Not being negative but...

[Canary Boy 0]

Some of you will shoot me down for this, but everyone is entitled to their view and this is what this message board is for.

I felt the result is what we needed today, we got 3 points and the win we''ve been looking for. However, we were playing Plymouth Argyle who are down the bottom of the table, in disarray, no morale and no manager. At times as I watched the game, I thought to myself "If this was Sheff Utd, Reading or Watford it would have been a different story.

Don''t get me wrong, I have been supporting Norwich all my life and was over the moon for us all today, but Plymouth hit the woodwork twice and it could quite easily have been 2-2. On the other hand, we squandered a lot of chances today that we really should have put away.

I''m so pleased we got the win but away to Watford Tuesday night...we''d be lucky to get a draw I think. Let''s hope this message destroy''s itself Tuesday night.

Any realistic comments greatly accepted.

[Northern Canary 0]

no, you are right. If Plymouth werent so useless it could have been 2-2 or something

[Gentleman Jim 0]

Have to admit we didn''t look comfortable at any time, shades of losing the lead in previous games came to mind.

But now the first win and clean sheet have been achieved I think we will less stressful in our approach v Watford (and Malky) to get another win.

[St.John Cooper 0]

Spot on Canary Boy....play like that against a better side and we would no doubt lose. Still we did enough to win which is always important but we will need to raise our game if we are to compete with better teams and push for promotion

 

OTBC

 

St.John

[ronbol ronbol 0]

It''s about confidence and small steps.Your correct in what you say but having taken this small step we can approach the watford game and take a medium step. finishing we all hope with a win against ipswich.confidence is building, playing more like a team. It can and will only get better.

[Pyro Pete 2,353]

You''re right Canary Boy. We played a rubbish team. We would have had to have played like utter donkeys to have lost or drawn. Sadly at times our defending was exactly that. Remember our first goal (an own goal too) came from a break away after Plymouth had us pinned back in our own penalty box. There were a few goal mouth scrambles, and some awkward moments for us. Not least a cross bouncing off our crossbar.It''s a start, and let''s hope confidence grows as a result. But I''ve long given up thoughts of promotion. Once we''ve gathered enough points to guarantee survival in this league I will start considering the possibility of a return to the Premiership again. That still looks a long way off right now.

[ZLF 334]

The most important thing was the relieving of the ''no win yet'' pressure irrespective of the performance.  The positives from the day were three points secured, no injuries, a clean sheet and the good will of the fans obtained.  Lisbie looks like a good addition to the squad and McVeigh showed what influence a creative player can have on a side.   Safri was class again, Colin pushed hard for MOTM award and Green showed with 3-4 good saves just why he should have been MOTM and sat ahead of Kirkland on the england bench.

The downside was that the midfield looked poor again and this time there were equal numbers of real midfielders.  Hughes spent more time on his a**e than his feet and will never pass effectively, Marney drifted inside too often and used the ball poorly when he got the ball and Brennan did little wrong but did so little you hardly noticed he was on the pitch.  

In defence I thought the full backs played well when going forward but the whole back four remains hopelessly disfunctional with, in particular, shacks and flem looking jittery every time a ball comes their way.

My biggest disappointment was that despite 2 weeks to work on defending nothing appears to have changed - perhaps I was hoping for too much

Overall it was a further poor performance (having fewer efforts on goal (and on target) at home to a very very poor managerless plymouth team tells us how poor the midfield and defence were) that would not have got three points against a higher placed team.

The key thing was a win and a move up the table - but it has to be backed up with a further improvement tomorrow night.

OTBC    

[NavMan 0]

One of the most worrying things you said Zipper was the fact that Green should have been voted MOTM - and this against Plymouth 

[Putney Canary 0]

I thought Hughes had a really good game, a couple of passes and tackles were poor but he got most things right. He broke up play nicely, and didn''t do anything as spectacularly stupid as Safri (that should have been a penalty!). I thought the midfield looked good in the first half, but were less positive in the second half (so were the fullbacks) and lost some cohesion as a result. On the first half though I think the midfield is competitive with most other teams in this division, some of the passing was excellent and off the ball movement looked good (though this can be harder to judge on the TV). I also thought Brennan looked solid, and Marney was tucking in on orders, he did go wider when we had the ball.

The defence did look poor though, and sat too deep throughout. No individual looked out of it (and Drury looked excellent), just as a unit we seem to be low on confidence - after last season, pre-season and our start so far its no wonder. I have been a Fleming fan, but feel it is now time to get someone slightly younger in to partner Shacks (not a kid though, we still need experience) and marshal the defence.

ZLF where did you get the stats that show they had more shots on goal than we did? I thought we had more. It was a game we deserved to win, we were the better team, I know it was ''only Plymouth'' but it was a step in the right direction and hopefully we can go on and improve further.

It will be much tougher to keep a clean sheet against Watford away, but if we play like we did in the first half than we will be in with a chance. I would be happy with a draw against Watford, and very happy if we keep another clean sheet. Saturday was an improvement, and hopefully we can build from it.

[Mello Yello 2,571]

I''m not being negative either......much, and no, this isn''t a ''Worthy'' bash. Yes a result, a valuable 3 points and we have broken the ''No Wins'' taboo. But.....I''m still not convinced I''m afraid. Plymouth were not a very good side, and their players were rollicking each other, arguing amongst themselves- their striker was a ''big'' chap and not quality at all, and their back four were shakier than a rope ladder. They made us look good........ish.

I can''t see us gaining promotion with that display on Saturday, Worthy knows it, we know it, and the board know it! Now, if we give confident Watford, and their rising star manager; Mr A Boothroyd (an ex employee of NCFC) a lesson in football tomorrow the tide may be turning! Then spank Ipswing on Sunday (I''m going yippee!) then the signs are good!

Not onward and upwards, but onward and sideways......at this moment in time.

Positives: The win, Safri, Paul McVeigh, err'' yeah.........OTBC ;~) 

[ZLF 334]

The stats were supplied by Sky after the game and while I like you was surprised by them thinking about it while ashton hit the post we did not bring a save out of larrieu all game after the one on one - green was by far the busier keeper which as Nav Man points out was very disconcerting when you consider just how low Plymouth are as a team; they played like a managerless team who have now gone 5/6 games without scoring, yet outchanced us...

Without green keeping that first half free kick in particular out it could have been a very different result, which is why I am surprised that there is so much praise for the midfield and defence - the performance and sats dont back that up.

OTBC   

[Putney Canary 0]

I''ve just found the stats on the official site which shows we had more shots on goal but only just...

                                            NCFC                     Plymouth

Shots on target                       7                           5

Shots off target                       5                           6

Corners                                   9                           7

Possession                               57%                      43%

 

... but I agree Greeno was the busier keeper. At the end of the day the stats don''t really tell the story (especially when they conflict with each other, and I don''t know if blocked shots are counted). Bottom line is I think we deserved the win, but don''t think the defense played well. A step in the right direction however!

[ZLF 334]

[quote]I''ve just found the stats on the official site which shows we had more shots on goal but only just... NCFC Plymo[/quote]

As you say it was a win and a clean sheet which can only be a step in the right direction.

Hopefully this will give the squad a boost in confidence to take things forward, starting against a well drilled Watford team tomorrow.

OTBC