One bad match

[morty 0]

I really can''t believe how fickle you lot are, we''ve won 5 out of our last 6 games and, because of crazy fixtures, we looked tired and got beaten by a very good side that are on an extended run. I just knew the whiners would be back after yesterday, the phrase "fairweather fans" springs to mind. You want instant sucess, go support Chelsea.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

yeah right Morty, and you would sign Etuhu even tho he has been rubbish for us and is a lazy sulker according to PNE fans.

Why are the whiners back - a player who looks crap is about to be signed!!!

[gazzathegreat 0]

Hi Morty

We have won five of the last six, but come on, you were at Leicester, how convincing was that?  We were running out of steam v Burnley, and Leicester was a wake up call for what might happen yesterday.  We were shocking yesterday.  Why?  Because ultimately the lack of planning by Worthy to have a large (and good enough) squad to last a whole season. 

I still remain completely unconvinced by Worthy, and even a winning run from now to the end of the season would not convince me now.  He''s had five years and we are back where we started, after him having more money available then any previous City boss.  He''s got a midfield that''s a complete joke, what''s the use of having Ashton if we can''t get the ball to him.  Ditto McVeigh is never going to shine when the ball is sailing over his head.  Huckerby just looked bored. 

The only bright spot so far this season has been the emergence of Doherty.  And I mean that most sincerely.  I can''t think of anything else to get excited about.

Preston are easily the best side to visit CR this season.  Why we can''t hope to emulate them just fuels the fire.  We should be able to.  Our team was tired.  Why?  Others managed the schedule due to having a squad capable of such.  Why haven''t we?  Er, yes, you already know the answers.

I am not fickle, and I don''t think that remark can be directed at many on this board, some of whom are suppporters of 20 years or more.  I just want a return to good football, preferably in the Prem.  I understand that is probably not going to happen for a while (under present management), so good football in this league then.  Sadly, no, not under Worthington. 

[morty 0]

I would wager that most supporters are fickle on this board, length of time supporting a team doesn''t give you footballing wisdom, and I think I''ll scream if I hear another canary call starting "I''ve been going to Carrow road for 30 years now etc etc".

If people here aren''t fickle why was there no calling for Worthy''s head while we were winning? I know there were a few who still were but the majority just shut up and enjoyed the wins, that is a perfect example of fickle if ever i saw it!!

Yes, we did get away with murder at Leicester but we have been struggling with injuries and unable to bring in any more players until the transfer window opens. If we don''t sign at least 5 or 6 players to restore our squad to a workable size then I will be the first to criticize the board but I think that we will sign players and, thanks to 5 wins out of 6( remember that?) we are still i ntouching distance of the play offs.

[Salopian 1]

Let us hope that this is a one-off and that the side survive the cup match and afterwards pick-up again.Closer examination suggests that it was not a one-off. We played well at Bramall lane, but had to absorb much pressure, and score on the very occasional breakaway. That''s fine, but United fans were bemoaning their lack of cutting edge up front. Their strikers were either injured, coming back from injury or just out of form. We deserved to win, because we took our chances, but there is some truth in Warnock''s assessment that they had handed us gifts.Things were a little more edgy against Burnley, and their summation was they had had an off-day.Against Leicester we were not impressive, and in the end were hanging on. If they had been able to finish.... They, like a Crewe team we just overcame, are languishing at the foot and in a bad stretch of form.Against Preston, after a few minuites the result was predictable. Some good defensive work and some finishing failures kept the score within bounds, but we were playing a far superior team, with an effective midifeld.Is our run over?I hope not, but with Safri missing and make-shift midifelds ( two left backs out of three midfielders for a time on Monday!), it is difficult to see much achievement. And we still lack quality in the midfield, even if everyone is fit. It will be interesting to see how we cope in one match without Huckerby, presumably going 4-4-2, and width. Am I the only one to feel sorry for Etuhu, - a central midfielder stuck out on the right of an inadequate three man line. I recall that Francis was never comfortable in this role.If we are ever going to challenge, then apart from changes elsewhere such as right back, we need a wide right player suited for the position and we need one or two other midfielders of some quality to replace some headless chickens. Recent midifeld signings have been embarrassing. Let us hope that somehow we acquire some better ones. Otherwise mid-table obscurity beckons.

[Dizzy Rascal 0]

It''s disappointing that we were trounced at home by any team in this division. If we had won we''d be 6th right now. Sadly results went against us yesterday too. I don''t see why all this commotion is being made about Dickson Etuhu; he''s been made into a scape goat. However from what ive seen of him, he could be a useful asset to the club. Plenty of time for us to get on another run I reckon.

[macdougalls perm 0]

Exactly right Morty, only a few people were still calling for his head when we were winning five straight games. If there was any consistency about them they would have been. We lost one game out of six, that is NOT bad.

[Kent Canary 0]

I agree with Morty. Also Worthy didnt singlehandedly lose the match, it was a team effort! (bar the Doc and Flem, poss Drury).

I also agree with the point about the canary call bit - there does seem to be an underlying need to qualify yourself by saying ''Ive been following City for x amount of years / was born at Carrow Road'' etc to justify your point.

Fans obviously have a point whichever side of the fence they sit on but it does seem its easier to criticise than to praise.

Having said that yesterday was the worst performance Ive seen from City BUT 15 points from 18 has got to be a good achievement and possibly this heavy defeat might break any complacency the team might have fallen into.

Still a long road but no one ever said it was going to be easy.

On the ball City!

[Northern Canary 0]

i totally agree Morty.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Morty

I still wanted Worthy out even after the five wins.  I still want him out now. I think my views are well documented on this board.  I enjoyed the wins, as I have since we were promoted to the Prem, but during that spell I saw reasons why we should dispense with Worthy, and since then have seen nothing to change my mind.  Of those people I know personally, several have been city fans far longer than me and think the same, on the other hand, some think he should stay.  Yes, some are fickle, but more are not.  Yes, I understand the Canary Call example, but a lot of supporters in their 70s etc that I know are still of the Worthy out persuasion and could never be termed fickle.  My son, who is 19, still believes in Worthy and we have many discussions about the pros and cons of his managerial abilities, my son is not fickle, he simply sees things differently to me, as you do.  I am not going to go off and support Chelsea either, due to having an inept manager in charge, I will simply wait it out, he''ll go eventually. 

We haven''t been struggling with injuries all season, we''ve been struggling with bad decisions, poor planning (ie not buying well in the summer), and Worthy''s failures to understand how to beat sides, especially away from home. 

If we sign 5 or 6 players in Jan I will be amazed.  If we sign 3 or 4 I will be amazed.  One good one, I will be delighted.  But trading any for Deano, he has to go. 

Of course I would love another five wins.  Five out of six every 10 matches for example, you know league winning form. A few convincing displays with people in their favoured position, etc, etc.  I admire your loyalty to the club Morty, but those of us who don''t particularly rate Worthington are no more disloyal, just fed up with incompetence.

[morty 0]

Well Gazza if you still wanted him out during our winning spell you were saying it very quietly! You know full well theres plenty people on here did a massive U-turn during the winning spell, and, in the case of 1st Withered, have done another U-turn again!

 Yes, I am loyal to the club, that is what being a supporter is all about. However I am not stupid and if I think that Worthington is out of chances, and it is in the best interests of the club, then I too will call for his head. To sack him now would be football suicide, theres no super manager out there( George Burley anyone??!!!) who is going to win the league for us this year.

I say stick with the manager and if we fail to sign any players this month then blame the board, not Worthy, they hold the purse strings, not him. He doesn''t make any signings without the boards say so and it''s they who negotiate contracts etc.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, what if jarrett had worked out? What if Hughes wasn''t injured? What if we could pick the same side more than 3 or 4 games running?

 I guess we''ll never know but some of the fickle posters on here should remember how far we''ve come as a club in the last 5 years, I remember being lucky to get 12,000 at Carrow road , so, people, get real!!

[ZLF 271]

It is only one bad match but it was very reminiscent of far too many of those from the first half of  the season.  Millwall at home sprung to mind watching yesterdays game.

Yesterdays defeat was not a result of tiredness (far too easy and a very lame excuse to use) but a lack of planning on the part of the manager for failing to have enough midfielders in his squad to cover a couple of injuries.   Charlie and Brennan are not midfielders but can cover for odd games in extreme circumstances and etuhu is not a rights sided midfielder but like jarret for millwall is played there despite being a natural central midfielder.

Like gazza I cant see wholesale signings during the month nor can I see us being consistent enough with the current small squad, which worthy claimed was good enough to storm this league in July yet is now through 5 loan players.

My worthy out opinion was not formed on the basis of 5 or even 20 games and it will take more than 5 wins to demonstrate that the squad has the strength in depth to compete for 46 games and not just have a purple patch.

As flem said in the programme notes the side had started to perform to something likes its potential - but having just safri missing should not have the devastating impact we saw yesterday...

 

OTBC  

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Morty,

Why do we not have players at the football club so we can play an ordinary 4-4-2?

Why does worthy beleive the right side of midfield should be occupied by a central midfielder or a striker?

As for Etuhu he comes back in the starting line-up for the Leicester away and Preston games and the midfield is shocking in both - coincidence.

He has done nothing at carrow road this season for us and cant have done too much away.

[0King Juan of SpainddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

If anyone actually spent time watching yesterday, rather than doing the usual moaning as soon as things go bad for us, we didn''t lose in the manner that we were a month or so ago. Preston had one less game than us over xmas, we looked really tired, and totally bereft of inspiration in midfield once Robinson had gone. Preston knew he was injured, that''s why he got an elbow in the ribs within the first 5 mins, and from then on they won the game because they knew we had no midfielders on the bench.

Yesterday was just one of those days. We looked far more confident than when we were in our bad spell, so this won''t signal a collapse. We could just do with 20 fit players, rather than 15 half fit, so stop jumping on bandwagons and moaning on. The booing at half time yesterday was disgraceful, again.

Sometimes I read this board and I think Carlos Quieroz was right.

[..xx..WoRtHy_In..xx.. 0]

Everyone has there days...

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I have had a good rant Morty, however

I do thing your posts on this thread provide good balance and some fair points.

[morty 0]

Thank you

[ZLF 271]

King Juan - yesterdays performance was the second worst I have seen at FCR this season - only Millwall was worst and several fans near me felt it was the very worst.  There is no reason for it to signal a collapse but the concerns are valid and genuine nonetheless.  The key is how we come back and perform against plymouth, not the appy ammers. 

These are professional athletes and 6 hours intensive work over 192 should not be beyond any squad hoping for promotion - I simply cannot accept that as an excuse.

The lack of bite, cover or creativity in midfield was glaring again once Safri is out - perhaps I have been underestimating his influence as that was the key difference.   The likes of brennan, thorne and Hendo have not played that much football yet looked as ''tired'' as the rest.   It was ability that was missing not endurance nor effort.

As far as the booing was concerned that was aimed squarely at the ref and not the players nor the manager - I noticed that too during the time I spent watching the match closely yesterday. 

OTBC