Jacko

This is very true Beauseant and why I can still take a lot of heart from yesterday. We did not play well (for reasons I felt above) and the vast majority of the team were some way below par. Yet we picked up an away point, a clean sheet and manufactured the best chance to score which you would normally expect Holt to take.

Given that Resnkay was I believe the poster who drew my attention to Michu in the close season before Swansea signed him I will definitely be keeping an eye on some of these players.

I would happily sit or stand at away games. I genuinely have no preference. But rightly or wrongly it just seems to be the done thing that you stand at away games. You pretty much have to factor that in now if you want to attend an away match. If a steward told me to sit down I would have absolutely no objection to this. My only caveat being as long as I can still see the game adequately and it is not obstructed by other fans standing.

The one slight criticism I do have of Chris Hughton is that I don''t think he is a proactive enough with his substitutions at times. I felt changes needed to be made yesterday and should have been made relatively early. Despite Norwich having the luxury of a 5 man midfield against the 4 of Reading. Reading enjoyed 58% of the possession in the first half. For me that is a sign that something was going seriously wrong because Reading are not a technically superior side to us. I felt after about the 55-60 minute mark when it was fairly evident things weren''t improving changes should have been made. I am delighted about the measured and sensible way we are going about our business this year. The results speak for themselves. We are 5 points clear of relegation after 11 games and in the quarter finals of a cup for the first time in 16 years. Hughton has done exceptionally well to impose his ideas on the players in a relatively short space of time since his appointment. But there is still room for improvement and I don''t think it is unduly negative or offensive to say that.

Entirely his decision and it should be respected. Given that he was born in Derry it may have something to do with the political situation over there. I will not pretend to have more than a basic knowledge of the situation in Northern Ireland. James McClean has experienced it first hand and come to his own informed choice. That is to be respected and not frowned upon. As others have stated these serviceman made sacrifices so that we could enjoy this freedom of speech and platforms for debate. Not to simply enforce what people deem to be the "correct" mainstream view upon others.

Got back late from the game yesterday. I accept that it was a pretty disappointing performance. I felt we used the ball very poorly and didn''t really function as an attacking unit. To be honest though I didn''t think Reading looked that threatening either with the exception of Jason Roberts and any hope of a goal basically died when he went off. He did what Holty usually does so well. Backing into players and generally making life tough for defenders. This was never going to be the kind of game where Norwich were going to stroll to victory. Stoke, Newcastle and Fulham have come here before us and failed to win. In context it is a pretty decent point. We have gained on Wigan, Villa and QPR whilst preventing otherwise from making up any ground on us. We can also take heart from the fact we have played badly yet picked up a clean sheet and a point away from home. I genuinely believe we will stay up this year. I don''t think it will be the most aesthetically pleasing football you will ever see. However I think we can use that a launchpad to really develop under Hughton.

Must admit I was slightly confused by this signing when both Hoolahan and Howson have both already stated they enjoy the role just behind the striker. You always felt that you wouldn''t be able to keep all three happy. But it would be wrong to write Butterfield off on the strength of two Carling Cup ties. He clearly has a lot of ability which is why Newcastle were in for him before he got his knee injury. If he can get a couple of solid games under his belt there is no reason he couldn''t play a big part for us in the new year. At a lower level admittedly but Matt Phillips last year dropped down a level and joined Sheffield United on loan. He returned a different player.

I think Southampton and QPR will still be in with a shout of survival at the end of the season. But for an idea of context. The endlessly hilarious Derby County team had 6 points at this stage of the season.

For me he was the outstanding candidate in the summer once it became clear that Lambert was leaving. So I was delighted to get him on board. I was surprised we didn''t have competition to appoint him to be honest. However I wouldn''t go overboard ye Mortyt. The signs of improvement are very welcome and encouraging.But there is still a long way to go. Saturday remains a very important fixture and with QPR going head to head with Reading, a win is absolutely essential for us. Otherwise the picture changes again. I also think he still needs to be a little more proactive in his substitutions at times. I felt that as soon as Villa were reduced to 10 men the situation demanded an extra striker being introduced. Instead we opted to wait an extra 10-15 mins and we eventually ran out of time to get a winner. But at the moment I am very confident there are 3 worse teams in this division than us. This would allow to enjoy the benefits of a new TV deal and the club being debt free. I could see Hughton leading us for many years to come if that were to be the case this season.

Terry Connor can always step up to the managerial role if things go wrong.

I am bitterly disappointed we didn''t win yesterday. Which is an encouraging sign in itself and shows we are doing a lot of stuff right. We''re definitely getting there and improving. We also appear to have settled on the core of our best side now. Which is what Hughton has been striving for. I think we have a better starting XI than Villa but also just as importantly everyone should remember this is a squad game. I felt we genuinely had players coming off the bench in Morison, Snodgrass who had a very positive effect on the game when they came on. Villa didn''t have that luxury (apart from Bent who seems a man on the way out) and are very reliant on their kids. I think as a Norwich fan you can feel optimistic and encouraged by what you saw yesterday. If I were an Aston Villa fan I would be much more concerned by what has just been served up yesterday.

You saw the best and the worst of him at times today. He was incredibly busy, popping up everywhere, created the goal with a lovely delivery and worked tirelessly. He is fantastic at holding the ball up for us as well. I know it is not something you normally associate with someone who is 5 ft 6 but he is able to trick his way out of tight situations and retain possession providing a link between defence and attack. That is absolutely priceless for us. The infuriating parts of his game are that he doesn''t get enough goals from open play for a player with his ability. He will be very disappointed with that chance he missed in the first half. Sometimes he also squanders possession too easily putting us on the back foot. Which I thought he did on a couple of occasions in the match yesterday. But I will accept those flaws because the man is absolute magician and he has a really big heart as well. I always think we look busier and far more likely to create with him in the side. He seems to bring the best out of Grant Holt too. When Wesley doesn''t start Cambridge Yellow is always worried.

I want to see that myself GJL. Its my pet hate when wingers are asked to play on the wrong wing. If you are running down the line at full back. You either have to put the cross in on your weaker foot or beat the full back once and then beat him again to get the ball onto your stronger foot to cross. At this level you will do well to beat some full backs once. Let alone twice.

[quote user="Excited Canary"]One thing I didn''t understand yesterday was why Snoddy came on for Bennett (who was tearing their full back/s to shreds), instead of Pilkington who did nothing all afternoon.[/quote] Could not believe it either. About a minute for the substution was made Pilkington had a fantastic opportunity to put a cross in for the umpteenth time and put it straight into Guzan''s hands. Bennett was direct and lively I felt. Which lead to Joe Bennett getting both yellows. I like Pilks as a player immensely and think he has a lot to offer us this season. But he simply wasn''t at the races yesterday.

I thought he gave us some decent intervention and creativity when he came on. I would actually go further and say he should be starting on the left flank in the next match ahead of Pilkington who was absolutely woeful today.

I think we have every right to be disappointed we haven''t won the game today. So I can understand why people are slightly down. I felt even with 11 we were the better team and we shot ourselves in the foot through a mixture of bad defending and failure to take our chances when they came our way. If I was being hyper critical I would have liked us to have gone with 2 up front as soon as they were reduced to 10 men. I felt that we had a real chance to win the game the minute that happened and needed to give ourselves as much chance as possible to it. But ultimately we''ve created enough chances to win the game comfortably so that wasn''t a major issue. But there are plenty of positives to take out of the game today. It''s a point away from home and it has stopped rivals for relegation making up ground on us. How well we do in our next home fixture against Stoke will determine just how good a point it is.

I genuinely have absolutely no clue what will happen tomorrow. But if we could nick a win tomorrow it will be a landmark result in so many ways. I think we are starting to grow in confidence under Hughton. We could really begin to blossom with the right result tomorrow

All 16 of their members clearly tried to get on at once.

Twitter Michael Foulger ‏@MichaelFoulger Agent Jewell, I salute you. Oh & Mr Clegg how''s that ''small'' club to the North of you doing right now? Debt free & Premier League FYI #ncfc

It is amazing how much of a difference even 1 "fantasy" player could make though. I honestly believe if we had Kompany playing alongside Bassong we would finish very comfortably in mid table.

Don''t blame him at all for his stance on the matter. There have been a catalogue of incidents such as this one which have been ignored or glossed over. Making this "Kick It Out" message look very hallow and pointless.

So we''ll get thrashed if we play Jonny Howson. The same Jonny Howson who played 90 mins in the 3-3 at the Emirates. Was absolutely outstanding and set up our 3rd goal with an absolutely fantastic lofted pass. Yes, he is absolute dross.

Actually thought Howson had his best games for Norwich as a deep lying playmaker. He was awesome particularly at Arsenal picking the ball up off the back four and distributing quickly to others. It is noticeabe that when Howson signed David Fox played a lot less. That tells you a lot about what Lambert bought him to do.

It is far too simplistic that analysis. Howson establishing himself in the side coincided with an exceptionally difficult run in. We all knew when the fixtures were published that if we didn''t have the points by the end of March we were in serious trouble. Howson is an excellent player and I am delighted he is here. To suggest bombing him out is absolutely ridiculous.

Much will depend on league position I think Pele. The reality is that many players aren''t that keen on a relegation scrap if it seems they may only get 6 months of Premier League football. One of the big pulls for someone like Jonny Howson last tear was that he was effectively guaranteed at least 18 months of Premiership football as we were in a very strong position by the time we signed him.