Jersey Canary 143 Posted January 17, 2021 2 hours ago, A Load of Squit said: I'm not Mersons biggest fan but I don't remember him saying that. He said that Brentford and Swansea were also candidates along with us. He described us as 'efficient but not great' when asked if we were certain to go up. Agreed. One thing I found interesting was the complete u turn on Merson’s thoughts. At one point Merse was saying we were head and shoulders better than Cardiff and then half an hour later he’s questioning our promotion credentials. He’s done that before on previous games. However, if I was Farke I would use Merson’s comments as motivation to finish the season on record points total. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Hairy 3,772 Posted January 17, 2021 Merson can barely pronounce his own name, let alone have any credible knowledge of the Championship, there's a reason he failed as a manager. He's only on Soccer Saturday for the others to take the mickey out of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,671 Posted January 17, 2021 2 hours ago, king canary said: I dont think 'Norwich won't finish top 2' is likely to generate much controversy outside of this forum to be honest. We were top, 7 points clear and comfortable favourites for promotion with the bookies. He will take a controversial point on anything he gets asked about, it just so happens this time it was Norwich. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ged in the onion bag 855 Posted January 18, 2021 Didn’t think he was unreasonable in his observations given he’s not expected to know our club in the same detail we know it. The top 5 seem stronger this time than our battle with Leeds and Blades. We’ve ground out results without being convincing this season, very much down to the embedded philosophy and squad depth. Of those 5 teams we create and miss the most chances by some distance. If we converted even an average amount of those chances, no doubt we would be considered media certainties. We’ve also had the least clean sheets so there’s still a long way to go! Despite the quality of the football for long periods, it all feels like we haven’t really got going yet and everyone is waiting for that to happen, I am. Will it? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midlands Yellow 3,984 Posted January 18, 2021 10 hours ago, hogesar said: We were top, 7 points clear and comfortable favourites for promotion with the bookies. He will take a controversial point on anything he gets asked about, it just so happens this time it was Norwich. Merson, predictions and bets don’t go together. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JB 115 Posted January 18, 2021 His views need to be taken with a pinch of salt. I'd say he's borderline illiterate and his grasp of the English language is of a lower level than a peanut. He's forever getting the names of players wrong - I recall the other week Geoff having to explain that Buendia was pronounced "Bw-en-dia" and not "Pw-en-dia" (or something like that), because it had the letter B in it not the letter P. The confusion on Merson's face was of sheer bafflement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nuff Said 5,140 Posted January 18, 2021 19 hours ago, Number9 said: TBF he probably had in mind the context of last season. Yeah, but... There are too many people who judge last season on what happened after restart. It's a commonly recognised psychological effect, the months of competing, some decent results, but being not quite good enough, is wiped out by the dire end to our season. 21 points from 29 games is not enough to stay up, but it's not a million miles away. But that is somehow wiped out by the 0 points from 9, and it becomes incontrovertible that we had a terrible season. If your intention is to criticise the club, then I can see you will focus on those nine games because it is convenient. If you are genuinely looking for a balanced view, then you need to look at the bigger picture. Merson is clearly not one of the intellectual giants of the football world, what's your excuse? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Number9 272 Posted January 18, 2021 9 hours ago, Nuff Said said: Yeah, but... There are too many people who judge last season on what happened after restart. It's a commonly recognised psychological effect, the months of competing, some decent results, but being not quite good enough, is wiped out by the dire end to our season. 21 points from 29 games is not enough to stay up, but it's not a million miles away. But that is somehow wiped out by the 0 points from 9, and it becomes incontrovertible that we had a terrible season. If your intention is to criticise the club, then I can see you will focus on those nine games because it is convenient. If you are genuinely looking for a balanced view, then you need to look at the bigger picture. Merson is clearly not one of the intellectual giants of the football world, what's your excuse? I was looking at the whole season chap, abysmal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nuff Said 5,140 Posted January 18, 2021 2 hours ago, Number9 said: I was looking at the whole season chap, abysmal. I don’t know how you define abysmal, but if we’d carried on as we had been playing after the restart we probably would have finished with a points total around 30. We beat Man City, drew with Leicester and we had the famous night against Spurs in the cup. It’s by no means great, but abysmal? I’m pretty sure Sheffield United would take it right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,671 Posted January 18, 2021 43 minutes ago, Nuff Said said: I don’t know how you define abysmal, but if we’d carried on as we had been playing after the restart we probably would have finished with a points total around 30. We beat Man City, drew with Leicester and we had the famous night against Spurs in the cup. It’s by no means great, but abysmal? I’m pretty sure Sheffield United would take it right now. Shhhh, Number 9 wanted rid of Farke so he's feeling a bit fragile this season. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
First Wazzock 902 Posted January 18, 2021 I liked it when Jeff was taking about the FA Cup, and asked who he fancied for the fifth round. Merson said it's got to be you Jeff, I've got the first four... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mason 47 1,379 Posted January 18, 2021 To be fair, we've barely played a game this season without opposition fans asking 'How are Norwich top? They aren't all that' and often saying how lucky we were to win. Similarly the media don't seem particularly keen on us, as with dear old Merson here. I am more than happy to continue being lucky and efficient all the way to 1st place in May. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Besthorpe-48 102 Posted January 19, 2021 My guru Nate Silver is predicting Norwich have a 67% chance of promotion. Seems a fair estimate to me compared with the OP ed from the man who thought we had a forward called CINNAMON Jackson. The balance of fixtures for the rest of the season is interesting as Swansea apart most of the top half have to come to Carrow Road. Then as most of them lost to Norwich at home perhaps nothing to be concerned about? On the other hand a lot of the teams in the bottom half will be at home themselves. They cant park the bus at home can they?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crafty Canary 495 Posted January 19, 2021 On the whole I have found him to be quite complimentary about us over the past few seasons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A Load of Squit 5,162 Posted February 4, 2021 On 17/01/2021 at 10:33, A Load of Squit said: I'm not Mersons biggest fan but I don't remember him saying that. He said that Brentford and Swansea were also candidates along with us. He described us as 'efficient but not great' when asked if we were certain to go up. Looking at the table this morning, he needs to change his name to Mystic Merson. 😀 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fiery Zac 1,066 Posted February 4, 2021 30 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said: Looking at the table this morning, he needs to change his name to Mystic Merson. 😀 Yeh, naming 2 teams in the top 3 and describing them as promotion candidates, magic. Shouldve retired or been retired from Soccer Saturday a long time ago Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crabbycanary3 994 Posted February 4, 2021 32 minutes ago, Fiery Zac said: Yeh, naming 2 teams in the top 3 and describing them as promotion candidates, magic. Shouldve retired or been retired from Soccer Saturday a long time ago He's there to fill time during quiet moments , by always repeating his opening sentence and also for his comedic value with his pronunciations. Insightful punditry, is not his thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
