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Well b back

Raheem Sterling

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We go to most if not all of England’s games and I have to say Sterling is simply sensational, he has absolutely everything, power, pace an ability to do something no one was expecting, he defends when his team don’t have the ball and he scores goals. It had us Norwich supporters discussing with some Newcastle and Sheffield United supporters how on earth will we stop him on Saturday. You could try moving 2 players on him but then his mates Aguero, DeBryne, Sane ect are not to bad either. Maybe he can get a slight knock tomorrow giving Pep the opportunity to rest him for a game.

This is what the premier league is all about on Saturday a chance to see possibly the best player in the world at the moment, possibly the best team in the world and an opportunity to see how especially our youngsters deal with him and them. Of course I am hoping for a Norwich win, however I suspect in years to come this will be a player just like the likes of Best and Ronaldo that you will be telling your grandchildren I saw him play. 

As a footnote Man City players have been all over the world during the last few days so maybe a bit jaded. 

 

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I think we'll need all of our goalkeepers on the pitch! How many are allowed to stand in the goal at any one time? 😉

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To answer your question:  kick the everliving @#!! of him, as cynical and unpleasant as that may be.

West Ham did it to us, now time to dish some out.

Although it's hardly just him to worry about, so even if we give Sterling a dead leg, another 80 million signing will come off the bench.

I think the real question is "how can I make myself emotionally-resilient enough to endure the stuffing we are most likely to get?"

We'll lose 99/100 against Man City (maybe I'm being a bit generous to us actually), but hopefully we'll lose playing a bit of decent football.

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15 minutes ago, Orly said:

kick the everliving @#!! of him

The big difference is, if we did this we'd get a straight red as Sterling would get "big player" protection, whereas our players are left trying to limp back into position after not even a foul is given...

Edited by Vazzza
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He is a great player and the odds are they will beat us, but if we're at our best, don't give stupid goals away and they don't quite click, we can still win.  When we beat them 3-2, both teams had nothing to play for (final game of the season) and actually we were better than them on the day, despite the fact that their players individually were clearly better.  At this level the margins are very small even between a player like Sterling and the players we have.

 

That's the beauty of football.  How often have we seen England lose to a team with inferior players ?

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3 minutes ago, It's Character Forming said:

That's the beauty of football.  How often have we seen England lose to a team with inferior players ?

Not since 2009, the last time we lost a World Cup or European Championship qualifying game!

Edited by Mr Angry
Typo

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I did wonder if we might see Sterling rested for our game on Saturday - maybe to the bench, particularly if he plays for England tomorrow.

Edited by Branston Pickle

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He's made such a huge improvement the last two or three seasons and I'm delighted for him after all the **** the media put him through.

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2 hours ago, Orly said:

I think the real question is "how can I make myself emotionally-resilient enough to endure the stuffing we are most likely to get?"

Exactly this. Shrug our shoulders and realise that Man City and Liverpool are in their own league and that losing to them is what virtually every other team will be doing too.

As for Sterling. I was not particularly convinced early on but he's come on immensely and good luck to him. The only world class player that England has.

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4 hours ago, Orly said:

I think the real question is "how can I make myself emotionally-resilient enough to endure the stuffing we are most likely to get?"

 

Ummm following Norwich City - "It's Character Forming..." :classic_ninja: :classic_rolleyes:

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10 hours ago, Well b back said:

 Of course I am hoping for a Norwich win, however I suspect in years to come this will be a player just like the likes of Best and Ronaldo that you will be telling your grandchildren I saw him play. 

 

 

I think he has some way to go before he's in the same bracket as Best and Ronaldo. 

I saw Cruyff and Beckenbauer in their twilight years and it was like watching a different sport. 

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To be fair he’s improved so much in the past two seasons, credit to the lad, Sterling before and during the last World Cup was pretty ordinary, even to the point a lot of people said have should have been dropped from the England team.

Brilliant couple seasons and exceptional for England alongside Kane. Great to see and deserves all the plaudits, well done Sterling, or should that be he’s doing a Sterling job!

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I also had my doubts about Raheem, but he's proved to me and his other critics/doubters that we were wrong......Although, if he plays against us on Saturday.....I hope he has an absolute stinker..... 😉 

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The way to play him is to restrict his access to the ball by keeping it ourselves.  Keeping posession and not making silly mistakes by giving the ball away unecessarily is key to it - that way we can negate much of any team's strengths, including Man City.  We have done ok in that respect in some parts in every game so far this season,  but the challenge for us is being able to control the ball for longer spells in a match.

We did it totally against Newcastle (who did not really take us seriously enough, hence their abject performance) and the beauty of games like the Man City one is to see if we can put our game together agasinst the best, enough to get a result.  It's a great game to have coming up and I for one will not be wanting to watch Sterling, De Bruyne or whoever they put on the pitch - I couldn't care less who their players are - it is simply a case of can we rise to the challenge and play our way well enough against a team who are plainly going be one of the strongest tests we will face.  

I have no doubt it will be a fantastic match with quality shown on both sides - and that we will play our best, hence my feeling that we could well get something from the match. 

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4 hours ago, lake district canary said:

The way to play him is to restrict his access to the ball by keeping it ourselves.  Keeping posession and not making silly mistakes by giving the ball away unecessarily is key to it - that way we can negate much of any team's strengths, including Man City.  We have done ok in that respect in some parts in every game so far this season,  but the challenge for us is being able to control the ball for longer spells in a match.

We did it totally against Newcastle (who did not really take us seriously enough, hence their abject performance) and the beauty of games like the Man City one is to see if we can put our game together agasinst the best, enough to get a result.  It's a great game to have coming up and I for one will not be wanting to watch Sterling, De Bruyne or whoever they put on the pitch - I couldn't care less who their players are - it is simply a case of can we rise to the challenge and play our way well enough against a team who are plainly going be one of the strongest tests we will face.  

I have no doubt it will be a fantastic match with quality shown on both sides - and that we will play our best, hence my feeling that we could well get something from the match. 

Isn't that what we try to do in EVERY game?

Possession based football works sometimes for us (didn't against Crawley, mind), but in our case in this league, if we lose it up top too easily it WILL get punished. We've all talked about it. Our wing backs get so far up the pitch that teams can spring a quick counter on us and before you know it they're 3 or 4 on 2.

The other point is, Man City also play a possession based game and they are better at it than us.

I can't see any other result than a loss for us, unfortunately. But that's fine. As we've all said, these are the games that you want to try and compete in but there's no shame losing to teams like Man City and Liverpool.

Edited by BobLoz3

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5 minutes ago, BobLoz3 said:

Isn't that what we try to do in EVERY game?

Possession based football works sometimes for us (didn't against Crawley, mind), but in our case in this league, if we lose it up top too easily it WILL get punished. We've all talked about it. Our wing backs get so far up the pitch that teams can spring a quick counter on us and before you know it they're 3 or 4 on 2.

The other point is, Man City also play a possession based game and they are better at it than us.

I can't see any other result than a loss for us, unfortunately. But that's fine. As we've all said, these are the games that you want to try and compete in but there's no shame losing to teams like Man City and Liverpool.

Yes, we try to do it every game and if we do it well, we always have a good chance in matches. As for Man City being better at possession football, I would agree, but possession football is just that and if we have the ball, the opposition do not have the ball to keep!  So if we play well it will be a close match imo.

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Man City aren't just very good at keeping possession, they also excel at winning it back. It is going to be a very tough ask for us to try and beat them by keeping the ball.

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3 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Yes, we try to do it every game and if we do it well, we always have a good chance in matches. As for Man City being better at possession football, I would agree, but possession football is just that and if we have the ball, the opposition do not have the ball to keep!  So if we play well it will be a close match imo.

I hear what you're saying. I just think they'll be able to keep it better than we will.

Ergo, we won't have as much of the ball as we're usually used to and therefore will struggle.

Edited by BobLoz3

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5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

The way to play him is to restrict his access to the ball by keeping it ourselves.  Keeping posession and not making silly mistakes by giving the ball away unecessarily is key to it - that way we can negate much of any team's strengths, including Man City.  We have done ok in that respect in some parts in every game so far this season,  but the challenge for us is being able to control the ball for longer spells in a match.

We did it totally against Newcastle (who did not really take us seriously enough, hence their abject performance) and the beauty of games like the Man City one is to see if we can put our game together agasinst the best, enough to get a result.  It's a great game to have coming up and I for one will not be wanting to watch Sterling, De Bruyne or whoever they put on the pitch - I couldn't care less who their players are - it is simply a case of can we rise to the challenge and play our way well enough against a team who are plainly going be one of the strongest tests we will face.  

I have no doubt it will be a fantastic match with quality shown on both sides - and that we will play our best, hence my feeling that we could well get something from the match. 

Where have you been the last 3 seasons. Man City had 72% possession against Liverpool. They want you to try and play as they experts at winning the ball back then clinically destroying you. They then try to keep the ball for the rest of the game. Is part of being in the EPL not an opportunity to see in real life some of the greatest players ( and managers ) in the world ?.

Comparing this game to Newcastle is quite amusing. If this is an open game I am certain of one thing Man City will score more than us. I don’t think you will have much choice ( unless they are rested ) of not watching the likes of Sterling and De Bruyne as they have the ball a lot.

Not really sure why you have made it look like I have posted that I want us to lose, I want us to win every game but this as I stated is probably at the moment the best club team in the world. If I remember your posts from the past you defended Hughton for playing a defensive game, now you are advocating trying to destroy Man City in the same way as we did Newcastle. If we win it will probably be the most boring game ever and we steal a goal. And yes for the record I would happily take the most boring match ever with a Pukki 90th minute winner. In reality though I am looking forward to our young players learning so much over 90 minutes ( including the management of a game ) which they can take into the remaining games. Not really sure why you feel this was a negative Norwich post.

As a footnote in the EPL Man City have won every game since January except one which was drawn. Man City and Liverpool are head and shoulders above the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and Arsenal let alone the likes of us. After Saturday we will only have to play them once more each whereas most of the rest still have to play them twice.

 

 

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Let’s be honest most on here would take a 2-0 loss and move on......anything above 6 is possible, Man City are a world away from us.

Its god for the club to have this elite standing and great for the youngsters to pit themselves against the best in the world.

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2 hours ago, Well b back said:

Where have you been the last 3 seasons. Man City had 72% possession against Liverpool. They want you to try and play as they experts at winning the ball back then clinically destroying you. They then try to keep the ball for the rest of the game. Is part of being in the EPL not an opportunity to see in real life some of the greatest players ( and managers ) in the world ?.

Comparing this game to Newcastle is quite amusing. If this is an open game I am certain of one thing Man City will score more than us. I don’t think you will have much choice ( unless they are rested ) of not watching the likes of Sterling and De Bruyne as they have the ball a lot.

Not really sure why you have made it look like I have posted that I want us to lose, I want us to win every game but this as I stated is probably at the moment the best club team in the world. If I remember your posts from the past you defended Hughton for playing a defensive game, now you are advocating trying to destroy Man City in the same way as we did Newcastle. If we win it will probably be the most boring game ever and we steal a goal. And yes for the record I would happily take the most boring match ever with a Pukki 90th minute winner. In reality though I am looking forward to our young players learning so much over 90 minutes ( including the management of a game ) which they can take into the remaining games. Not really sure why you feel this was a negative Norwich post.

As a footnote in the EPL Man City have won every game since January except one which was drawn. Man City and Liverpool are head and shoulders above the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and Arsenal let alone the likes of us. After Saturday we will only have to play them once more each whereas most of the rest still have to play them twice.

 

I don't care that it's Man City.  I don't care that they might be the best team in the world, I don't care their stats against Liverpool were so high.  We play our best and we have a chance and that is all I ask of any Norwich team - to play our best, whether it's Hughton and his defensive outlook or Farkeball.   It's the joy of pitting our wits against all comers, whether they are an abject Newcastle or a rampant Liverpool, or whoever.  Building up Man City is just bonkers - yes they are a top team, but it's our players that need building up, not other teams'. 

To my mind the education of the last four games has been massive and a lot will have been learned. This week is an opportunity to show we have learned, that we are up to the challenge and will give Man City one heck of a match - hopefuly to the point of taking points off them. 

They have a great record and all great records have to come to an end and we are just the sort of team who could do it.

 

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25 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Building up Man City is just bonkers - yes they are a top team, but it's our players that need building up, not other teams'.

What does this even mean? 

Pretty sure that our players are already fully aware that Man City are a world class team, and if they aren't then you can be certain that the Man City players are. 

I have it on good authority that the Pink'un doesn't hold as much sway on football as The Sun does on politics so don't panic everything will be ok. 

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