Hucks must wonder what he's let himself in for

[Creative Midfielder 1,985]

One of those very strange games you get now and then where two very poor sides manage to produce an exciting game. Eight goals and a point at Millmoor isnt such a bad afternoon but what was frightening was our performance, which with the exception of Hucks lacked any quality whatsoever. We never at any stage looked remotely like a top of the table side.

Hucks was fantastic today, totally different class to anyone else on the pitch, and worked his rocks off for the full ninety minutes. Really impressed particularily with his attitude. Sadly he''s not only too good for the opposition but for us as well as he hardly ever receives the ball when and where he should.

Iwan is slowing down but he still provided something that was missing last week. Holt and Francis did OK, and Edworthy played really well in an otherwise totally unconvincing defence (which is presumably why NW took him off).

After that:
The ref was atrocious, I know its a tricky job but you''ve got to wonder where these blokes are coming from.

I must confess I''ve called for McVeigh to play on the right before but today he looked totally lost and should have been replaced by Hendo much earlier.

I probably shouldnt say this but I''m afraid Mackenzie reminds me of Mike Sheron. He works very hard and some of his work around the box is terrific but his finishing is.......well its like Mike Sheron''s.

But the person that really, really worried me today (and not for the first time this season) was Drury. He was absolutely woeful. He scarely made a tackle all afternoon, and Rotherham basically did as they liked on that wing. You cant blame him for Green dropping the cross but all four goals, plus virtually all the other danger, originated from his area. Malky was continually being pulled out of position to try and cover for him, and I dont know if he''s got a grudge against Hucks but most of the balls he played to Hucks today were more likely to hospitalize him than give him a chance of attacking the Rotherham defence.

I dont pretend to know where its all gone wrong for him but no matter how good he has been before, NW should have pulled him off today after 30mins and put Brennan on. That would probably have been enough for us to have won the game. In actual fact the substitutions were as usual, too late, incomprehensible, and ineffective.

[Disco Dale 0]

Agree with you about Huckerby, Drury and McVeigh today. Hucks was class. Thought Greeno wasn''t his usual self as well. Malky and Iwan performed their roles well today. Francis looked more like his earlier season form.

Jurys still out on Leon though. I think he is a true goal poacher and his skill and speed in and around the box are terrific. His shooting from around the edge of the 18 yard box was badly off target though, he should leave the long range efforts to someone else.

[FatMan Fat 0]

Very interesting about McKenzie......our little group in the upper Barclay have been scoring him on a "good" contribution, "bad" contribution, basis throughout the game...the overall concensus he comes out just negative, which is a bit worrying :-(]

[The Great Drinkell 50]

Just a word about Dury, I wasn''t at the gametoday so didn''t see his performance. I did listen to the radio and have read the reports this morning.

"We love you" was playing onthe right with D.H on the left with Roberts and Mackenzie up front. The one thing that "W.L.Y" does do when he plays on the left is help with the defensive duties.This is not one of D.H''s better qualifications.

If the above is correct then this would leave "Jukebox" as the only left sided defender. This may also have effectted the Fleming and Malky partnership. This was the worst defensive performance of the season (number of goals conceded).

The arrival of D.H has caused N.W problems since his arrival we havelost our shape and I think now is the time for him to earn his corn and make a decision. Roberts (until Svenson is fit) and Huckerby or Mackenzie (not both) then have a middle of Brennan on the left,Holt and a.n.other in the middle ( with A.n.other pushing into the oppositions half on occassions!)
with "W.L.Y" on the right.

This will address the balance of the team and get us back to winning ways?

[First Wizard 0]

Sorry Worthy out, load of old cobblers my friend, please read my thread Whinging Posters.

[Barclay Boy 0]

Sorry, Mr Drinkell, don''t quite understand what you mean by the phrase: "The arrival of D.H has caused N.W problems since his arrival we have lost our shape". It''s not as if Norwich are suddenly playing with Darren Huckerby for the first time - he was here for three months before Christmas, I seem to remember, and as far as I recall Nigel coped with his presence in the team fairly well during that time (or did I miss something?).

[silver fox 0]

I agree that the balance is not quite right yet and it may take Worthy a couple of more games to sort it. McVeigh on the right will work if we have Brennan on the left, but for some unknown reason (out of favour / carrying an injury) Brennan is not playing.

I am not convinced that Worthy favours a player that can play full back and midfield and that might explain why we never see Briggs and very rarely see Brennan.

[NorwichAreBack 0]

I can see some of the frustration about McKenzie but the fact is that every team needs a goal poacher,and with Iwan in decline (stil a living legend tho) we need someone to pick up the scrappy goals and loose balls. Against Bradford his finishing was poor but he did look extreemly sharp.

[ca 1]

WorthyOut,strange title of yours ''Hucks must wonder what hes let himself in for''.
I think that after spending 3 months on loan,getting to know the manager, players,fans and their ambitions and falling in love with Norfolk, he knew exactly what he was letting himself in for.He went with his heart,he knew there were no guarantees but he felt like most of us feel, that with this team, this year we could pull it off and fulfil our dream of premiership football.We kept our faith that Hucks would sign and he did.Now we must all pull together in the same direction because its passion and faith ,whether you are playing or supporting, which will get us where we deserve to be.
Sorry if I''ve gone on a bit but we are still top and its something to be proud,passionate and excited about!

[susie b 0]

Hucks also said when he signed that it was going to be very difficult to get what we all want come the end of the season, so that suggests he knows full well what struggles lay ahead. Also, as I said on another thread, I don''t think we''ll see the very best of him until he is fully settled (in his new house) and relaxed here. Even so, it seems as if he had a really good game yesterday so perhaps the Norfolk air (on a permanent basis) is having a good effect already!
Couldn''t agree more with everything you say, cityangel. If you feel like a communal prayer sometime let us all know! Remember that we are where all the other teams would rather be right now.

[Longy 0]

The balance of the team is a real problem at the moment and I think it is not a case of Huckerby coming in but crouch leaving. Crouch and Huckerby worked very well the big man and speedster. Worthy has almost given himself too many options, I believe that Mc Kenzie and Huckerby should be given the chance. If this fails I think its bye bye Leon cos I don''t see how he fits if he can''t play up front with Hucks (Huckerby is undroppable in my opinion). This leaves Iwan up front with Hucks until Svensson return, tho not convinced about him either.

I don''t think you can play a three up front, I fail to see why Brennan''s been dropped who looks a good solid player who will play his role on the left well if unspectacularly but every team needs players like him. I don''t see any reason Mc Veigh can''t play right everyone under performs in some games.

The biggest call I have tho is to give young Shackell a chance, we have conceeded 4 yesterday so you can hardly say the defence justified itself. Plus his distribution is about 10 times better than Malkys and to beat Shef U we are going have to out football them

[Creative Midfielder 1,985]

Sorry to offend Wiz but I didnt actually think I was whingeing. I said it was an exciting game, that Hucks was fantastic and that several others did well so I assume you''re objecting to the bit about Drury.

Well the lad had a dreadful game. OK it happens, even to him. I wasnt really having a pop at him but I am totally baffled as to why NW, seeing the game he was having and with an ideal replacement in Brennan on the bench, didnt sub him. He would have been doing Adam a favour and us a favour because we would have left with three points.

I admire your almost manager-like determination to extract only positive points from what was a big missed opportunity but I wasnt one of those who thought before the game we were going to collect an easy three points. It not usually easy to collect three points at Millmoor and after the way they got tipped out of the cup.....

But as the game turned out, with Hucks terrorising them every time he got the ball it should have been three points. When we started the second half 3-2 up against 10 men it should have been a safe three points.

I''ve no complaints at all about the excitement, and obviously not every game will go our way but the three points were there for the taking yesterday and yet we didnt keep the ball, we didnt pass the ball and our defending, well I wont go on but it was open house down that wing.

Maybe it is just me but am I really the only one who wonders why we havent seen more of Brennan?

[beelsie 0]

Don''t like the worthy out bit!! but you have a few points that I can agree with and It can all be solved by us having a game plan and a shape that is not pulled all over the place. I am sure we have the players at our disposal and what would get control of the mid field for us is to adopt Sam Allardices'' pattern which is 3.1.4.2 The player in front of the back three would establish control of the the shape of the pattern of play according to the opposition and would act as marshall, to prevent our players standing on one anothers toes, for me that player would be Brennan, He would be the man to make Captain. I am sure that Worthy has the troops to use and I am sure that Brennan as controller/ marshall whatever could make it happen for us. At the moment there is too much confusion in our defence. Greeno is a brilliant shot stopper, but he is so indecisive in the six yard area where he must be in control. This is made more difficult for him when all the defence at present are occupying it. Thoughts please. Best wishes Beelsie

[The Great Drinkell 50]

Barclay boy, Please read all my message I feel the problem is that N.W is trying to play both Leon and Darren-who wasn''t here during the loan spell-. This I think is wrong with our defensive midfielders -no disrespect meant,- but you must get the midfielders supporting the front line with little fellas up front. only 11 players in the team so 1 target man then either DH or LM. or three up front with only three in the middle. We are top because of the 4-4-2 system.

I personally like to see 4-4-2 at home with an attacking 4-3-3 away to pick up 3pts rather than the 1pt