit on the money and we knew we needed to strengthen, even if Buendia stayed. But it must have been pretty clear that this was going to happen and hence why it appears we had Rashica on our radar in may. It was the upside of a painful inevitable end to his time with us.

A good read Parma, some key points I think we can all agree on. I do however take a slight issue with the suggestion that Norwich could have dug their heels in and kept Buendia. To do that could have resulted in several situations that would have had a huge negative impact. The first would be for Emi to effectively go on strike, we know from various news sources that there was a feeling of agitation throughout last season that appear to only be held at bay by the understanding that he would be moving on in the summer. Now I know you would say 'well he didn't down tools last summer'. Well, actually his behaviour meant he was left out of the start of the season and the situation got to the point where Farke had to 'out' him to apply a bit of pressure. That coupled with the fact we didn't receive a formal bid for him also left him in a position where he was going to have to bide his time another season. I think the moment a formal bid was made and Buendia was made aware, it was then impossible. I think the club have protected Emi and his legacy by perhaps not letting the fans know just how much he didn't want to be here. Its fair enough really, you don't want to sour a relationship with you player of the season from a fans point of view, but the side effect is that people likely don't know the conversations that were had where he might have said 'sell me or put me in the reserves because I won't train and I won't play for the first team'. Its speculation, but the mood music is there from the previous summer and what has been said since. The other big issue with not allowing the move is the one of selling Norwich to the next 'superstar in waiting'. We are not and likely never will be a top 6 club in English football. Unfortunately Norwich is not the club or goal for 99.9% of players out there working their way up. Its winning trophies and playing in Europe. Its getting picked for England. Can we as a club realistically offer that? No. Can we offer players the opportunity to come and feature, even at the ages of 17-21, for the first team? Yes. Norwich's new model depends on getting the timing right and selling on our 'crown jewel' because its the very prospect of that which attracts talent to our ranks. If we were to dig our heels in and start stopping that, we would then be overlooked by a Tzolis or a Kabak. If you take off your yellow and green glasses for a second and discard the long forgotten concept of loyalty in football, its then easier to accept that we are a football shop window. Is that a bad thing? No. So far the shop window of us playing Lewis, Godfrey and Buendia has earned us two promotions. Even Maddison could be view as having earned us the ability to carry on another season when things were looking grim. If we get young talent in who can give us 2-3 seasons before a big move then really everyone is a winner. The club prospers and attracts more top talent to the academy/first team and the player gets their side of the deal too. To have suddenly hardballed a want away player with a club record fee on the table would have torn that concept to shreds.

That new Greek place next to Wagamamas must be absolutely buzzing to ready that...

Hahah oh the calm before the storm, just about far along enough to forget about tuesdays disappointment, but this time tomorrow could be a very interesting time to be a City fan. Personally Im going with the positive. Why not, friday night and all that.

I said in a different thread, whilst I appreciate where people are coming from with this there are a couple of things that sort of suggest that it isn't the main issue that needs to be solved. The first is that we saw last season our style significantly tightened up in comparison to the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons. That was due to personnel and a slight change of tactics which showed the management were capable of fixing the problem themselves. That moves us onto this season and the personnel, as so far we have only had one match with our new recognised CDM. We need to see if Normann can help us regain some of the stability that our defensive phases had last season, both as a screen to the CB and also covering the full backs when they get forward. The other issue I believe is the mistakes we are making, they are there for us all to see... theres nothing too nuanced about them, I mean they could hire me if they want to tell them 'Cut the balls into the box out' 'don't let Jesus have so much space to get in behind our left back' 'Hanley don't head a ball out for a Leicester throw which they score from when it was going out for our own anyway'. Our mistakes aren't because our defenders need to be taught to defend, I think its more the combination of the pressure and almost a desire to over play it. I think the two things that can help with that will be somehow getting a positive result on the board and then also a careful use of rotating players, so as to keep the levels high. Too many mistakes need to see an alternative coming in, its the only way to keep the concentration and desire high as we cant have any automatic starters in a leaky defence.

Whilst I understand what your getting at I have three points about that, the first is last season we were significantly defensively stronger than prior seasons (albeit in a lower league) it seems as though our current coaches are capable of getting improvement out of squad. The second, which relates to last season, is the use of a CDM to cover our full backs and help absorb pressure. We've only had one game with Normann in and so have to hope that will start to have an impact in the same way Skipp helped out defensive stats. The final point, is a defensive coach necessary with regards to what is going on thats resulting in goals? At the moment its a lot of horrible individual mistakes that almost any pro knows not to make, but due to confidence/bad decision making/pressure from our situation, we can see them making them. For example, the club doesn't need to hire me on £80,000 a year to be telling our full backs not to let a winger get space on the overlap, or that they need to cut out balls into the box.. I think its issues that our current coaches (and players for that matter) know more than enough about and will be working on.

ah really, where are ipswich off to this weekend?

Yes, because thats what being a football fan is all about, even if it completely unfounded optimism and more irrational hope. BUT... This isn't the last 5 games and we are 9 points from safety. We will hopefully see a back 5 of even 4-2-3-1 which might help. Todd could come good. Rashica could go up a level. Kabak and Normann could both be more settled and start to show they are top flight standard. Everton have a bit of an injury crisis. Enough there to think its worth hoping. We win and the mood changes completely, we start looking at going to Burnley and getting something too.

Pretty sure it says in the articles about the trial period that the seats are not allowed to be locked in the up position.

I think it’s unlikely the club will sign up to something that both a) costs a vast amount and then b) reduces income…. Seems sort of counterintuitive. Like spending money on an extension that’s so crap it lowers the sell on value when your planing to sell up. Not to say it won’t happen, I just expect them to look at this seriously and will know the exact implications of what it would do for capacity and how long it would take to pay itself back. For those complaining about being stuck behind someone, I mean that’s going to be your reality anyway in the Barclay D and E block, they already do stand. Sort of why I think the club might not jump onboard and simply let people keep doing it and police it less.

Then we also have some serious pace options off the bench with Rashica and Tzolis if the game starts to stretch, same with Kenny, Gilmour and PLM off the bench to sure things up if we take the lead and need to see it out.