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Playing teams at the right time.

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With Klopp looking set to join Liverpool and Dick on his way out of Sunderland... It does look like we played these teams at the right moment.

Add to this the fact we played Stoke before their season truely got going and played Bournemouth at a time when they had just lost Gradel and Mings... It does seem that Lady Luck is shining on

Norwich this season.

Now I''m not saying that the performances we put in have not been excellent in these games (you still have to beat what is in front of you).. But I remember under hughton we had some rotten luck with fixtures (most notably David Moyes being sacked days before we played United.)

Our next game... Is Newcastle away. A team Who much like Sunderland appear to have a manager on the brink... Many are stating this is a typical Norwich banana skin moment.. But take into account our recent form against underperforming teams and I think we will be surprised.

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I take your point but often I think the old cliché that you make your own luck is true. Under Hughton we would often play a team on a very poor run and they''d get their first win (or away win, whatever) in ages against us.

Agree about our trip to Newcastle, under AN we are better in this sort of fixture. And given we lost on our last 3 visits there, now''s the time to do better.

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We can help break Newcastle''s season. There next four games are against us, Sundeland, Stoke and Bnmth.  If Newcastle fail to pick up points in their next four fixtures, they will be almost down and out.   They will be desperate to beat us to kick start their season.   Winning there would be a real plus on several levels - and not least because Mclaren would then probably be given his marching orders.

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You could argue that we''ve been unfortunate that we haven''t had an opportunity to have a crack at Chelsea whilst their absolute horror run has unfolded. Of course, there is no guarantee that we would get anything against them but there would have been a lot of more chance of doing so had we played them recently. There''s a decent chance they''ll have ironed out any difficulties by the time November comes around. Ultimately, we''ll end up where we deserve to be,

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Good point by the OP.

Luck with the fixture list in terms of when you play teams, certainly the teams involved in Champions league, can be worth a few surprising points per season.

Also, luck with playing teams with a manager under pressure could well be worth some points.

In previous seasons, Norwich have been the team that all teams end their bad runs against. Seen as soft touches, we were the perfect bounce-back team to face, which Leicester happily acknowledged last weekend.

I looked at the fixture list, and expected us to play against a very in form Arsenal side soon, but it is 2 months away, thankfully.

Facing Newcastle away and then WBA at home should give us a chance of at least 4 points, imho.

Everton away in the cup is difficult, and away at Man C is also hard, but we are maybe lucky because Man C face a potentially group deciding game against Sevilla away on Nov 3, 3 days after we face them on Oct 31. Could make it a bit easier for us, at least we can hope so.

Sadly we are not facing Chelsea before Nov 21, and I doubt Mourinho is still in the job by then. We can hope the place is even more sour when we arrive, though....

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[quote user="Cambridge Yellow"]Ultimately, we''ll end up where we deserve to be,[/quote]

I find it amazing how many football fans have this naïve faith "the table doesn''t lie" "it all evens out over the season" etc etc. And I always want to say - why do you think that ?

A Prem season has 38 games. Many of those games are decided by very narrow margins. It''s very easy that you could have an unlucky series of bad refereeing decisions, bad luck with the timing of playing other teams, injury problems, all coming within a season, which could easily be enough to lose you quite a few points and make the difference between relegation and mid table safety. There''s no divine justice or fate overseeing the whole thing and intervening to make sure that City will get good decisions/luck to balance out the bad, within that set of 38 games.

This is one of the (many) reasons that baseball is better suited to the application of statistics that football. The baseball season in the US is around 160 games. Now, over that number of games, I''d accept that it probably does "all even out over the season!" so teams tend to end up, statistically, where they "ought" to.

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"Luck" certainly doesn''t even itself out over the course of the season for a club like Norwich, bigger teams will always get the favourable decisions and we''ll be constantly banging our heads against a wall. Season under Hughton where people said we were "lucky" to finish where we did, I actually disagree, I thought we were incredibly lucky to not finish comfortably in the top 10 as we had a string of awful refeering decisions go against us.

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In general, luck in sports is underrated.

Infact, luck trumps skill anyday, if you have enough luck often enough.

And, as others have said, over 38 games, it does not require much bad luck to suddenly go on a 10 game run with no wins, or seeing rivals being lucky with their games while we face the opposite.

For teams of our stature, luck will always be a big part in the survival quest. Not only our own results, but the luck or bad luck of teams on, or around our level.

People claiming that "you make your own luck", etc may have a point, as fortune often favours the brave.

But for teams scrapping for survival in this league, the difference of 36 points or 40 points may be so slim, that it is completely ignorant to claim that luck has nothing to do with it, even over 38 games.

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LUCK ? luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

The one thing we know about Alex Neil is that our team will always be well prepared and have a strategy for each game, YES there will be off days (Southampton (a) Leicester (h)) but any luck we get will be deserved,

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[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="Bor Bor Bor"]Dick Advocaat is still my favourite party mime.[/quote]

Bet you end up with egg on your face every time......

[/quote]
Yeah, well played.

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Playing Bournemouth before Wilson gets injured?

And we get absolutely no ''luck'' with the officials.

I think we must be one of, if not the most unluckiest teams in the league.

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Interesting opinion, I think we have played teams at the right time but also made our own luck. I would agree though that the Newcastle game is the perfect match for us.

Not sure about the Liverpool one, don''t think they were playing that badly to be honest and it will take time for Klopp to make it his team.

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How am I a scummer for raising a totally valid point.Luck is a massive part of any sport, i was merely stating that this season we seem to have our fair share.Look at Bournemouth theyve lost Gradel, Mings, Wilson and now their captain Elphick... all due to injury.That will probably ruin their season.

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We''ve had none. Wilson wasn''t injured and as per usual, we have no ''luck'' with the referees. Hopefully we''ll get some soon though.

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[quote user="Al Harrington"]We''ve had none. Wilson wasn''t injured and as per usual, we have no ''luck'' with the referees. Hopefully we''ll get some soon though.[/quote]

Read my OP I never said Wilson was injured, I said gradel and mings?

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But what about all the teams playing Bournemouth now without Wilson? That''s pretty unlucky for us. When will our bad luck end?

And your old player Mings wouldn''t start, Charlie Daniels is the LB starter.

Anyway, that''s enough of feeding the scum troll. Must try abit harder next time. Bye!

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