Rhiadd

Maurice Norman

Or looking at it another way. Duffy has given stability in the air and is strong on the ground. Gibson is a decent presence most of the time and Batth hasn’t put a foot wrong in the modest opportunities he has had. Yes there are mistakes. Where in the league at these positions are there not. Some might say a lot of our difficulties began with Hanley’s injury.

How about rattles? Still have mine from 1959 with a tattered piece of green and yellow ribbon attached and the team written on it in pen.

Dear little Canaries TV app not working again. Any thoughts? Thank you.

Yep. 2 year deal.

How the times and we have changed. I was at every game except Luton. Those months in the city were so very important to us then. I wonder if the same cup run would mean as much today?

Pretty simple, press Norwich high and you win. Stop trying to play from the back, you can't do it.

Yes. Stood under the clock in the corner with my father, uncle and cousin. My father had both arms braced on the safety rails to hold the crowd off of me. When they surged forward my feet came off the ground.

Nethercott. Thurlow. Ashman. McCrohan. Butler. Crowe. Crossan. Alcock. Bly. Hill. Brennan.

You are correct. The big boys will never go for it. There are however overwhelmingly more little boys than big ones and far, far more supporters of those small teams.

Absolutely agree. I am really only posing the subject of a salary cap for discussion. I would never advocate that any one lose their job. Particularly since I could not do that job myself. But I think it is abundantly clear that the structure of football is really set up to feed the gluttonously well fed and starve into irrelevance everybody else. I have supported this team since the days when a bed sheet was carried around the ground at half time and we all threw what we could afford into the sheet to help pay the bills. Somehow there was more satisfaction and more hope in that than parachute payments, players earning fantastic salaries and receiving a crumb or two when we punch above our weight.

It is both. We cannot compete because our recruitment was woeful and our use of our present resources is simply inept compounding the problem.But would financial equality have brought Mr. Farke and Mr. Webber and several of our new players to the club or would the fact that every team has the same financial clout have allowed us to compete much more effectively for the better people in all the areas necessary for success. I am not naive enough to believe a salary cap is possible because of the strangle hold money has on the game I simple believe there is no way forward for small market teams without one.

True, but perhaps only in as much as a financially level playing field does mean that the most talented people regardless of the job they are doing might look at more teams as offering an equal opportunity for success as opposed to a list upon which the small market team sits firmly on the bottom rung because of the salary they can afford to pay and the money available to pursue success.

While it is tempting to assign blame for the teams position and woeful performance to this point in the season, the reality, is sadly quite simple. A small market team will never be able to compete in the Premier league as presently constituted until there is a salary cap. Only when there is a level playing field can you compare managers, teams and sporting directors. Our recruitment this campaign was at best naive and at worst woefully incompetent, our managerial performance, lost and without focus which leaves the players hopelessly incapable of performing coherently regardless of how good they may or not be. There is not one reason, the whole thing is simply not good enough and never will be as it stands, Yes, the odd time the little team will punch above it’s weight, but overwhelmingly the big picture is comfortably clear every single season. Money. If the Saudi billionaires at the top were only allowed to spend the same amount as the little guy at the bottom, then it might be possible to discuss the relative merits and talents of teams, managers, sporting directors and owners. Poverty as an excuse for bad performance is pointless and horribly unsatisfactory. It doesn’t even work as an explanation. It rings hollow because we have no way of knowing whether the overall management of the club is capable of spending more money intelligently and using the end result well, The best will always stand out, will always lead the way, talent will always triumph, but with a salary cap we might have one or two in that category and a competitive team to celebrate every Saturday.

I’m not sure that anything can be said to be imbedded in our philosophy. Or at the very least when something clearly does not work perhaps a change in philosophy might be helpful especially since those practicing the philosophy are changing continually. It’s not Krull’s First pass that seems to be the problem but rather the fact that ball keeps being forced back to him so quickly he is immediately under pressure.

Any fit individuals who are prepared to work hard can construct a press that will force the ball back to Krull 80% of the time. He will then have to boot the ball up the field where it could quite happily have gone in the first place. We cannot play out from the back I think that is obvious.

How often does playing out from the back actually prove a positive?

Thanks for your reply Feedthewolf. I am sure there are many possible explanations and defenses for zonal marking systems however I suppose I would rather see our undersize defense have a go one on one for a bit because at the moment they are simply spectators far too often in the box.

After another frankly depressing and sadly predictable result I wonder if a question or two might be appropriate. I would be the first to admit that nobody here is equipped to coach a professional football team or for that matter financially manage one. And even if it is possible to claim that the preparation for life in the premier league was woeful inadequate we can't claim to know what could not should have been done better. However I do feel equipped to ask for an explanation of the totally inept and embarrassing zonal marking system employed by the team. Perhaps it works elsewhere, in a different league with different personnel to play it but that is not the case here. To watch set pieces against the team week after week is absolutely painful. Several times today we were treated to the spectacle of city defensive players grouped in two's and threes keeping a tidy little zone pristine and action free, while the massed hordes of the opposition roar into the area passed most of those defensive players who are on the back foot immediately. Surely there is ample evidence by now that this is a strategy doomed to continual failure and that at least a couple of minutes here and there dedicated to good old fashion man marking might be appropriate. So a polite and genuinely respectful question to Mr. Farke. Why are you still playing it?

Young team who have never seen the Premier League. Anfield and the European Champions. Huge, loud crowd, most of the soccer world watching equals - major nerves which are surely understandable and four goals (only three of which were true quality. But then a second half where footholds were secured, heads cleared, and nerves somewhat controlled. Well beaten, yes, but I've seen enough to know Norwich will get their share of the points this season. Looking forward to an opening game against the best of the Premier League in 2020.

Pukki to the number 10 spot and Rhodes to lead the line?

Exactly when did we transition from a game of football where you happily played your best eleven, to a weekly clash of managerial would be cerebral giants who feel obligated to endlessly strategise the entire ninety minutes as though it were an immensely complicated chess game ending up at a place where it is doubtful even the ball boys and girls know what is expected of them. Where''s Dave Stringer when you need him.

[quote user="City1st"]Not since the cook made off with all the money.[/quote] Huzzah!

Speaking of "offering nothing positive", your comments would appear to do just that, as well as being completely unnecessary.