Canary On The Wire

He has to go. What, are we going to wait for Phelan to turn it round for us? If so he might as well manage us now. The players did not want that second half. Its over.

''Thank you for your fantastic support'' ....sorry about the fu(king diabolical team

Listen (as a certain Glaswegian often said) We can have as much ball in and around the box as we like. We can even have big blokes like Jerome and Lafferty attacking the ball in the box as much as we like. But crossing will always be an inefficient scoring method. If it wasn''t, Tony Pulis'' Stoke would have won the league. Michael Turner should be ashamed of himself for his attempt at defending the first, and Ruddy more so the second. It''s terrible! Until we remember how to defend and how to create chances consistently with focused passing in accordance with this ''Norwich Way'', we are going to remain in the Championship midtable. I don''t like to be negative, but unless Phelan sorts this out and quick, we are going to be spending at least another year in this division.

Bit optimistic listing that as a 4-4-2 OP. Lafferty and Redmond''s natural inclination to get high will make it a 4-2-4. For me that''s another unbalanced lineup. It will get goals but it will get caught. Hopefully Phelan will address this naivete in the weeks to come. I''d love to be wrong and see there''s a genius defensive shape behind it come 3pm, but I can''t help but feel we''ll have to score one more than them to cover up defensive inadequacy. Prediction: 3-3

Indicate to me where I have ''happy clapped'' and you win a ticket to see your beloved ITFC

Than our shambolic defensive performance today is the attitude of the ''fans'' I''ve seen on here who wanted Brighton to finish the job in hope Adams would get the sack. Whatever the situation, wanting your team to lose is pathetic. And it always will be.

...playing on for 40 minutes with medial ligament damage. I didn''t even know you could do that- that''s adrenaline I guess Poor bloke, as Adams said just about to establish himself in the side and that happens

Yes, we dominate the ball. But we aren''t actually very good with it. Keeping the ball in your own half for an impressive possession stat (well, actually to poke and probe for an opening) is all well and good- but the thing is that we simply work the ball into a decent crossing position for the wide men. The problem is, then, as anyone aware of strategies in football will tell you - crossing is a very inefficient goalscoring method. Whether you have an aerially dominant striker or not (though of course it will help), crossing the ball yields far fewer goals than chance creation by working the ball behind the opposition defence. As we simply work it wide and get a cross in, it seems that while teams sit off us and let us keep the ball in our half, they understandably get about us more as we advance up the pitch. We aren''t as comfortable with the ball under pressure, so we look to release a player out wide, who duly puts in a ball of varying quality, and quite unlikely to produce a goal. In order for us to turn our possessional dominance into goals, we need to work on keeping the ball under pressure in training, and off the ball movement from attacking players to pull defenders out of position allowing a pull back for a direct shot or a clear run on goal- as it is this we do not do well enough, in my view. I still believe in Adams- I just worry about his constant soundbiting about ''dominance''. It means absolutely nothing to have 60%+ possession if your players are not sharp enough on and off the ball.

Can''t find a vantage point from my nest here in York. None of the usual spots are available

Fantastic piece Parma. Explains basic principles in an easy to grasp way, and for those who wish to take more from football than ''that Lewis Grabban runs around a lot ''e do'' this is a must read.

While Adams of course has a say on our incomings and outgoings, this will not be all his decision. Watford are not a promotion rival if you ask me, and by the time Bassong gets fit it''ll be nearly January anyway. He needs game time, U21s is no good for full match fitness and he does not deserve a place in our team due to our performances disregarding his behaviour

As I have said, I do not believe stats to be the be all and end all (god knows how many times I''ve had to say that to people who seem to think I do believe that) But are people really suggesting that professional football clubs pay organisations such as Prozone to provide these statistics whether as hard data or graphically represented, just to spunk money up the wall for a laugh in what is ''at best a generalisation'' for the ''i know he''s good cos he runs around a lot'' brigade?

[quote user="92 vintage"]The part where it''s suggested that we totally abandon any attempts at passing football in favour of hoofball is a wonderful example of the naivity that is so prevalent, but overall quite an enjoyable read. It''s a sort of "through the eyes of a plastic" piece written for a students union newspaper. I especially liked the bit where Turner''s rating is bookended by the words ''mammoth'' and ''ace''.[/quote] 92 vintage, direct passing play is not hoofball. Thankyou for your patronising comments in veiled kindness.

I happen to know a couple of scouts employed by professional football clubs (albeit in the Conference National) who yes, obviously, go and watch games...and produce dossiers on players containing, among other documents, heat maps of average position or ball touches for the player to illustrate how the player has influenced the game and enable comparisons to the teams'' own players which are difficult to put across in detail verbally- certainly difficult to recall and compare later.

Opinions are generally subjective, but City 1st''s is evidently correct, indisputable, factual, etc. I must reiterate, statistical analysis of football does not and should not be taken as gospel. But it adds another dimension to our understanding of the game. You don''t have to embrace it, the blood and thunder Philistines have their place as much as the ''stattos''. Football is a romantic game, and the beauty of it is it can be enjoyed by all, young, old, or ''terminally dim''. Thanks for reading. :)