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HampsteadCanary

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Everything posted by HampsteadCanary

  1. I completely agree Jim, AN would need to pick two, OR drop Wes (nooooooooo) and play Jonny behind Jerome. That might not be such a bad idea, Wes has been great in build up play but his finishing has been off since his golden patch leading up to the Blackburn game. That said he''ll probably score first on Saturday now!
  2. Our attacking performances seem to have really stepped up a gear or two since the lacklustre Bristol, Ipswich and Sheffield games. 5 goals in 2 games should make be enough to win those matches comfortably. Are we slipping back into the Neil Adams mindset of two years ago when we see some great attacking football but sabotage ourselves by being too open to the counter. I hoped we might have learnt that lesson by now, but I actually think AN is doing a good job. He clearly has the attacking players motivated and organised, as you can''t win games (as we have been recently!) without scoring, now he has to readdress the balance of the team.
  3. There were a few clamours to drop Tettey and bring Pritchard in for him before the game last night, so we could see Dorrans and Howson central. I hoped that would be a strong enough combination too, but perhaps not in this case! O''neil and Howson was ok because Gary had better defensive instincts than Dorrans, the question remains how can we accommodate Dorrans, tettey AND howson without pushing Jonny out wide?
  4. We''ve been crying out for more leadership on the pitch, with several threads on who''s going to be our driving force posted in recent weeks. I believe Alex Neil wanted to bring Russell Martin back in to be that leader, whether we think he is or not, and Bennett was the obvious one to make way. Its a shame as we all like that Bennett/Klose partnership, but with Brady now injured and Martin performing well at left back, maybe we can keep that CB pairing AND have Russ on the pitch. We still conceded two very sloppy goals yesterday, so it seems whoever plays, we''re either not good enough, don''t want it enough, or aren''t organised well enough to win second balls and clear our lines. This is something we''ve been guilty of for about 4 years!
  5. In terms of becoming a yo-yo club, buying and keeping hold of premier league players etc, by keeping Naismith (yes I know he''s been rubbish), Brady and Klose, haven''t we actually done that this time? I don''t think we need 11 new players, but maybe 5 or 6 really strong signings
  6. With our swathe of attacking midfielders and a reluctance to play with width, do we really need a target man, or someone who can make an intelligent run and finish like a dream? Just a thought!
  7. We weren''t in the top 6 when AN took over in January 2015 and still made the play offs. That included games in the months before Christmas when we dropped a lot of points. If we''re in the top 6 in January, where we might buy a better striking option and get rid of a few troublesome players, we could stand a very good chance of finishing in the top two. If....but....maybe....so..... .....yeah, no one knows what''s going to happen, we''re five games in, lets just carry on enjoying the championship rollercoaster, moaning when we lose and thinking we''re Barcelona when we win!
  8. I feel like we were dragged down to Ipswich''s level yesterday. We need to stick to our philosophy of high pressing, getting players in and around the box and moving the ball quickly. Fitness seems even worse than last season. Our passing has shown promising signs but quite inconsistent. Also we seem afraid to shoot from distance...when we do it often yields results as Howson, Murphy and Tettey have often scored in that manner. Just had to get that off my chest...
  9. Is there a chance that we''ll loan him out to a decent European top flight team while we''re in the Championship (like we did with Ricky) and then bring him back into the fold when we make it back to the Premier League (unlike Ricky)?
  10. It depends what we want from our strikers. At the moment, I''d rather have someone like Hooper who you trust to put away a golden chance but rely on the other players more for the build up play.
  11. Pinto Martin Bassong Olsson ------------O''Neil--------------- ----Howson-------Brady------- --------------Wes--------------- -----Redmond--Mbokani------
  12. GPB, yes perhaps. We got promoted playing the Norwich way, but obviously couldn''t keep it up in the Prem. Would we rather leave ourselves open to the odd drubbing (alla Newcastle) but create more, and possibly score first in a few more games!
  13. Well VanWink, with most of our performances this season, you''re not far off. Although it''s fair to say there are some games we should have won and didn''t, and vice versa. Do you agree with my point about the playing style and the attributes of our players though? Do you honestly think we have found a consistent, effective system for our squad?
  14. Seems like we''ve forgotten our identity as a team. I think Alex and the team got carried away with Mbokani''s heroics against WB, Man City and Newcastle, and started lofting the ball up to him. The problem is we''ve never really played like that, so the players aren''t tactically aware or athletic enough to get on to big D''s scraps as that''s not our usual style. He is also not mobile enough to win the ball, lay it off and get in the box. It got me thinking that we are a bit of an in-between team in terms of our players and style. We''re not particularly athletic so we don''t out muscle teams, our stamina hasn''t been good enough a lot of the time to out work them and our movement is often not good enough to give players options. We''re severely lacking in pace up front, so we don''t really get in behind teams. I can''t think of the last time one of our players was one on one with the keeper! That''s why we haven''t fared well, especially against the lower teams, because we haven''t found a principle or an identity about how we want to play and stuck to it. Therefore the players often look a bit confused as to how to go about their tasks. It''s very different to last year, when AN had the team set up to move the ball quickly and everybody knew their jobs. I know the premier league is a lot harder but that''s why we needed to be even more organised, even fitter, and even more committed to a way of playing.
  15. City might be be on the beach, but Newcastle don''t look like a relegated team. A lot of quality in their and Sunderland''s team. Lets hope Citeh buck their ideas up
  16. Remember when James Vaughan took an elbow in the face against West Brom? There was blood. No penalty.
  17. No I''m not saying that the other games are reffed without controversial decisions. I''m saying that soft decisions are always given against us and never for us, whether it''s against a top 6 side or a relegation rival. When was the last time we got a pen and thought "that was lucky!" Never. I''m too much of an optimist to think that they''re actually corrupt, but it doesn''t even itself out for us, and that''s what is frustrating. I think we''re just as big a club as a lot of the other bottom half teams, if not bigger, but we''re not seen like that outside of Norfolk.
  18. The Palace incident shaped our whole season. We came out of that match thinking "here we go again..." - the refs will favour the big teams and little old Norwich will miss out again. Except the big boys now include Palace and Sunderland. An extra point, goal difference here and there, it all adds up, and helps to give us extra momentum. I know scoring on the first day of the season wasn''t going to turn Jerome into a 15 goal a season striker, but it can''t help his or the team''s confidence if you score a goal of the season contender and complete a come-back. It would be interesting (or boring and very time consuming) to go through each team''s matches and find out just how often they are on the wrong end of poor decisions.
  19. I think my point was that we don''t get 50/50s go for us very often. When was the last time we were given a soft penalty? Lots of penalties given against us are soft. I guess I''m just fed up of hearing "One week they''re given, another week they''re not" when every week they''re not given to us!
  20. Firstly, I honestly believe that our success as a football team is in our own hands. If we had put the performances in in both boxes, we wouldn''t need to worry about refereeing decisions. The problem is that most referees seem to give the 50/50s against us most weeks. If there''s a 50/50, or a debateable pen decision against us it seems it is always given. The amount of times we''re clearing the ball or advancing up the pitch, the whistle goes, it''s a penalty and we''re all looking at each other saying what was that for? They never happen in our favour. Its the lack of consistency from the officials that is frustrating, but we wouldn''t be needing to moan about them if we put in the level required every week.
  21. As Iwan said in his article, the strikers need to gamble every time, especially if there are two up front. Always make the run, and one near post, one far post! Olsson put a couple of "surprise" early balls in and no one was ready for them.
  22. Funnily enough we''ve got this right recently, and the results are coming! Keep it up boys!
  23. O''neil is generally much better at keeping the ball, even though we were lucky to get away with a few misplaced passes today
  24. Ref not being too helpful, although I think he''s right to let a few things go. I''d be tempted to bring of Bamford for Naismith, I think we need someone who''s going to get in and around Mbokani, and maybe run beyond him
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