Ricardo's report v QPR

[ricardo 7,339]

It was dull and grey when I awoke this morning from a very disturbed nights sleep. I was still awake at 2am with various permutations of the league table going through my head. Its like the inverse square law where the nearer we get to the prize, the more worried I become. The line up was again no surprise with yet another unchanged side.

From the start City looked dominant and purposeful, sweeping the ball about with a crisp accuracy. Rangers looked very open at the back as both City fullbacks revelled in the spaces out wide. We were only just beyond five minutes when Aarons had all the time in the world to flash a low cross that found Buendia just staying onside and scuffing a low shot just inside Lumley's righthand post. It was just what was needed to settle the nerves and it quickly got better when Marco Stiepermann surged forward and unleashed a low shot from around 25 yards that seemed to go through the keeper.

The visitors defence was completely at sixes and sevens as Hernandez worked himself a shooting position but this time Lumley was equal to it with a smart stop to his right. Then it was Stieperman racing through again only for the ball to run away from him. Buendia was in imperious form, snapping into tackles and setting the home side going with some crisp shrewd passing. Hernandez should have netted when the little Argentine slipped him in on 20 minutes but his shot on the turn flew across the face of the goal from about 8 yards. It clearly wasnt the Cuban wingers day because another great opportunity went begging when he clipped Pukki's cut back a yard wide on the half hour.

It was breathless stuff but the home crowd were in fine voice as City continued to run Rangers ragged. Krul had been a virtual spectator for most of the half but finally earned his corn with a good save to his right as a low shot came in. City were soon back up the other end and it was Buendia nipping in again as Rangers tried to play out from the back. A quick pass to Pukki gave the City striker the chance to break his drought which he did with a coolly taken effort beyond Lumley's left hand.

It was virtually game set and match now as City strolled off to raptuous applause from the Carrow road faithful. Three nil but it could easily have been six.

From the whistle for the restart you could see it was a case of game management. City played it around with the visitors rarely getting a touch but the intensity had certainly dropped a couple of notches. Krul had to make another decent block whe the visitors earned a couple of corners but in truth there were few alarms. Hernandez made an outrageous run along the Rangers by line on the hour and somehow retained possession after twice going to the ground. Then a lovely sweeping move ended with Buendia  trying to place a shot which went fractionaly over the top with Lumley beaten.

Buendia had been hacked down more than once but it was the little man who saw red with 20 minutes left for an injudicious tackle on Scowen. Very disappointing to lose him for a couple of games but its not like we dont have capable replacements.

It gave Rangers a bit of momentum for a while but apart from a shot straight at Krul and an angled effort over the bar they never looked like reducing the deficit. City still dominated possession and opened up the visitors again with five minutes left as Pukki raced away and netted in the top corner giving Lumley no chance. Cantwell, Leitner and Rhodes all got a bit of a run out as time ran down on what turned out to be the most impressive display i've seen in many a year.

Buendia, despite his dismissal, my MOM.

[Rivvo 257]

Nice to see that DF got them approaching the remaining games in the correct manner eh Ricardo.

[ricardo 7,339]

4 minutes ago, Rivvo said:

Nice to see that DF got them approaching the remaining games in the correct manner eh Ricardo.

Yes, I' m totally confident now.

Well, at least until Wednesday👍

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

It was dull and grey when I awoke this morning from a very disturbed nights sleep. I was still awake at 2am with various permutations of the league table going through my head

What happened to the days when it was Raquel Welch bobbing up and down on your todger or scoring the winning goal, in spectacular fashion, for City at Wembley?

By the way, did they manage to get the River End singing?

[ricardo 7,339]

44 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

It was dull and grey when I awoke this morning from a very disturbed nights sleep. I was still awake at 2am with various permutations of the league table going through my head

What happened to the days when it was Raquel Welch bobbing up and down on your todger or scoring the winning goal, in spectacular fashion, for City at Wembley?

By the way, did they manage to get the River End singing?

Yeah, dreadful I know, but this win should settle me down for a couple of nights.

Probably have another bad'un Tuesday night. I shan't rest easy until its mathematically done and dusted.

Mrs R says if it upsets you like this why not stop going.

silly woman🙄

[yellowandgreen 34]

Another great report. And another awesome performance. Agree that Buendia was mom, so good today. I won't be loosing sleep over it. This team will be champions 

[ricardo 7,339]

9 minutes ago, yellowandgreen said:

Another great report. And another awesome performance. Agree that Buendia was mom, so good today. I won't be loosing sleep over it. This team will be champions 

Spot on.

I can't believe there are still doubters after today. A couple more wins and a sprinkling of draws will be enough.

[lake district canary 4,531]

Thanks for the great report as usual.  On the telly box, Pukki looked brilliant at everything he did, his pace was outstanding - he is much quicker than he gets credit for - was it Wells he outpaced when running back at one point?  And his tackling back to take over from Buendia was excellent too.  For those things and of course his goals, I thought he deserved his mom - and all the good things Emi did were a bit undone by his naivety in that tackle he made.  He is young and he will know he made a mistake, so hopefully he will be a better player for it when he comes back. 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Thanks good report as always.

 

who played the diagonal ball for Aarons to run onto which setup the first goal? Just brilliant.

Edited April 6, 2019 by It's Character Forming
Adding a bit

[ricardo 7,339]

I think it was Ben Godfrey.

[Bill 1,788]

4 hours ago, ricardo said:

It was dull and grey when I awoke this morning from a very disturbed nights sleep. I

sleep with you hands above the sheets, that would be my advice  😏

[westcoastcanary 173]

22 minutes ago, It's Character Forming said:

Thanks good report as always.

 

who played the diagonal ball for Aarons to run onto which setup the first goal? Just brilliant.

 

7 minutes ago, ricardo said:

I think it was Ben Godfrey.

Yes, it was Ben Godfrey. Double checked courtesy of ESPN+ replay 🙃

Edited April 6, 2019 by westcoastcanary

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Thanks, I missed it at the time. It brilliant we have so many players including our CBs who can play that sort of pass !

[nutty nigel 7,509]

Check out @NorwichCityFC’s Tweet:

 

[Bill 1,788]

A bit different to the old days of the centre half being told to

"just feckin' hoof it clear'

[Van wink 2,994]

19 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Check out @NorwichCityFC’s Tweet:

 

Zimmerman is also producing passes like that, looks like we have a couple Beckenbauer’s on our hands.

Edited April 6, 2019 by Van wink

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Zimmerman is also producing passes like that, looks like we have a couple Beckenbauer’s on our hands.

Are they on draught or bottled?

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Sorry if I'm being an idiot. But Mrs KG is monopolising the telly with BGT and the Voice and quite frankly I can't stand either. Bloody cheap programming. "Why do they have to go and put stars in their eyes".

So I'm sat at the PC. I've downloaded a new Kodi build, cleaned out a few odds and ends, ordered something off Amazon, had a few ditties from popular beat combos on YouTube and searched Ebay for a replacement cowl for the motorhome. Two bits of lemon drizzle cake, three coffees and the flippin program is still on. Thank goodness I have headphones!

Mrs KG has just gone loopy round the dining room because the Voice has been won by a lass from Cornwall. I've sung down the local and I didn't get anywhere so what chance has she got.