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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Blackburn

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In a week when off field events took centre stage it was difficult to concentrate much on the game in hand. At least the early spring sunshine made it a pleasant stroll up to the ground.There are no points for guessing that Wes would be restored to the starting line up but it was a bit of a novelty to see him coupled with Pritchard in the City midfield. The opening ten minutes were a non event as we were treated to midfield mediocrity while both keepers might well have been better employed sleeping in their armchairs. It finally got better as City began to ping the ball about a bit quicker and Blackburn were exposed for the very ordinary side that they are. Howson first sight of goal ended in a block for a corner as City began to get on top and then on 18 minutes a slick City move brought the opening goal. Pritchard and Wes combined and Josh Murphy''s shot from the angle was only parried before falling nicely for Jerome to poke home.It was starting to look like a regulation three points but Blackburn were slung a lifeline when Dijks went in over the top on Enmes. There were boo''s from the crowd but my immediate reaction was that it was a clear straight red. The boo''s got even louder and were laced with shouts of "you don''t know what you''re doing", as Pritchard was swapped with Whittaker but in truth it was the only logical option. Once again, and not for the first time this season, the Canaries had contrived to make it hard for themselves by facing a full seventy minutes with ten men.They were shaken for a while and as Blackburn began to dominate possession they created a couple of clear cut chances in the City box only for poor finishing to fail to test McGovern. After they settled it became a little less hectic but the sending off killed the game as a spectacle and it became a case of holding out until halftime. Thankfully with all hands to the pump it was achieved with out too many further alarms although City forays forward were inevitably few and far between.City put in plenty of effort as the second half began hoping to grab a quick goal. Jerome with a header and Wes with a shot both brought Steele into not very serious action before the attention moved to the other end. Blackburn wasted a good opportunity from a free kick but despite a heavy preponderance of possession were unable to pose many serious problems for McGovern. Even the post came to City''s rescue as Blackburn found a rare opening in a crowded penalty area. City could only threaten with an occasional break with Murphy, Jerome and Pinto racing down the right but they were often heavily outnumbered.As we moved beyond the hour mark it was obvious that the extra man would take its toll but Wes stuck it out bravely until the seventieth minute when he was surprisingly swapped for Wildshut and not as I had expected, for Naismith. The Murphy''s were also alternated. Before they had time to settle some constant pressing from Blackburn finally unlocked the City defence as Jao turned in a hard low shot from close range. It was disappointing but not entirely unexpected. When Jao nodded in a second five minutes later it looked like the game was finally up.It had been a spirited effort from the players but to their credit City were not done yet and when Murphy again wriggled clear on the right his cut back found Jerome unmarked in the box to steer home the equaliser via a deflection off a defender. The last few minutes dragged by with City surviving some hairy moments as Blackburn went for a winner but at the last gasp City almost stole the points when Howsons twenty yarder was blocked and cleared.Boo''s greeted the final whistle but it was rightly directed at the owners and the Board and not at the players who to a man had expended the full 100% in an spirited backs to the wall performance.The Board deserved everything they got for a season of disappointment and yesterdays unprofessional ineptitude. Alex Neil had been living on borrowed time for weeks but if only for that wonderful day at Wembley he deserved more than an untimely backstairs execution that lacked dignity and respect. We could have parted company with a bit of sorrow mixed with gratitude and best wishes for the future before wielding that long overdue knife, but instead we witnessed an opportunistic shanking in the prison shower room with everyone pretending not to notice the blood on the tiled floor. It was not worthy of NCFC and although there have been many days when I have been proud of my football club, yesterday wasn''t one of them.The players who fought for that point can hold their heads high with every man jack contributing but Jerome for me stands out as my MOM.

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]I don''t really get how meekly the crowd accepted it.[/quote]Torn between sticking the boot into the Board and respecting the effort the players put in due to adverse circumstances IMO.

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Sorry but the substitution was a ridiculous  decision under the circumstances (go three at the back - obvious) , the ref was dreadful, and the Board have thrown the season to the point where this started as a pre season friendly and ended in nonsensical fashion.

 

 

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[quote user="Tim Dawson"]Watched it a few times with my lad and both of us thought not a red, funny how we all see things differently[/quote]I sit in the River End Upper and everyone around me agreed it was an obvious red.

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Chants of "Balls Out" started near us, suggest this is done when the weather has warmed up a bit!

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Maybe Ricardo at the game it looked worse, i thought Emnes made a meal of it, yellow would have sufficed, that idiot Hooper hates us

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We are in the city stand, and straight away it was a red, no doubt. Personally i would have liked them to take a few minutes and think about the sub, Blackburn are as Ricardo says very ordinary, for me making the decision on Pritchard was easy for Irvine, but not the right one. Meant Jerome was going to be even more isolated and defending for the majority of the game from that point. Thought Ryan B had a good game.

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Benno did have a good game Lessingham, one particularly crucial and well timed tackle, sadly however, very few will give him any credit.

Nice to see Elliot back as well, nice reception.

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[quote user="ricardo"]In a week when off field events took centre stage it was difficult to concentrate much on the game in hand. At least the early spring sunshine made it a pleasant stroll up to the ground.There are no points for guessing that Wes would be restored to the starting line up but it was a bit of a novelty to see him coupled with Pritchard in the City midfield. The opening ten minutes were a non event as we were treated to midfield mediocrity while both keepers might well have been better employed sleeping in their armchairs. It finally got better as City began to ping the ball about a bit quicker and Blackburn were exposed for the very ordinary side that they are. Howson first sight of goal ended in a block for a corner as City began to get on top and then on 18 minutes a slick City move brought the opening goal. Pritchard and Wes combined and Josh Murphy''s shot from the angle was only parried before falling nicely for Jerome to poke home.It was starting to look like a regulation three points but Blackburn were slung a lifeline when Dijks went in over the top on Enmes. There were boo''s from the crowd but my immediate reaction was that it was a clear straight red. The boo''s got even louder and were laced with shouts of "you don''t know what you''re doing", as Pritchard was swapped with Whittaker but in truth it was the only logical option. Once again, and not for the first time this season, the Canaries had contrived to make it hard for themselves by facing a full seventy minutes with ten men.They were shaken for a while and as Blackburn began to dominate possession they created a couple of clear cut chances in the City box only for poor finishing to fail to test McGovern. After they settled it became a little less hectic but the sending off killed the game as a spectacle and it became a case of holding out until halftime. Thankfully with all hands to the pump it was achieved with out too many further alarms although City forays forward were inevitably few and far between.City put in plenty of effort as the second half began hoping to grab a quick goal. Jerome with a header and Wes with a shot both brought Steele into not very serious action before the attention moved to the other end. Blackburn wasted a good opportunity from a free kick but despite a heavy preponderance of possession were unable to pose many serious problems for McGovern. Even the post came to City''s rescue as Blackburn found a rare opening in a crowded penalty area. City could only threaten with an occasional break with Murphy, Jerome and Pinto racing down the right but they were often heavily outnumbered.As we moved beyond the hour mark it was obvious that the extra man would take its toll but Wes stuck it out bravely until the seventieth minute when he was surprisingly swapped for Wildshut and not as I had expected, for Naismith. The Murphy''s were also alternated. Before they had time to settle some constant pressing from Blackburn finally unlocked the City defence as Jao turned in a hard low shot from close range. It was disappointing but not entirely unexpected. When Jao nodded in a second five minutes later it looked like the game was finally up.It had been a spirited effort from the players but to their credit City were not done yet and when Murphy again wriggled clear on the right his cut back found Jerome unmarked in the box to steer home the equaliser via a deflection off a defender. The last few minutes dragged by with City surviving some hairy moments as Blackburn went for a winner but at the last gasp City almost stole the points when Howsons twenty yarder was blocked and cleared.Boo''s greeted the final whistle but it was rightly directed at the owners and the Board and not at the players who to a man had expended the full 100% in an spirited backs to the wall performance.The Board deserved everything they got for a season of disappointment and yesterdays unprofessional ineptitude. Alex Neil had been living on borrowed time for weeks but if only for that wonderful day at Wembley he deserved more than an untimely backstairs execution that lacked dignity and respect. We could have parted company with a bit of sorrow mixed with gratitude and best wishes for the future before wielding that long overdue knife, but instead we witnessed an opportunistic shanking in the prison shower room with everyone pretending not to notice the blood on the tiled floor. It was not worthy of NCFC and although there have been many days when I have been proud of my football club, yesterday wasn''t one of them.The players who fought for that point can hold their heads high with every man jack contributing but Jerome for me stands out as my MOM.[/quote][url=http://cool-smileys.com//clapping-smiley][img]http://www.cool-smileys.com/images/207.gif[/img][/url]

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[quote user="Graham Paddons Beard"]

Sorry but the substitution was a ridiculous  decision under the circumstances (go three at the back - obvious) , the ref was dreadful, and the Board have thrown the season to the point where this started as a pre season friendly and ended in nonsensical fashion.

 

 

[/quote]That might have been sensible in certain circumstances but leading 1-0 with 70 minutes to play wasn''t one of them.

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We didn''t have the personnel on the pitch to switch to a back three without without​ making substitutions. Pinto at centre back with Wes and Jo Murphy as wingbacks would certainly have been interesting though.

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What about Whittaker Ricardo. I understand he was booked. Did we run the risk of nine men?

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[quote user="keelansgrandad"]What about Whittaker Ricardo. I understand he was booked. Did we run the risk of nine men?[/quote]As were Wes, and Tetty.With this ref it was always a possibility.Once Whitts settled I thought he had a decent game and the same was true of the much maligned Russ and Benno.

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It looked a definite red, live.

Yep, Ryan Bennett would have been next in line, behind Cam Jam, for MoM for me

Hooper''s influence on the game? Dear oh dear, awful, just awful.

Thought that when we went down to 10, Elliot Bennett would have much more influence on the game, especially against Whitts, but his performance reflected Blackburn''s really. Very ordinary

Personally I would have taken Wes off, instead of Pritch, only because of what Pritch can offer, when there is space to run in, and of course, there was going to be more space.

I really, really wish that Murphy would of got a lot closer to Cam Jam, once we went down to 10, to give Blackburn''s defence more problems. Murphy had a reasonably decent game though, but AGAIN could have offered so much more

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Whitts was lucky to not get a second yellow card. The ref showed a bit of    leniency when he could well have sent him off.

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and Whitts yellow came about because he tripped over , and caught the Blackburn player, not a deliberate act, so shouldn''t of been on the edge of being sent off.

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Why does this forum garble text when using a mobile browser? It''s so annoying.

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Could have gone 3 at he back but surely would have had to bring on another defender to do that? And pritchard/wes not ideal wing backs for 70+ mins

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nutty nigel wrote the following post at 11/03/2017 8:50 PM:

Could have gone 3 at he back but surely would have had to bring on another defender to do that? And pritchard/wes not ideal wing backs for 70+ mins

This is what people around me were after. Seemed suicidal to me.

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If we were drawing at that stage, then perhaps, but we were 1-0 up, and with a flat back four, plus Tettey and Howson in front, would of made a better fist of defending the lead (than a draw)

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General opinion around me was that Wes should have gone off instead of Pritchard. Obviously with the booing the crowd thought the same. With ten men it was going to be an uphill task and logic would suggest the younger player should have stayed on. For me Pritchard is a more tenacious footballer and it helps to be able to use both feet in tight situations. The Wildschut sub was even worse in that with ten men the employment of two wide men was a bit extravagant in the circumstances. This player seems to find it difficult to become involved with the game and had little impact and did not exactly break in to a sweat. Naismith would have been the more suitable sub, but to be honest he has not done a lot this season either. Overall there was plenty of effort but yet again short on quality.

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Agree with that Vos. But I still think Wes would have incurred at least as much wrath. The effort was there except there was a fear to bust a gut to get up and support Cam. Naismith does that.

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Sorry on what planet was that a red He just stood over the ball Blackburn player came through his back to get ball so ended with his foot being stood on totally unintentionally. Clearly both players looking at ball nothing at all malicious only Mr Hooper could see that as red, yellow yes .

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Personally I would have kept the original 10 on for a while going 3 at the back, by tacking Pritchard off we surrendered the midfield inviting them on. If my memory serves I think they had three shots in the 5 minutes after the substitution, which was three more than they had had up until then and as we witnessed their pressure eventually paid off. If we were coming under pressure with three at the back then make the change but even then I may have put Bassong on and played RM at left back.

I''m quite certain the red was the correct decision although not deliberate but I always take the view that if I would have wanted a red if it was against us, which I would have, then I can''t complain if it goes against us.

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That''s nonsense.

If he was protecting the ball as it went over fora goal kick it would not even merit a comment

Though Elmes play acting would have earned him a booking.

NEVER A RED CARD OR EVEN BOOKING IN A THOUSAND YEARS

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