carrow77

This thread is spot on and I was going to post a similar one. I remember the downfall of Hughton being that he never knew is best 11. It''s worrying because we are now in Feb and we have strength in depth but no settled 11 anywhere on the pitch. Furthermore the team we put out often sees players out of position- Howson, Hoolohan, Brady etc. We need consistency and quickly but I don''t know how we are going t achieve this, the new signings seem to have given AN more to tinker over

I was working on the basis that over the lat 5 seasons between 34 and 38 has been enough to stay up, therefore 4 wins and 2 draws takes us to 37 which should be just enough but obviously 40 is the golden number!

Yep, agreed 4 wins and a couple of draws should do it

Sorry but the point of a forum is for freedom of speech and to air views relating to ncfc isn''t it?

Recognition of the fact we''re leaking goals and not scoring many either, something needs to change, relegation form

Stating the obvious we''ve now lost the last 3 games on the bounce conceding 3 goals in each, whatever happened to shoring up at the back, cause for concern especially with some very tough fixtures coming up.....

Great weekend for us so far, and whilst there is a long way to go will the unpredictable nature of the league mean a higher points tally will be required to stay in the league this year? If the top teams keep faultering the average at the top will be lower and at the bottom will be higher therefore today''s result and those against teams around us will be vital as always Yours stating the pleading obvious and Merry Xmas!

52% of teams on or below 15 points at this stage in the season in the Premier League have gone on to be relegated. I''m sticking to my original prediction that we will stay up....although not by much!

Yep, I thought today''s game was a good opportunity for Mbokani up top. I just hope he''s not left out in the cold when we get a new striker in Jan as he clearly has some potential to cause PL defences a few problems and I feel he has goals in him. Admittedly he is not as mobile as Jerome but it all comes down to the same problem we have in providing our strikers with the right service,more often than not our strikers are forced out wide and out of position so when we do get a cross in there is no one in the bloody box!

Off the back of a good point against Everton I should be pleased right? But the reality is the next two games will probably yield zero points, so if we scrape a win against the vanilla we will still be in the relegation zone. Darren Eade is most matter of fact pundit Radio Norfolk have on and calls it spot on. He is right in his analysis that we don''t have the leadership on the pitch, those who grab the game by the scruff of the neck and carry us over the line. Tinkering with the line up can prevent all important consistency at this level and defines our desperation. Goal keeper has now changed for the better so far but Martin is our captain and was left out for several games, we have midfielders in abundance but can''t seem to find the right balance, and finally we don''t have strikers that score regularly which is so vital in the PL...hence the addition of Grabban in recent games which didn''t work. I''m worried.

So you can call AN''s recent team changes as bold moves in an attempt to shake things up in search of better performances.....or you could look at it more in desparation, a tinkering approach, a sign of someone not knowing his best 11. I''m concerned because this in reminist of the Hughton era, we want progress and stability as a team and today did not represent that. We need an Arsenal type performance against Everton (it''s about time we beat them) otherwise we are in trouble considering the fixtures coming up. We need the creative flair of Hoolahan and service into the Striker, although we''ve been saying this for years.

Was at Virgin Active for a swim at lunchtime today and saw Alex Neil sitting alone in the lounge. He looked deep in thought without any expression, he was either thinking about was he was having for his tea tonight or hopefully the master tactician was hatching a plan to overcome the gooners! It''s gonna be tough but you never know, my money is on a point!

Well I think most of us thought that we would take at least 4 points from our last 3 games but we got nothing. A harsh lesson in Premier League football is about to get tougher with Man Citeh, Arsenil & Chelski coming up. Whilst we tend to play better against bigger teams its hard to see us taking more than a point against these 3 games. AN is in a difficult position with the players at his disposal and whilst I didn''t feel we had a strong bench to change the game, we could have made more changes more quickly and who knows. All the comments about how West Brom set up and are boring to watch are immaterial in my eyes. They know how to win a game and how to defend and results are all that matters. Our squad is good in parts but not at the overall standard required for this league. We have to stick until Jan but I''d like to see more leaders on the pitch and a physical presence throughout....we are quite a small team overall height wise. I just hope that there are 3 teams worse than us as is well documented on this forum otherwise we risk being pissed all over from here on in!

I like Mbokani and his physical threat is what we''ve lacked in recent times. Looking at goals he''s scored for his previous clubs he''s quick, mobile, going on runs into the box to score goals. We didn''t see much if this today and I wonder if we are playing to his strengths at this early stage. That said this is the Premier League and he won''t get the time and space against many teams so we nee to re-evaluate our game here. Admittedly, today he seemed rather static and his work rate was quite poor. If we are to start with him we need to provide the service into the box with our wing play and he''ll get us goals. I think our formation/ team is set up better to do this as opposed to when RVW was here. Hoolahan or Jerome with him from the start could have given us more up top and could have helped play him in more

Ok, so we didn''t get the result we hoped for today, maybe should of got a point but all other results went in our favour based on current league standings so no real damage done. If we take 6 points from our next 2 winnable games I''ll be over the moon, 4 points and I''ll be very happy and think we''re well in track but 2 or less and it''ll be big opportunity missed. We came up against a good Leicester side today who are playing expansive football with some lethal counter attacking play, our tempo was poor, space was limited and denfensively there is work to be done to reach Premier League standard. I like Hoolahan but his lack of physical presence was exploited today which meant we had little creative output that we''ve seen in recent games. On to the next game, I''m still positive!

Agreed but could do better at times

So, from what I''ve seen we have power, pace, strength, look to go on the attack & have a strong team ethic. We are proving to be a match for anyone so far all of which is good to see. We have depth too which was proven Saturday when we brought on Redmond etc to help change the game. Would like to see us strengthen at the back as is well documented but sure this will happen in Jan. We also need to find a way to get our strikers firing, I''m sure Mbokani will get goals and gives us that physical presence that we have lacked in recent times...I''m hoping he will turn out to be a Drogba-esque type striker which will help us unsettle defences. MOTD highlighted Ruddy''s mistakes but in the bigger picture he had made some great saves this term and is certainly up to the task. A win against a resilient Leicester side will surpass all our expectations and leave us in a healthy position at this stage of the season.

Haven''t we seen this before in the first Premier League season under Lambert, not that I''m complaining as the omens are looking good. A point at Anfield, a couple of victories under our belt including one away from home etc....togetherness & team spirit, not showing any fear and some good attacking football. Jarvis looks a good loan for us, Brady is solid and I''m sure will get some goals, I think mbokani will get his chance but today probably wasn''t the right occasion and as much as I like Hoolahan it wasn''t the right game for him either. All in all, 8 points on the board and I''m feeling happy about our progress, we should be capable of a mid-table ish or just below finish. Let''s keep the momentum going and look forward to the challenges ahead!

Last I heard is that he was having a medical at Fulham....guess our lack of incomings put a stop to this move?

Whilst it appears that countless names are not willing to come to our club or that their respective teams appear to block any attempted move, the fact remains we need to overcome our "small club image/mentality" and the stigma associated with coming to "little known Norfolk". I am aware we can''t read too much into reports from media outlets however their inept coverage of us over time and overall lack of it doesn''t help us right now. Everything that attracts us to Norfolk & Norwich as insiders is not shared by outsiders/the media unless they date to take the plunge and actually take a closer look. For me we need time to establish ourselves in this league again for people to take us seriously and to attract a wider range of players from around the world....although unfortunately time is what we don''t have. If we can see this season out by adding a few more names we''ll be in far better shape to build stronger for next and so on....here''s hoping!

Kind of expected but according to our preview on Sportsmole website Gary Hooper was a key player in our success last season....guess they meant to say Jerome! It just confirms that no one outside Norfolk has a clue or any interest in our football team.....everyone is predicting our immediate downfall before the season starts too! Some things never change....remember it''s all about bloody Bournemouth too!

I''ve always rated Borini although he never been given much opportunity in the Prem. Would be a great acquisition although Liverpool are commanding an inflated fee for his services.

Maybe I''m taking a simplistic view on things but our debt free status combined with 3 seasons in the PL (with modest spending) and parachute payments must make us the envy of any Championshite clubs & give us a serious advantage in this league. I know the challenge will be to attract quality players at the right price being mindful of wage bill etc but I would have thought we would be an attractive proposition for many players wanting a progressive club lookin to get back to the PL etc. I hope we can get a group of quality players that gel together whilst keeping some existing talent (Redmond,e.bennett, howson etc) to be a force in this league

Is the corner infill in front of the holiday inn on the back burner agin now then?! After all McNally said back Nov that he''d rather death than relegation.....he obviously did it spot the rot before it set in then.

A few weeks ago the NCFC predicament was causing me sleepless nights (sad I know!) but im over it now. Whilst I enjoy bring in the PL and everything that goes with it, going back to the Championshite should provide us with an interesting season. Different football to look forward to, hopefully we can hold on to some good players, score more goals and bring back a great atmosphere to Carrow Road....I know it''s not a given that we''ll bounce back but hopefully competing towards the top end of the league. Lets be positive and embrace it.