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HampsteadCanary

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Posts posted by HampsteadCanary

  2. Posted

    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. Posted

    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. Posted

    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!

  7. Posted

    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. Posted

    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...

  10. Posted

    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)?

  14. Posted

    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?

  15. Posted

    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.

  18. Posted

    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.

  19. Posted

    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.

  20. Posted

    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!

  21. Posted

    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.
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