HampsteadCanary

His arm goes up because he''s remembered its him taking the corner, like a child putting their arm up in school...

If Redmond and Pilks both squared their chances we''d have scored twice probably....I think the RVW chance was played a bit high, fast and slightly behind him, desperately unlucky, but we just rarely square the ball when we have the chance. See Snodgrass'' goal against Cardiff - Olsson squared it, we squored!

A run of form is all it takes, but we''ve never looked likely to build on any of our good performances or wins this season. We all thought Southampton, Stoke, West Ham, West Brom, Hull at home and maybe even the Chelsea, Cardiff and Manu games were games that we could push on from. But they''ve always been followed up with a draw, or a defeat, and rarely a good performance.

My "Beating West Ham" title was ironic....seeing as we''re in the same place we were before Christmas, with the same problems on and off the field. Of course I want us to win the game, I want us to win every game! Just frustrated with our inability to make any progress...

...the next fixture, not the last one! If we lose against City and then West Ham, Hughton really wouldn''t have a leg to stand on. He''s had plenty of chances to build on that good second half performance at West Ham, and the various 45 minute displays in different matches such as Man U, Crystal Palace, Cardiff, but he''s proven time and time again that he cannot get any consistency out of his players.team. Is it about selection, tactics or purely motivation? The players seem up for it, looking at Tettey, Russ Martin, Snodgrass, all players who play with their hearts on their sleeves. I think the manager has done himself a disservice in abandoning his 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 or whatever it was that we used against Stoke, because we DO still have the players to play that system when Howson/Pilkington/Tettey/RVW/Turner are out. Look at teams like Newcastle, Southampton, Everton - they have a team philosophy and an approach that wins them games and scores goals. Yes they have more money than us, but there''s no reason we can''t have an identity as a team, and at the moment, we don''t have that. The 4-3-3 was the closest we got to our club''s fine tradition of attacking, passing football and through injury, Hughton couldn''t pick his first 11. He could, however, have persevered with the tactics that were starting to make us move the ball around, create chances, control possession and press the opposition into mistakes. Its so simple its unbelievable that we''ve ended up playing a few matches with two off the shoulder out of form strikers, and two deep lying CMs. Surely he should have just brought Johnson in for Tettey and MADE him stay deep, and brought Wes in for Howson. Simple! Keep the successful shape the same, keep the tactics the same, and use the like for like players in the squad, and keep the out of form players on the bench! Sorry for the rant! That''s all we seem to be able to do as Norwich fans at the moment. I will be watching the City game, and hoping that Hughton has figured out how to get back to that defensive resolve we saw so much of last season....

Fulham away! He looks stronger when he comes inside a bit deeper, its when he labours up wide to the edge of the box and then comes inside that it slows us down. Snoddy pulling their LB inside and then having a better attacking RB would sort that problem out!

Snoddy was tireless today, and links up better with Martin than Witts.He gets into great positions, but only got one decent ball in the box (not loopy, good pace and right in the middle of the goal just outside the 6yd box). Has he not noticed that none of the world class wingers cross like that very often. He could do it if he wanted, he''s a talented player with great technical ability, he''s just always aiming for the far post. If he starts getting more balls like that into the box we''d start getting more out of our 25 chances on target. Here''s hoping he pushes on, now he''s got that elusive assist! COYY!!!

well width is hardly working for us at the moment...

The 4-3-(wes)-2 ---------------Ruddy---------------- Martin-Bennett-Bassong-Olsson ----(wes)-----Johnson------------- ---------------------(wes)----------- ----Fer-(wes)-Gutierrez---(wes) wes-----wes----------wes--------- --(wes)-RVW(wes)Hooper-(wes) Lets just let Wes play wherever he wants, because then we''ll look good at football....

surely the quality of the cross, leading to a goal, is what matters? No assists so far this season is the stat we should be looking at!

With some much needed motivation we could easily beat Hull. Can Hughton give the necesary pep talk and set the right team out? Lets hope so! :) OTBC

I''d like to see the same Manc but maybe with a Murphy on either wing...give Redmond a rest and bring him on second half, also would like to see Morris and McGeehan given some minutes :)

This looks as good as we could hope for, although I''d swap the wingers over....

No one else thinks that someone who will put themselves about a bit and give 100% to the cause is what we need at the moment? With some sloppy performances recently we could really do with someone to help take the pressure off the defence and firm us up a bit in midfield, as we often sit so deep and invite other teams onto us. Also Olsson hasn''t had a lot of protection from Redmond, so maybe it will help Olsson get forward more, as he was responsible for two good assists earlier in the season...

well that didn''t go as planned, but you get the idea!

Playing Gutierrez on the left would keep our midfield a little more compact but offer a reasonable attacking outlet, something we lack on that side of the pitch at the moment. Redmond for all his attacking endeavour doesn''t provide Olsson with a lot of protection. Snoddy does this well on the right but doesn''t provide the pace on the counter that we need. Would help us play the diamond more effectively, as Johnson never played that role well.... ----------------Ruddy----------------- Martin - Turner - Bassong - Olsson -----------------Fer-------------------- Snodgrass----------------Gutierrez Hoolahan Hooper----RVW

Something hasn''t been working (other than the first half against United) for the last 5 games, and we''ve tried several variations to no effect. Is there a magic combination of players at our disposal, or are we just too inconsistent and injury prone to really make an impact in this league? When we concede, they seem to be wonder strikes or unlucky goals (rebounds etc), but its the amount of pressure we invite on ourselves in games, and an inability to make the most of the talent/chances we do have that is frustrating us Norwich fans. See you all at Craven Cottage on Tuesday :)

At the moment, I''d pick THIS! --------------Ruddy-------------- Martin Turner Bassong Olsson -----------Fer---Johnson-------- -------------Hoolahan------------ ---Redmond-Hooper-Murphy--- Pace on the counter attack, enough steel in the middle, some youthful exuberance in Murphy and Redmond and a bit of guile in Hoolahan. Swap Fox for Johnson against ''weaker'' sides (are there any weaker teams than us!?)

I would agree with you chicken. The positions that we debate about most are the ones that probably need strengthening. So a centre half, a right back, a defensive midfielder, a left winger and an attacking midfielder. Half a team! It frustrates me that every transfer window most of the fans have been able to spot what is missing and identify what we need (eg last summer a striker to help Holt Jacko etc). We realised that it was creating the chances that was the problem. Hughton brings in the strikers we needed the season before. He seems to be 12 months behind the rest of us, whether that''s down to identifying what the team needs or whether he can pull the transfers off or not. He strengthened the defence last year. We haven''t built on that more solid foundation. This year we should have focused on building a midfield that could compete IMO. Just bringing in Fer was never going to be enough. Which other clubs only have 4 CMs that they''d consider playing, and 3 of those were in the championship within the last few seasons. Villa? (Redmond I count as an attacking player, and is raw and not going to save our season). We need players with the characteristics that we need for this kind of season now: people who with battle for the cause, who are up for a fight. Leroy Fer doesn''t look up for that kind of fight!

Its less free fall, and more sitting on plank in the middle of quicksand while other clubs grab hold of the rope and try and pull themselves out. No fight, no determination, no idea how to attack, no possession, no passing, no movement. IE no football. We don''t really do any of the things football teams are supposed to do. That said, we tend to concede a lot of ''worldies'' and unlucky goals (ie Welbeck for Man U) but a lot the time our defending is as toothless as out attacking. The players and managers come out saying that they''re united and will fight to win games etc but we haven''t really seen a lot of evidence for that. Time to buck your ideas up lads, don''t you want to play premier league football next year?

what angle will the coach be parked at?

He''s getting his chances on target, had two good efforts against Fulham well saved, just needs a little luck on his side. I hope it clicks for him soon, you can tell he''s hungry for it but just lacking a little bit of confidence. Let him play with Wes, Fox, Fer, Redmond and Pilks when he''s fit, that''s what I say!

JonnyH, this is what I was getting at! Fox, Tettey and Wes would certainly provide enough creativity (and bite) to break down opposition teams when we ARE on top and need a goal. We have options, but Hughton does seem not to want to use them. Games like Cardiff, Hull, Palace (at home in the 2nd half) would have been taylor made for Fox to take the pressure off and get the ball moving quickly up the pitch, whether long or short balls

I also like Fox, and I think he should be a valuable member of our squad. However, I don''t think we should build a team around him, but he''s a useful player and for some games would be a perfect addition to our midfield, as he offers something that none of the others, bar Fer can produce. I think the telling fact from COTWs analysis is that we really miss Tettey. Any of the other 4 CMs alongside Tettey allows them to do what they do best, in a 2 or in a 3. Fox is probably most useful in those game when we seem like the most likely team to win but just can''t get that goal. At the moment we lack midfield options from the bench that are going to get our team moving forward from deep positions....BJ won''t pass or dribble his way out successfully very often, Fer, Howson and Wes tend to lose the ball by trying to do too much with it in our own half. Fox doesn''t do this, so would actually increase the speed of our attacks and get our more pacey players like Redmond, Murphy etc in the game more quickly

Bunn Whittaker - Martin - Bennett - Garrido Johnson - Fox Wes Murphy - RVW - Murphy Bench: Becchio, Elmander, Morris, Gafaiti, McGeehan, Redmond, Nash