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*****Official Match Thread v Birmingham*****

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1 minute ago, lake district canary said:

Next match is Sunday by the way  (seen a couple of people mention Saturday)

I'm delighted about that too, I have to work 1 on every 5 Saturdays and mine is this week.... 

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8 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

I have to stop posting during the game because I write absolute rubbish when I'm so tense. Please ignore everything I said.

I said before the game I'd take a scrappy win. What a load of tosh that was an all

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That to me is the sign of Champions, by no means our best performance but we still made it count and punished them for two mistakes. Huge pressure on the others to win now just to keep the pace, happy for Pukki to get redemption after the penalty and also Skipp who deserved a goal, though credit to Rupp who was unselfish despite having the chance to open his own account for Norwich!

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1 minute ago, birchfest said:

That to me is the sign of Champions, by no means our best performance but we still made it count and punished them for two mistakes. Huge pressure on the others to win now just to keep the pace, happy for Pukki to get redemption after the penalty and also Skipp who deserved a goal, though credit to Rupp who was unselfish despite having the chance to open his own account for Norwich!

You've got to admire the willingness of Skipp, who basically plays every single minute, busting a gut to get up there for 95th minute tap in. Love him.

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Pukki goal reminiscent of his goal at the mighty Leeds 2 years ago 👍brilliant stuff boys well done BIG 3 points that...
 

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Not giving Vrancic any blame or anything, but for me we looked more likely when he’d been replaced - I’d have brought Dowell on but Onel was a good alternative 🙂👍

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2 hours ago, sonyc said:

Well that's the 1-0. Where you  Parma? 🙂 Time for us to hunker down and tell the subs to be nice and warm for the 91st, 92nd and 93rd minute  😂

 

Wasn’t that kind of 1-0. Nothing like the level of strategic control as vs Rotherham.

So he changed it...

Parma 

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Wasn't great by any means and against a better side we may have been punished, but at this stage of the season you cannot argue with those 3 points.

Birmingham made life really tricky for us in the first half. Pressed us well and stifled us every time we tried to move up the pitch. That all said we should have been comfortable. Great finish by Pukki for the opener but that penalty was just shocking. 2-0 up against a team in the bottom 3 would've been game over but as usual we have to make as hard work of it as possible 😅 Birmingham's goal was an absolute mess from our perspective as well. Skipp, Krul, Zimbo and Hanley all just getting it wrong. Brum sat off us more in the 2nd half and in all honesty I'm not really sure why, as what they were doing in the first 45 was effective and causing us problems, but it allowed us to get our foot on the ball more and gradually take control. A lot of jam involved in the 2nd goal but in a game like this we had no choice but to just grind out 3 points, and that's exactly what we did. Love that 3rd goal as well.

Don't think anyone played particularly well, but Pukki would undoubtedly be man of the match for me. Despite missing the penalty you can never complain about your striker scoring a brace. Onel definitely looked lively once he came on too. All in all, massive win, 10 points clear, and now 5 days off before playing bottom of the league (who actually got a very good result tonight). Would be lovely if one of Brentford or Swansea could mess up tomorrow!

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53 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Not giving Vrancic any blame or anything, but for me we looked more likely when he’d been replaced - I’d have brought Dowell on but Onel was a good alternative 🙂👍

Why would you have brought on Dowell instead of Hernandez ?? Branston Pickle - I dont know who you are but I assume you are female ! Why else would you continuely want Dowell, who is not as good as the others - if you didn't fancy Dowell's James Bond looks - ahead of a player who turned the game for us. 

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1 hour ago, birchfest said:

That to me is the sign of Champions, by no means our best performance but we still made it count and punished them for two mistakes. Huge pressure on the others to win now just to keep the pace, happy for Pukki to get redemption after the penalty and also Skipp who deserved a goal, though credit to Rupp who was unselfish despite having the chance to open his own account for Norwich!

Many a time in the PL we've been on the receiving end of the same message. Play well against nominally superior opposition and the manager ends up saying we deserved better as we are undone by some clinical finishing.

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1 hour ago, king canary said:

Important three points from a scrappy performance.

I'm really hoping we finally see some rotation on Saturday- Onel and Buendia were easily our most dangerous players and they've both had some sort of rest recently. 

Give Cantwell, McLean and maybe even Skipp a break on Saturday.

Not sure Onel was our most dangerous player. He only had one run of note that led to the goal.

Anyway, the fact we looked to have more energy than Birmingham second half and then Skipp ran the length of the pitch on 90 plus 5 minutes to score a goal suggests fatigue might not be much of a problem.

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13 minutes ago, Six Pack said:

Why would you have brought on Dowell instead of Hernandez ?? Branston Pickle - I dont know who you are but I assume you are female ! Why else would you continuely want Dowell, who is not as good as the others - if you didn't fancy Dowell's James Bond looks - ahead of a player who turned the game for us. 

Wow, sexist much?  No, I’m not female.  IMO Dowell is just a far more mobile player than Vrancic and much more what I though we needed. I said at half time I’d have swapped Dowell for Vrancic, but just said Onel was a fine alternative....what do you want, blood?!

Edited by Branston Pickle

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And we now have a +20 goal difference, only Brentford are better on +22. Granted most teams have a game in hand, but it has improved significantly recently. If things continue as they are, we shouldn’t need it, but nice to know it’s there.

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42 minutes ago, Six Pack said:

Why would you have brought on Dowell instead of Hernandez ?? Branston Pickle - I dont know who you are but I assume you are female ! Why else would you continuely want Dowell, who is not as good as the others - if you didn't fancy Dowell's James Bond looks - ahead of a player who turned the game for us. 

Not sure why Branson’s gender makes any difference - I would also have brought on Dowell, we needed someone to move the ball more quickly through midfield and I think he does that better than Onel or Idah.  I thought Onel was really effective when he came on, much more impact than expected - direct, fast, and in the right areas.  I guess that is why Farke is a good coach, and I run an U14 boys, and an U11 girls teams.

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Good subs by Farke at the end. Hugill won the defensive header, and Rupp powered away to get the assist.

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9 hours ago, Pukki Blinders said:

Brum sat off us more in the 2nd half and in all honesty I'm not really sure why, as what they were doing in the first 45 was effective and causing us problems, but it allowed us to get our foot on the ball more and gradually take control.

I think it's easy to underestimate just how much our passing around the back saps the energy out of opposing teams. Although it makes many of us nervous, inviting teams to press us hard as our defence and midfield exchange passes pays off far more often than it fails us. Can't say I was particularly suprised that Brum couldn't maintain their intensity of the first-half. There are no doubt many reasons why City tends to look fitter than the opposition towards the end of games, but chief among them is the tactic of drawing them into chasing us down. Those teams that don't get drawn into this ploy typically withdraw into their own half in a turgid effort to defend in numbers. Then, of course, they are vulnerable to the moments of excellence that the likes of Buendia, Cantwell, and Pukki et al can conjour up in a second of genius. Farke forever!!!!

Edited by horsefly
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Also in the second half we "lumped" the ball long quite often, negating their pressing players and leaving them stranded up the pitch so we had more space to play in. The "high press" is used to disrupt a teams short passing game which, to be fair, Brum succeeded in doing in the first half, hence the change of tactics by DF.

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I'm sure it's already been mentioned but that pitch is a disgrace. Emi actually failed to control the ball twice which just about sums it up. There's a good argument to say that can result in players getting injured. 

Now that we've won on it twice we are at least in a position to moan without it sounding like sour grapes. Isn't it about time there was a rule introduced about the standard of pitches? 

I did post a concern before the game worrying that Skipp might need a rest. Obviously not if he can run that far in the 95th minute. 

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Being in the lockdown habit of visiting the various forums of our rivals in order to complete the picture,  the following amused me from the Swansea forum.

 

"I can't see anyone catching the budgies with their three little birds in the team; Puke, Bon Jovi and the little girl are a good combination.
They do also have the knack of winning when not being spectacular."

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12 hours ago, City 101 said:

Will take a lot more millions than Delia has to turn this lot into a premiership team ,simply not good enough on any level and boring to watch with it .

That took about 45 minutes to age very badly.

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12 hours ago, City 101 said:

Will take a lot more millions than Delia has to turn this lot into a premiership team ,simply not good enough on any level and boring to watch with it .

You have an interesting name. 101 is typically chosen as a module number for very basic introductory first-year university courses. So perhaps we can let you off for these rather silly comments and assume you are still at the introductory level of support for NCFC. If you genuinely think City have been boring to watch this season then perhaps you had better find another sport for your entertainment.

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1 hour ago, dylanisabaddog said:

 

I did post a concern before the game worrying that Skipp might need a rest. Obviously not if he can run that far in the 95th minute. 

I don't think it's actually a physical rest the players need - after all if they aren't playing they are training. 

BUT

I suspect its more of mental rest needed generally - they were all jaded and lethargic - and Farke needed to mentally wake them up at 1/2 time. 

Now they'll be able to relax tonight and indeed Saturday  - feet up - with no pressure and watch what they others (hopefully another mess) do before they need to go again. Stay cool.

Edited by Yellow Fever
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18 hours ago, City 101 said:

Will take a lot more millions than Delia has to turn this lot into a premiership team ,simply not good enough on any level and boring to watch with it .

1) I'd suggest at bare minimum we are good enough at championship level. We are top of the table, after all.

2) Strangely enough you can't build a full Premier League team in the championship. In fact you need multiple Premier league seasons in reality. 

3) If you find us boring to watch then make sure you renew your season ticket at Portman Road. Sounds like that place might be right up your street.

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6 hours ago, horsefly said:

You have an interesting name. 101 is typically chosen as a module number for very basic introductory first-year university courses. So perhaps we can let you off for these rather silly comments and assume you are still at the introductory level of support for NCFC. If you genuinely think City have been boring to watch this season then perhaps you had better find another sport for your entertainment.

There’s also Room 101 in 1984, where everyone is confronted with their worst fear. Norwich being promoted might be up there if you’re an 1p5wich supporter?

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