Silver Canary

I miss Samba de Janeiro - proper football music. I’ve heard it in stadiums all over Europe. But mostly is associated for me with some great memories following Norwich ( ok .. and some rubbish ones) and when I hear it I always think of Carrow Road rocking. No logic to it - just an association that has stuck.

Seems to be getting a little late to complete any significant incoming now. I would be seriously surprised if we brought anyone in that was worth a first team place. The underlying pattern of the activity and messages from Carra does seem to emphasise how tight the finances are, right now - certainly more than I thought / hoped. Still, probably shouldn’t be a surprise if some of the rumours about our wage bill last season were true. I guess we go with what we’ve got. Not a bad team really but probably needs an adjustment in the system of play to fit a reshuffle until Sarge returns. ps wasn’t there a young striker coming in from Man City for the Development Squad? Did that happen.?

Looking very unlikely to be any incoming players now. Must admit to being a bit surprised - it’s a big risk in terms of the defence (and defensive midfield). We seem to be effectively having to assume Hayden and Byram are going to be fully fit very soon and we don’t get any further injuries. It’s a long way in terms of the number of games before Dimi, McCullen, Gibbs and Lungi are fully match fit again. Big gamble I think.

He may be a really good player, but he doesn’t seem to fit in the team here and now. If we get £5-6m plus a really good sell on percentage I would let him go and use the money elsewhere (rather than being tied up and wasted on a player sitting on the bench or not even in the squad).

Just starting to have doubts about whether we will bring in a new left back. When this was mentioned at the presser this morning, DS comments seemed quite relaxed and unconcerned about it. (Neil Adams in the Insight piece seemed similarly off hand about it). The impression is far from the sort of “we have a number of irons in the fire” or “working hard on this” that might be expected. of course they are going to play their cards close to their chests or they may have decided that Byram is nearly there now and/or Kenny has now found his niche. Just somehow the impression seems closer to “we go with what we’ve got”.

Or maybe it’s as simple as … the ref restarts the game after 30 seconds and if the switch isn’t completed the game goes on.

Blimey. I had forgotten that one ( or erased it from my memory). Now it’s going to be an ear worm all day.

While we are at it, perhaps we could bring back the samba band before games ( more venerable supporters may remember this from way back). Give the place a bit of bounce and swagger and, who knows, might make Sara feel more at home at least.

Happened right in front of us. If the reaction of the physios and medicos is anything to go by, it’s not good. Hopefully they were just being ultra careful and it’s not as serious as it could be. Hoping he’s ok now and that he’s back playing again soon. Didn’t get a clear sight of how it happened. Looked as if his leg / ankle was caught underneath him as the Wigan player landed on top of him.

I miss the wall of flags too. Surely that gives the players a lift when they see that as they come onto the pitch. Perhaps if we get a run of good results they may return.

Can’t say either Sargeant or Hugill are anything like good enough for what we need and choosing between then is just a lottery. Hugill has scored in preseason (but really simple ones that aren’t going to come round too often at this level) or Sargeant who brings the unpredictable chaos that can create chances for others but shows no sign of being able to score. The Devils choice with no right answer. We need something better if we are going to be up in the top 6.

Great report as always Ricardo. I thought Aaron’s had an outstanding game and really tigerish in his tackling. Linked up well with Nunez - initially Nunez was making runs and Max was a little hesitant to make the early pass but that improved and there’s the making of a really useful partnership down that side as the understanding develops. Overall some encouraging signs. But where was Kenny most of the time because he certainly wasn’t in midfield when the back four were looking for someone to pass out to. From where I was sitting it looked as if Sorenson has been told to stay close to Keane which he did pretty faithfully. For all the criticism of Sorenson at least he is one player who is prepared to stay on station in the central midfield and do the simple necessary stuff while others go AWOL. He put in some hard tackles but is a little too casual at times and needs to up his performance or be replaced (as he will be by Hayden idc anyway). How we didn’t get at least one penalty I don’t know - the attack on Aaron’s was a pen + red card any day and Sargeant could have got a penalty in the wresting contest near the end. Sparing a thought for Dimi - clearly in a lot of pain and hope it looks worse that it is and he’s back soon. Felt a little more optimistic after the game - there’s a decent side in there if it comes together.

Are we saying in terms of his performance that this is it - this is as good as it gets … or is he a work in progress that with a bit ( or quite a lot) of personal coaching could turn out to be a decent player. I dunno. Each time I see him play I change my mind about him several times in the course of a game. Incidentally, is there much individual coaching and skills practice time these days. Team mates and coaches of some of the top players have often commented that eg x often stayed behind after training to practice and perfect a particular skill - but I wonder how much of that goes on now.

At the time when Buendia was sold it felt to me like a seismic change. The reasons, the rationale behind it were important because it flows from the ambitions and direction of the club but those were not clear. So maybe the replacements could give a clue - but maybe they have not so far. So we are where we are. Do we persist with those signings - is it worth trying to find a system that maximises their skill sets ( or would this compromise other players performance) can we / should we spend a lot of effort to improve those skills to fit our preferred system (whatever that is) or do we try to move them on, take the hit ( look at it as sunk costs) and use the proceeds on other new “projects”. At the moment it feels like drifting. We have been used to a clear style and direction with Daniel. I don’t feel that right now right from the SD down to the individual players. Maybe it’s there but I can’t see it. On signing I’ve had a growing feeling over the last few years that there’s an element of opportunism in some signings - not what we really need but we can turn a profit on this one etc.

Of course Daley. I was thinking that after a long flight and the period of relative inactivity, plus jet lag etc the club would be very cautious about pushing him to hard too soon both before the medical and then into training. I don’t know this - he may be ready to go with no risk but with our injury record it may be best to be safe than sorry.