Tootingyellow

I've been watching Norwich for over 30 years and my perception (maybe incorrectly) is that we've always really struggled to break down 10 men when it's in our favour (often really hard to spot the one-man advantage) and look so easy to score against when we have 10. Completely fail to control or manage the game, concede about 80% possession and are devoid of intent. You'd think we have 8 players on the pitch, not 10.

It's one of my bugbears. It seems that the fans today are in a race to get to the end, finishing with 'Hurrah, we've scored a city'.

Grealish is a great player. He would be a shoe-in starter for England in my book. I love Emi and will be gutted if/when we lose him but he has yet to do it in the prem. Grealish ran plenty of games in the prem prior to his injury. I'm not a great fan of his attitude and he goes over like a granny on a frosty morning but there is no doubting his footballing ability.

As good as Skipp is you can't look past Huckerby. Completely transformed the team. Brilliant to watch too.

What a player he is. There are so few players who can ghost past opposition like he does and some of his passes are sublime. He's just great to watch. I will be gutted if/when we lose him.

I thought that was one of best and probably the most savvy performances of the season. Given the opposition there were very few hairy moments. I thought we managed the game really well and kept them at arms length. The only criticism is the number of chances we don't convert. Should have put the game to bed quite comfortably give the chances we created.

Took on the full back more times in 15 minutes than Placheta has all season. Has the defence facing their own goal and creates vastly better opportunities. Bit worried about him playing as LB though. He'll be caught upfield too often. He looks as though he could play in front of an LB though on that evidence, albeit brief.

All the ingredients are there. To me we just need to have a little more urgency going forward. I think we're often quite slow moving the ball forward and then end up playing in a series of triangles across either side of half-way line. When we push forward more quickly we can seemingly open up teams quite regularly.

I am a massive fan of Buendia. He's the player I least wanted to lose over the summer. I think he has an x-factor ability to unlock defences (his pass to Pukki on Sat being an example) that few others have but too often he looks as though his head's not in the right place. He's often too casual in his passes (conceding posession) and appears to have this sense of entitlement that everythig ought to go his way. He has the potential to be an exceptional player if he can just get his head straight. One goal in 40+ games is not good enough for a player of his ability.

No, although there is some reference to whining on the thread. I have been reading this messageboard for years and it's a long-held view.

I know Chase was at the helm. I was outside CR chanting Chase Out when he sold Sutton. I am talking about the club not just it's current leadership.

Personally I have a lot of time for Delia and Michael. I believe they genuinely love this club. They are fans first and foremost. I don't personally know if they've obstructed outside investment in the club. I've always respected the fact that she would personally attend the Capital Canaries AGM in London for example. They're have been, though, numerous times when we could have kicked on with judicious investment and we just didn't. The end of 92/93 for example but two seasons later we were relegated. I am not advocating wild spending but there are times when you have to seize the moment and we don't seem to.

It's a sad aspect of this messageboard that anyone who has an opinion that we could and should do/have done things differently is always disparaged and dismissed as a whiner, moaner or whinger. I have been going to CR since the 80's and I and others are entitled to our views/thoughts. There has always been a strong contingent at City that believe that everyone should just shut up and be content and that anything else means you're not a real supporter. I don't apologise for being demanding of our club and wanting them to be ambitious. It's frustrating to see potential opportunities pass by.

If we do lose Godfrey, Cantwell, Buendia and Aarons we will have a fat bank account but what might well be a very average team. Without them it's difficult to see us being better than mid-table and we'll have no time to replace them. It's a shame we didn't make a greater investment in staying up. You don't have to spend a £100m but spending £1-2m is pretty much ensuring the outcome that took place.

We did play quite well today but lacked incisiveness. If we're going to play two pacy wingers I would like to see more commitment to getting behind defences, they need to be encouraged to take on their full-backs. We too often play in front of the oppos defence and without the likes of Buendia and Cantwell struggle for the killer pass to unlock defences. If we do lose Buendia and Cantwell and continue to play a similar set-up it's difficult to imagine we will be competing at the top of the league.

Can't get iFollow to work either. It really is a **** poor service.

Disappointed with that team. Complete absence of creativity. I hope I'm wrong. Still unwilling to change a very poor defensive unit.

Very interesting and promising thoughts from the OP. An 'out and out', natural defender is exactly what we need. Someone to lead our defence and teach Godfrey that art of central defending. Could well be our most influential signing of the summer. Good luck to Boro (obviously not when we're playing them). I've never been to the Riverside. Last trip to Middlesborough was 3-3 draw at Ayresome Park.

I don't agree. We shipped plenty of goals the last time we were in the Championship. I think Gibson would have been (may still be) a excellent signing. We are very poor at basic defending, we look as though we could concede from every cross/corner etc, players are too easily pulled out of position and others don't drop in (if Godfrey is a CB, he certainly hasn't learned his craft yet) andwe often overplay from the back. Whoever is our defensive coach, he needs replacing/shooting.

Personally I am optimistic given the signings we have made. Dowell, Skipp and Placheta appear to be the sort of players that can add something to our go forward and Hugill gives us a dimension that we have not had for a long time. If we can sign a quality CB (or two) I think we'll be well placed. We have conceded far too many goals (often of our own making) for a number of seasons now. It's not just in the PL. I am concerned about our ability to play behind closed doors. I appreciate that the standard of oppo will be different but we were nothing short of atrocious post lockdown.

Like the vast majority of the first team, he is a decent Championship player. He lacks the quality, as do most of the team, to perform consistently in the Prem. As an earlier poster said, for what other team would he even make the bench? There's a reason we are 10 points adrift at the bottom - we are miles off the pace. With the possible exception of Buendia/Cantwell, I don't think any of our players would currently start for another prem side. There's lot of talk about £20-30m+ for Aarons, Lewis and Godfrey but they are mainstays of an appalling defensive unit.

I'm all for passing out from the back, in principle, but doing it for it's own sake is ridiculous. We often seem to try it when the opposition is applying a high press. They don't even have to win the ball off us, we'll just cough it up. We don't have the quality to pass round teams, that has been demonstrated endless times, and the high risk passes are usually low reward in any case, just passing to someone else under pressure.

It's a good question. As good as Lewis and Aarons are going forward, I don't necessarily think they're great defenders, at least not yet. Too often caught out of position. I don't think Godfrey has learned his trade yet. His positional sense isn't great and he can be quite leaden footed - look at the ease with which Redmond went past him for the goal. Collectively, they often don't play as a unit, with at least one of them pulled out of position, the other don't move to cover appropriately. The two CBs are often way too far apart and don't seem sure of what the other is doing. The ease with which teams can move up the pitch, particularly in transition, is deeply worrying. Often, there is no challenge made until the opposition is on or near the edge of the box. I don't know who our defensive coach is but to me it looks as though we don't know the basics.

In what has been an undeniably disappointing season I am struggling to see any positives or any signs of progress that would make me think next season might be any different. Our defending was embarrassingly awful at the beginning of the season, improved and has now degenerated back to early season form. We are manifestly unable to create chances, let alone score goals. The football is the most boring, slow and turgid I can ever remember, having watched NCFC for thirty years. It''s supposed to be a form of entertainment at the end of the day. We are desperately short of quality across the pitch - with Maddison likely to leave. Gunn and Leitner may be gone, leaving Lewis and possibly Trybull as the only real quality. And, yes, I am including Murphy in that. Just what is there to suggest that next season might be any better than this one?

I think people are confusing form with results. We have won a few games recently with less than inspiring performances. I don''t believe we create enough going forward to go on the sort of run required for a play-off place. We couldn''t get behind the Boro defence even once despite playing 10 men for 70 mins. I know there is an effort to get men behind the ball when down to 10 but the lack of speed/urgency allowed Boro to get two banks of four lined up very easily. We never looked like we had any ideas as to how to break them down.