The Great Mass Debater

Really disappointed about the Tierney thing. Thought he was arguably our best player in the first half of last season, if not then definitely in the top 3. Seemed to give an 8 out of 10 performance every week and looked like he had adjusted to the Premiership superbly. Then came the injury and he''s never had a look-in since. Gather he was poor in the league cup and one of many who were poor against Fulham, but look at how Turner recovered given time and a run of games. Never really saw him have a bad game and thought he had lots to offer. Clearly offended CH somehow though, and this was always going to happen. Found myself asking what had to happen to see him play, seeing as he had Garrido, Martin, Whittaker and I think Bennett once preferred to him. If we could have gotten the player from last season back, I would say this would be a big loss. Hope he does well in the championship

No sooner do I post than someone answers the question... Some thread deleting or merging will be needed.

Apologies but cant find the original thread discussing prize money. Anyone able to say how much that victory today was worth in terms of prize money? How much will we receive for 11th place vs how much we would have gotten had we lost?

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"] [quote user="Reykjavik Canary"] Simon Whaley - Last played for Chorley in 2011. Is now retarded. [/quote]   A little harsh, he was never that bad. [/quote]   I was going to comment on that too... lol   Not that I would ever poke fun at anybodies English for whom it might not be a first language, but that did make me chuckle. Borat eat your heart out...

Van Wink said it - the shackles were off. Players given the freedom to go and do what we know they were capable of. Caution to the wind. That was the kind of performance we have known the boys have been capable of all season - thats whats made this season so frustrating. It was like watching them when they played for Lambert. Allowed to play to their strengths and allowed to play without fear of the oppositions ''quality''. I wonder if Hughton was surprised by what they could achieve? Well done lads!!

The Premier League channel had it at 52% WBA by the end of the game (it was 55% Norwich at half time). Find that quite unbelievable as WBA were chasing shadows most of the game

Would screw Arsenal over like we we screwed and would give Wigan the chance to relegate Villa. Cant say Id be too unhappy with that scenario Sunderland would need only to draw with Tottenham to stay up on goal difference. Hope the Villains are sweating now... How important could Agbonlahors last minute goal be for them this season?

Why does he put on a Welsh accent when he talks to his little girls?!

Are Man Utd still waving those yellow and green scarves?

[quote user="ellis206"][quote user="CambridgeCanary"]I am watching Sky Sports News. Rednapp says Newcastle are a good team and won''t go down. Pardew says QPR are dangerous and playing for pride. DiCanio praises Southampton. Pulis praises Tottenham. Boo hiss!!! Traitors, muppets, idiots! Sack them all. Now![/quote] Exactly what I said, the Hughton bashers a lot of the time don''t use common sense and their arguments are based around ridiculous things. Hughton has got to the point where whatever he says will be scrutinized. People need to get over the fact Lambert has gone. Lambert isn''t a footballing genius, he''s inherited a squad which cost over 160m to build over the last few years and currently sits 2 points above our 20m squad.....[/quote] You''re not Doug Ellis by any chance are you?...

Interesting post, thank you for that. Whilst it reflects what a lot of us feel about this season and last, Im not sure its a fair comparison (as you stated yourself) The team has changed significantly (almost an entirely new back four), and so these players contributions cannot be taken into account. But I realise the point of your analysis was to look at the players both managers had to work with. Certainly those players have been less effective thi season, but as you''ve said, theyve played less as Hughton has brought in others. On the face of it the interpretations look obvious, but of course, this only looks at Lamberts players, and how relevant is that one has to ask. Very interesting reading though and thanks for putting that together

Draw. Aston Villa was must-win. We lost Wigan away was must-not-lose. We lost I think if we had managed to not lose either of those games we would be safe currently. I think we''ll huff and puff as usual and draw the game.

I want to be happy for Wigan... and if we win tomorrow I can be. If we beat West Brom tomorrow, Id be more than happy for Wigan to win their remaining two games. Might even relegate Villa for us. We have to beat West Brom tho, if we don''t then Wigan''s results remain important. So in that respect, I think this win will instill belief in them. I think a better result would have been a last minute heartbreaker for Wigan after extra time. Sadly I do not think this will give us a better chance of getting points against Man City (hopefully we might not need them). Tell me, if Man City were to sack Mancini tonight, would this be a good thing for us on the last day or not?

Maybe Chris Hughton is has been watching too much Fast Show, and in particular has taken the Swiss Tony approach to football. Being a football manager Paul is very much like making love to a beautiful woman... You talk up the opposition, complimenting her quality and show her respect at all times. You let her dominate you hoping to pump your balls into the box, and then try extra hard to finish last...

I like to believe that whilst he is calm, articulate and respectful in front of the press, in the dressing room, he leads his charges out in a wild frenzy screaming ''Lets f*ck them up!!!!!!!'' If only...

I think people just want the agony to be over and want us to positively put the issue to bed ourselves rather than limp home and rely on Arsenal to save us. If we win tomorrow we can enjoy the weekend. Draw or lose and we''ll be sweating right up until the final whistle in the wigan game. Think people just want the relief now! I know I do...

[quote user="jas the barclay king"][quote user="The Great Mass Debater"]Makes you wonder if they really wanted Morro out that badly. Swap deals are practically unheard of these days. Becchio wasnt a player we looked at and paid money for. He was acquired as part of a deal to offload Morrison. The Becchio thing is a real surprise, he was seen as our headline signing in January after we failed to acquire Hooper, and yet practical anonymity. Hughton has frozen out players he clearly doesnt want, shipping some out on loan and leaving others in the cold like Tierney and Fox. With Becchio not even making the bench sometimes it does suggest that Hughton really doesnt/didnt want him. So why was he signed? A necessary evil in order to offload Morrison (was that need conceivably so great), or was his signing somebody else''s idea - and if so what insight does this give us into the organization of the club. Hughton clearly doesnt want Fox or Tierney, he seems to be treating Becchio in the same way, which is odd considering he signed him...[/quote]Hughton also released his own son (Kian Hughton) on a free when at Birmingham[/quote] Now that is cold... Or maybe not as ruthless as it sounds, perhaps it was the best thing for him

Makes you wonder if they really wanted Morro out that badly. Swap deals are practically unheard of these days. Becchio wasnt a player we looked at and paid money for. He was acquired as part of a deal to offload Morrison. The Becchio thing is a real surprise, he was seen as our headline signing in January after we failed to acquire Hooper, and yet practical anonymity. Hughton has frozen out players he clearly doesnt want, shipping some out on loan and leaving others in the cold like Tierney and Fox. With Becchio not even making the bench sometimes it does suggest that Hughton really doesnt/didnt want him. So why was he signed? A necessary evil in order to offload Morrison (was that need conceivably so great), or was his signing somebody else''s idea - and if so what insight does this give us into the organization of the club. Hughton clearly doesnt want Fox or Tierney, he seems to be treating Becchio in the same way, which is odd considering he signed him...

To play two up front requires us to play Holt plus another. This another has to be as has been pointed out one of Jacko or Becchio, both likely to be unfit and not match sharp. Jackson seems to offer very little and Becchio has been accused of being too like Holt to form and effective partnership with him. Other options if we insist on a second striker is to play someone out of position (Darrel Russell anyone?). Only real candidates are Pilks (who we need on the left for lack of any other option) or Bennett. Neither of these have been getting extended runs of late though so probably playing them out of position offers little advantage over playing an unfit striker. Granted Hughton wanted to run the rule over KK to make a call on a permenant signing, but was this at the expense of rendering a striker who is with us for the whole season an unusable option? Was that a wise decision? Circumstances I think have rendered a 2 up front option nonviable. One potential option to ensure Holt has support could be the approach we had at Arsenal - a 4-3-3 with Holt flanked by Snoddy with Pilks replacing KK in that line up. Play both BJ and Tettey, would probably be enough defensive cover to allow Hoolahan to play attacking midfield. Again not major surgery, but a redefinition of roles. Think we''ll see Holt up front on his own again though... Pity, as we know whom fortune favours...

But who else is there to fill KKs boots other than Jacko?

Ruddy Whittaker Martin Bassong Garrido Tettey Bennett Snodgrass Hoolahan Pilkington Holt I think Martin is a better CB than Bennett. Moving him across would allow us to utilise Whittakers mobility. I think Tettey is more mobile that Johnson and breaks up play better, which is all we need from him in this formation. Think BJ is part of the reason we''ve been limited this year. Played his best, but he is very one dimensional, and playing both him and Tettey robs the midfield of invention. Play just Tettey and instruct him simply to destroy, with simple lay offs to the two attacking midfielders Hoolahan and Snoddy. Snodgrasses problem is he wants to play like an inverted winger. He''s learned to cross with his right foot, but he''ll never be a direct winger in the way Benno can be. Utilise Snoddys strenghts and play him as an attacking midfield pair on the right of centre, with Hoolahan left of centre. Gives Hoolahan two options in the middle again (like when he played at the tip of the diamond) with the protection from Tettey. He is also not the only threat (as Snoddy is in next to him) so he cant be stifled out of the game by the opposition in the way Hucks used to be. Allow Pilks and Benno to play as direct wingers and play to Holts strengths. Let Snoddy drift out like Holt tends to do at the moment leaving Holt to remain in the centre to get on the end of things. Genuinely think this could work, not major surgery, just playing to the players strengths. Major argument is that Tettey would be swamped and we would be too weak defensively. But West Brom is a must win game, so what the hell!

Thought it was a strange decision at the time considering his pre-season form (and the lack of form in pre-season from the other strikers) Shipping him out on loan seemed pointless for his development, as he has already played a lot at that level and at Premier League level. CH said he needed fitness, but doubt what a season at Championship level gave him as he''d done it before (whereas in the Harry Kane example, that was his first real taste of regular competitive football). Think it might have been a good move if there was a recall clause, ie if he hits a vein of form after a prolonged run of fitness, bring him back. Dont think Hughton thinks like that though as he ignores form players (Becchio/Bennett) The move came across to me as being one where Hughton simply didnt rate him, so shipped him out. With the ineffectiveness of our strikers this season its hard to imagine Vaughan couldnt have made a contribution, even if it was only to be as inefective as the others. Surprised Jacko and Morro werent given similar loans with recall clauses. What has been the point of Jacko this season other than to make up the numbers? Think Vaughan will be off. For me Ayala is the interesting one - shipped out unceremoniously in similar fashion, but was this for his development or simply because he wasnt rated?

As somebody who due to geography cant go to games, being in the Premiership has a massive impact on me personally as I can watch every game via feeds. Drop to the championship and that stops. If we get relegated Im back to being a teletext supporter and having to wait til midnight to see a 10 second clip of the goals. Frustrating though this season has been, its still been more entertaining than watching a scoreline for 90 minutes.

With Kei gone, cometh the hour, cometh Becchio?

The single most important Norwich City moment in my living memory was all about Bryan Gunn. 6th in the table in 1994/95, following of the the legendary achievements of the previous season, relegation could not have been further from anyones mind. Gunny gets a freak injury getting his foot caught under him trying to make a save with his feet against Nottingham Forest and doesnt play again that season. Norwich have only 18 year old Andy Marshall to call on, who just wasnt ready. They then plummeted through the division and dropped out of the Premier League at just the wrong time. That was a pivotal moment, not just for the season, but for the future of the club, as we missed out on all the money that would transform the game. No injury to Gunn on that day, its difficult to imagine what might have happened over the next 10 years. That single moment impacted on Norwich''s next 15 years. Im sure we''d still be a very different club today if that had never happened. (Might not have been a good thing, might have ended up like Bradford or Portsmouth) This has a similar ring about it. If we stay up, possibly riding on us having the b*lls to attack West Brom, then we could establish ourselves as a Premier League team for the next 10 years. Let it slip through our fingers (and thats exactly what it would be - only ourselves to blame), then we could find ourselves in the championship or lower for the next 10-15 years. Definitely a pivotal moment, not just in a season but for the long term future of the club. Look at other teams like Forest and Leeds who never manage to climb back