lake district canary

With Todd, what I see is raw talent - but as yet still a bit unharnessed. Too many goals against this season so far have come from midfielders trying to be too clever/cute on the ball and simply passing the ball straight to the opposition, Todd - and the others of course - have to control themselves a little bit more. Not to the extent of squashing the talent, but just showing a bit more composure....like they did last season. Last season Todd was more careful with the ball, wary of making mistakes....this season he has been full of confidence and trying every trick in the book....he just needs to find the right balance.

Maybe all I am doing is trying to empathise with a young man who is trying to be the best football player he can be and who is also having to adapt to living with huge amounts of money and exposure to unsavoury types whose only agenda is to try and catch him out. He will undoubtedly learn how to deal with it, but those that condemn him just on the say so of others are quite probably well wide of the mark.

I am glad you have such a deep relationship with JM that you 'understand him', what with DF sharing his innermost thoughts with you, you really are connected arent you.  I think the effort taken to understand someone, such as a football manager who often gives his thoughts on all sorts of subjects and a high profile player who has been seen in all sorts of lights both good and bad is worth the effort. It's not that hard to do either, you just have to open your eyes, open your mind and see what is presented.....in JM's case, a young man who is plainly not just what the media want to present him as....if you care to see beyond their agenda of stirring the pot. The alternative is to close your mind and just jump on any bandwagon that someone creates, whether it is some lowlife tabloid or some social media sh*t stirrer.

And who is to say they won't step up? We haven't seen Vrancic yet, Zimmermann has only a few minutes so far, both of who were huge for us last season. Emi and Todd are still learning and need the people behind them to be more secure - and that has been difficult given the injury situation and all the changes that have had to be made. Amadou hasn't had much chance to show what he can do in his favoured position and Trybull has imo been ok when he played - and imo will improve with game time. It's still an early time of the season and players will improve as the team/squad gets back to something like full fitness. Imo Zimmermann and Krul are the key players to get fit again as they - along with Godfrey - are the core of the team and were developing brilliantly last season and no reason for that not to happen again. They, with a fit DM, whoever it may be, Amadou, Trybull or Tettey - will have a big effect. The core of our team has been missing and it's no wonder we haven't looked good the last three weeks. Early days, some good, some bad, more good to come than bad imo. but we do need more players fit. Fit players is the key, not whether they can step up or not......they all have time to show they can play at this level and imo they will all do just that.

From what we know of James Maddison and his time at Norwich, he is a person who has a big heart and who also likes to live life to the full, whether it is on the pitch or off it, whether it is helping worthy causes or out on the town. If you understand him, he is not a billy big b*ll*cks - just very sure of what he wants and how to get it. He could easily have gone to a bigger club than us - but chose us because he wanted to get more game time and it was only Alex Neil's lack of knowing how to deal with him that held up his progress - he could easily have made the breakthrough that season. He also showed his big heartedness with some personal stuff and charity work. Daniel Farke showed how to get the best from him and set his career back on track. Sorry, this is turning into an essay, but just to see JM as a billy big b*ll*cks as the toilet rag newspapers do, is to miss the point. He is a young man giving it his all, driven, confident and big hearted. If the likes of Southgate can't handle that then maybe it is they who are at fault, not JM. English football is littered with huigely talented players who were not well managed at international level....I reckon if Messi was English, he would have had trouble in getting regular games for England, given the track record of countless England managers. I applaud Southgate in some ways for trying to maake something of the English football team different from the past, but he is making the same kind of mistakes as previous managers - not being able to handle the egos. Not since Terry Venbables in 1996 have we had a character in charge capable of getting the best out of players and that includes the last world cup which was not great (imo), semi final or no semi-final.

Love this thread. Bootiful.

What is the definition of an old codger though? I know people in their 70's who have more about them than people in their 30's. Old codgerism is a state of mind and labelling anyone of a certain age as "old codger" is discrminatory imo!

Some people still don't get it that along with supporters being the twelfth man, they can also be the opposite and have a negative effect on the team. Most supporters are great and I am sure Webber is right that the majority will keep singing from the same hymn sheet, but we see on here how quick some people are to turn. Supporters can have a positive effect or a negative effect at a match - it is up to each individual to choose how they will be. We are in an incredible period at the club - still getting to grips with the PL and having to do that in a difficult injury situation - but with a club set up that is as good as at any time in our history......just look at the quality around the place, not just in the first team but in the U23's and academy. This is the best time to be a Norwich supporter - if a few people are losing the plot because of two away defeats and a home loss that was made all the worse because of the injury situation, then they have very short memories. It is less than four weeks since one of the most memorable occasions ever at CR. We need gumption, not snowflakery.

Enjoyed this one. Plain speaking and honest appraisal of his career. I always liked him as a player and seems he didn't get on with Ken Brown so much and had a few set to's with people. Also seems he was hard done by a few times especially being left out of the Milk Cup final squad. But despite that still loves the club.

Where did he say that Lakey? By implication. If he is saying someone putting a low score down of 4/20 is being "very honest", then the implication is that people who do the opposite down and put a high score are not being honest.........after all he'd already had a dig at Tilly for putting down 20/20......

a very honest post So people who put down that they have got a low score are honest and anyone who claims to have got a high score is dishonest..... I see. I got 12/20, so I guess that makes me roughly half honest and half dishonest......

I'll go 1-1 draw Sancho to score for England. Both goals 76-90mins.

I'll go for Telford v York away win in the National League North. York top and unbeaten, don't let in many goals (only six in 12 matches), Telford 16th and let in 21 goals in 12. (Probably be a 0-0...) Anyway, good luck Nutty and pups everywhere.

Tend to agree with this, there are others who are proving better at the match day stuff and who are a bit easier to relate to. Their interviews with personalities at the club are still worth looking at but he and Chris do sometimes come across as a bit sychophantic. Jack was good when he started out as a young lad and showed good enthusiasm and enterprise in setting up his channel as a kid and maybe he is going to outgrow what he is doing and move into some other form of journalism (if journalism is where he wants to be). Admire the way he went about it all initially and he has picked up a good following and connections with the club, but moving forwards maybe needs to rethink it a bit.

Correct. Solution to that is to make any terracing sit above an access tunnel. My idea of long balconies with access from the hotel would still be a good option given that the hotel is going nowhere. Mind you, the big screen is now in the sight line from the hotel, so I can't see anything changing there in the near furure.