Orly

He was tried in that position a couple of times in his first season and I think he suffered from the same problem Leitner did against Bournemouth, in that he was often in the wrong position (often too close to Pukki) to make use of his range of passing, and he's not particular dynamic (although more dynamic than Leitner, and less than Stiepi). It's the Mayor for me. He'll fancy it against Man Utd. He gets a crate of Buckfast for every win over a 'big team' - it's what makes him jump so high.

Krul's handling was great all game, but his distribution was a bit ropey, presumably due to being a bit rusty. I'd give him a 7 at least. Not sure why Kenny's getting a 6.5. In terms of general play, I think that was one of his best games for Norwich and he's had some good ones. Tetty has just added another 3 years to his stay here, because positionally he was excellent at centre back. He's the new Norwegian Cannavaro! Can you imagine just how much sh!t we'd be in right now if he didn't sign that new contract? Yikes.

Did anyone else notice how many aerial balls Kenny won? I don't know where he gets his spring from, but when everyone positionally rotated around such that he was the main support for Pukki, he won almost every aerial ball played up to him with some decent flick ons too. I guess Bournemouth aren't the biggest side, but still, worth considering him as a direct positional replacement for Stiepermann on that showing? I'd like to see him start there next game, as Mo looks a bit lost that high up the pitch and is more effective with his range of passing further back.

McLean my mom.

I'm more interested to find out if Pukki is allowed to play in the custom-made anti-injury zorbing suit we've had made for him.

I would give my left leg for Tetty to be fit for bournemouth, that said, pass completion rate and passing ability is not the same thing as you point out, so you kind of answer your own question there. Do you not remember when he tried to be more expansive when he first came to the club? He's a legitimate legend now, but if he didn't simplify his game to suit his style, it could have been very different.

Hah, you seem to be having a bit of a hard time understanding my initial post, so I'll try one last time, and then I'll give up. Nowhere have I blamed the loss solely on Stiepermann. As you point out, and as I mentioned earlier in this match thread, Leitner, both CBs, and Emi also had dreadful games. However, Marco now has the same number of premier league goals and assists as me, after 7 premier league games. He had, was it, 6 chances today? Looked nowhere near scoring any of them. So whilst he may not be responsible for our defensive behaviour, he has to accept that he has had a major hand in us not scoring at all today. Are you advocating that Marco start the next game?

Yes that's precisely what I said wasn't it? (heavy sarcasm) If you want to talk about Stiepermann's performance today, feel free to reply. If you're going to talk at cross purposes to what I posted, please don't waste my time.

I hate to say it, but I think the verdict of whether Stiepy is a premier league player or not is in, and it's an emphatic "no".

I've got a poor tactical noose you can borrow if you want to use it?

I don't think I can rate anyone about 6 today so far. Stiepy and Leitner would be lucky to get 4s.

Of course, I've also heard of the phrase "distastefully smug person on a message board" before.

Why are you so keen to call penalties against 'your' team?

That is incredibly stupid. Last player we had pulled for drink driving was Matty Pattision was it not? Glad we seemed to have changed the culture sufficiently that it hasn't happened since. It's very easy to avoid doing, and there is absolutely f' all excuse (especially when you're earning like a footballer) to not get a taxi.

That 16 year old lad at right back who's just scored has looked great all game. That's the replacement for Max (if he goes )lined up already.

I went on Saturday. Spoke to a few Burnley fans at the pub after for a while, they were all decent blokes, although one of the older ones was quite dismissive of our style, until I reminded him it beat Man City the previous week. Had we gone there without the worst injury crisis this club has seen in my memory, I don't think we would have lost. Ironically, whilst we are the team full of Germans, we were just Blitzkrieged at the start, and thereafter, relatively normal service resumed, just didn't get the goal to shut the crowd up / put pressure on them. Also re: Amadou, think he's good competition for Tetty, but he is not a centre half and the praise after Man CIty was over the top. Centre halves are all about decision making, particuarly when it comes to positioning and distribution. When your back's to the wall and you're defending your 18 yard box, and then hoofing clear, you don't need to make any decisions - and he was great at doing that. However, as we were playing higher up (to not sit too deep on Krul due to Burnley aerial threat) his inexperience was clear. Not blaming him in the slightest, he did a good job considering, but I hope another CB is fit soon.

1/8 troll. Poor attempt. Must try harder.

I'm of the opinion that they played poorly because we made them.

I got the length of the cameo, and the ground wrong, but what a shift Tettey put in tonight.

MOTD doesn't ever seem to have much nuance, and I'm not sure which direction the 'pendulum' of opinion is currently set to. Could be the old (and favourite) "MAN CITY WERE POOR, THAT'S WHY NORWICH WON" or it could have swung to the "OVERLY EFFUSIVE UNDERDOG SUPPORT / AMAZEMENT / NORWICH CAN DO NO WRONG". We're due for some of the latter, but don't be surprised if it's the former.

Yeh, saw him seemingly sincerely congratulating Daniel at the final whistle - wish I was that gracious a loser. Wonder what he said to him?

I'll have a stab at this - trying to be a little objective, which is almost impossible: Krul: 8.5 Byram: 9 Amadou: 8.5 Godfrey: 9 Lewis: 9 Tettey: 8.5 McLean: 9 Buendia: 9.5 Stiepermann: 7.5 (bit harsh) Cantwell: 8.5 Pukki: 8.5

Same when they said that McClean's excellent header was a "goalkeeping error". I almost gave myself a hernia.

I'm rolling in the money tonight. Feared the worst, but bet for the best. Turned out quite nicely. (PS stake was < £5 so I'm not buying anyone here drinks)

To answer your question: kick the everliving @#!! of him, as cynical and unpleasant as that may be. West Ham did it to us, now time to dish some out. Although it's hardly just him to worry about, so even if we give Sterling a dead leg, another 80 million signing will come off the bench. I think the real question is "how can I make myself emotionally-resilient enough to endure the stuffing we are most likely to get?" We'll lose 99/100 against Man City (maybe I'm being a bit generous to us actually), but hopefully we'll lose playing a bit of decent football.