Player Ratings - Luton

[Rossi 0]

Gallagher 7 - Couldnt save either goals, but did save two points with a great late stop

Colin 7 - Steady, but could have over-lapped more

Doc 7 Steady and solid in the air

Shackell 7 - Did ok, and kept pushing them out

Drury 7 - Poor positioning for 2nd goal - some indifferent corners, but he supported Hucks well in attack without delivering much

Croft 8 - Consistently good, superb goal

Etuhu 9  - worked his socks off

Safri 8 - looked stronger as the game went on

Robinson 5 - AWOL far too often, didnt support croft on the right at all - far too weak in the middle of the park. Set up goal well, but not worth extra point.

Hucks 7 - Poor and lazy int he first half, goal completely changed him

Earnie 7 - Took goal well, but first touch not very good

Subs

WLY - 6 Just not a winger when compared to Croft

Flem - 5 - made me feel very nervous - headed a ball into danger when Gallacher called for it and a poor header nearly set up a draw for luton if it wasnt for gallacher

Leon - 6- Hardly touched it in the small time he had.

[Danny G 0]

I agree with the above

Etuhu 8 - needs to improve on his shooting

Croft 7 - done all the hard work but his final ball could be better

Poor 1st half , could not get out of first gear

Great 2nd half , looked like new team

 

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Gallacher - 6 looked shaky, a great save near the end however.

Drury - 6 not his usual consistent self, Im sure he will be back to his usual self next week.

Shackell - 7 solid

The Doc - 7 did alrite for most of the game

Colin - 7 looked good coming forward

Huckerby - 7 good finish for the goal, not a great game

Robinson - 6 too many misplaced passes

Safri - 8* seems fitter than last season. good solid passing

Etuhu - 8 quiet first half, improved after the break

Croft - 7 went to ground too easily in the first half, much better after half time.

Erny - 7 scored a good goal. Looked lost up front in the first half.

Subs

McVeigh - 7 did ok

Leon - 6 not on long enough to rate

Fleming - 6 not on long enough to rate

 

Worthy - 8 a great decision not to change it.

[FilletTheFishWife . 0]

Gallagher 7 - Vital save near the end but shaky throughout

Colin 6 - Works well with Croft but i still feel he is the weakest link defensively

Shackell 7

Doherty 7

Drury 6

Croft 7 - Needs to stay on his feet more. Goes to ground easier than Hucks. Staying on his feet he''ll either deliver a decent cross or get whacked with less  subtlety and leave the referee with less doubt.

Etuhu 9 - Excellent

Safri 7 - Some erratic passing

Robinson 5 -Shocking for 80% of the game. Any other manager would have substituted him at half-time but showed some better touches in the 2nd.

Huckerby 9 - Sorry Rossi. I saw a different Darren to you. I thought he worked very hard throughout.

Earnshaw 7 - Desparately misses a strike partner and looks ineffective for most of the match but if he''s gonna score a goal per game that''ll do me.

 

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

actually

Huckerby - 8 - good finish and great saving tackle in the 2nd half after running half the pitch to cover defensively

[Rossi 0]

[quote user="FilletTheFishWife ."]

 

Huckerby 9 - Sorry Rossi. I saw a different Darren to you. I thought he worked very hard throughout.

[/quote]

Hey, no probs! - We all have a different view as well as view point, but the only thing i saw of him in the first half everytime i looked was Hucks not goal side and fromt he second minute he walked around with his hands on his hips - but he was totally different after he scored.

[1st Wizard 0]

gallagher- 7, could do nothing bout goals but produced a superb save at end to keep our lead

drury- 6, defensively ok and got forward without really impressing

colin- 7, solid and got forward at every opportunity linking up well with croft so far

doherty- 6, erratic at times but good in air

shackell- 7, still not quite his best but good none the less

croft- 9, superb throughout just waiting to see his top form when fully fit, needs a target man to convert his crosses and well taken goal

robinson- 7, few dodgy passes but made up for some of that with excellent ball in for croft

safri- 8, solid and distribution was good but nothing spectacular, could do with breaking forward more

etuhu- 9, anotherimpressive showing at this rate for the whole season we could have one of the best players in division

huckerby- 8, cocky at times and laid back but forward breaks were welcome relief and goal was taken well

earnshaw- 8, another goal from earnie and did what he does best... could do with target man to avoid him having to drop too deep

[ZLF 274]

Hmmm - perhaps I saw a slightly different game to most; one where we had plenty of possession but failed to hurt luton and struggled to create a chance of note, followed a different norwich team for 20 minuted where we conjured 3 goals and played to teh potential this starting 11 has and then 15-18 mins where we sat deeper and encouraged an equaliser. 

My reaction to the first 10 mins was we were confident - overly so to the point of arrogance, we have started well but we are not championship winners yet.  We looked OK but created nowt and deservedly fell behind to a cracking goal beause we forgot that passing well has to be matched with closing down, committment and most importantly movement.

Jury out on 4-5-1;  it can work even with earnie up front but we have to get the midfield pair of etuhu and robbo further forward;  when we did we scored and won the game, when they sat deeper we moved the ball to feet well but because earnie croft and hux were all static got nowhere with it (at one point in the first half I point this out to junior starting at croft going across the pitch through etuhu, earnie, robbo and hux and got all the way back to hux before one of them moved while the back 4 played teh ball between themselves waiting for a player to free themselves to receive it) 

I agree with the manager when he says it takes excellent character to come back from two down (it would be better if we didnt go two down to start with!) but disagree when he says we would have lost that game last season;  yes we did lose loads having gne behind but also rescued more points last season from behind than any other team - so we know we can do it - if we want to, amd we did exactly that against QPR last Easter.

I also agree with newell when he said we were not hurting them and its hard not to agree that without their (ie Lutons defence) excellent creative play to set up Hux it is doubtful we would have score.  From there the opportunity was superbly taken as we did what was needed to make the system work at its best; pushed up the field, got supporting players near earnie and finally got an incisive pass instead of yet another sideways one for the second goal. 

We will play far worse far far better and lose, but play better and generaly we will win more games than we lose.

No changes needed (it seemed I was alone yesterday wanting to keep 4-5-1) for Derby but we do need to operate it better - just play like we did for those 10-15 minutes after hux goal...    

Gallacher - 6  was hesitant coming out and but for the good end of match save could have been a 5.

Drury;  6  an odd game mixing good with the bizarre.  Getting forward very well.

Shackell 6 - like doc struggled with vine and feeneys movement

Doc 6 - see above

Colin 6  Why is he being taken off;  give his confidence a boost by giving him a full 90 mins;  looked good all game for me.

Safri 7 - sat a bit too deep but played the defensive mid role superbly.

Croft 6 - Excellent goal but struggled to ket much change out of their good left back.

Robbo 6 - Superb ball for crofts goal; but overal id not get forward enough to support earnie and lack a little movement

Etuhu 7 - would have been an 8 except for a going missing for 10 mins either side of half time;  a different player winning tackles, being available and keeping the ball well.  Like Robbo needs to get forward more to help earnie and give the wide guys some options, runs beyond earnie woudl create space and real options for everyone.

Huckerby 6  Well taken goal and scared luton in the last 20 mins but ineffective before that.

Earnie 6.  Too static today (not alone there) and for most of the game made the lutons defences game too easy for them.  Yet still pops up for the winner.  We are making him do most of his work outside the box when he is only really effective inside it. 

 

Its coming together well and we couldnt have hoped for more from the opening home games.  As I said after preston what we need is consistency;  which basically means improving away from home.  Roll on Derby...

 

 

[sheded 0]

Excellent summing up as usual  Zipper , but I can`t agree with you about this " static " business !   as I see it  , both Hucks and Earnie  were far from being static .... reading the game more like !!    oh I know it looks better if   they were to be seen constantly  running all over the field , but IF they hadn`t scored goals  while doing this   , we all know what the cry would be  .... "  Headless chickens " comes to mind  ...

Without Hucks input   at least 2 of the goals   wouldn`t have happened  [6]

As you say   , its looking good  ,  Derby away will be  a bit of a  marker ,  they are  dangerous !

[Mook 0]

Yup. Without Hucks'' persistence and work rate, we would have been turned over yesterday. He saved us, and not for the first time.

Also, I think Shackell has been over-rated by the above reports. His passing is poor, his head is weird but his tackling is good. He would get a 6, and without Doc next to him we would have struggled. Doc gets an 8 for me, at the end he was playing every position in the back four!

 

[ZLF 274]

Earnie, hux and crofts work rate cannot be faulted and I agree that without hux chasing the hopeful punt there would have been no first goal;  but too often they are static when the back players aare looking for a pass  to play - too often there was not an option for them so wisely they opted for the easy sideways ball; its the same with throw in - so often positions are taken up and then we wait until eventually the penny drops and one moves - but by then the defence is in position.

More support from the midfield two is needed though.

 

But its is still a vast improvement over last year.  

[Ginja 26]

Gallagher 8 - saved us at the end of the day, 3 points instead of 1 thanks to himColin 7 - Good solid performance, supported croft wellShackell 7 - Looked comfortable and solidDrury 5/6 - Very dissapointing should take most blame for 2nd goal, very bad marking at times and why the hell is he taking the Right Corner/FK?Croft 8 - Consistently good, superb goal - Totally agreeEtuhu 9  - Worked very hard, should have a goal to his name, a cross between Francis and HoltSafri 8 - Excellent passing and movement on/off the ballRobinson 6 - Worked hard but several bad passes let him downHucks 7 - Very quiet even for him, but a different person in the 2nd halfEarnie 6 - Good goal, but far to quiet didn''t even attemp any arial challangesMcviegh 6 - very little time to make an impression, deserves a better chance especially when compared to robinsonLeon 6 - Not enough time to do anything, need him on earlier in the gameFleming 6 - looks past his best now, made me nervous

[Ginja 26]

Missed out the Doc! He was very solid and did his job well  - 8

[Alan Ball 0]

Think that the back four were solid when the midfield starting playing in 2 half. Shacks passing was short and to the man other than a over hit pass in 1st half.\do not think he lost header in the game and allong with doc worked hard at keeping there shot levels down.we must remeber that the back four have not played less than 90 mins in all games including pre season and I think we look far stronger than we have for a few years.

[Tumbleweed 106]

I''ll not comment on all but my thoughts for what they are worth:

Drury- poor. I thought his dead balls were poor, his positioning was poor and he missed tackles too often. Not the solid player of recent years- perhaps he had been asked to get forward more but was still unsure about it.

Croft- poor first half, perhaps summed up by his "dive" for the booking as he knew he was going nowhere. Transformed in the second, looked determined and starting beating players and the service to him was down the channels (rather than to his feet standing still as in the first half) which helped.

Safri- where did his passing go in the first half? Much better in the second

Robinson- I disagree with many on here as I thought he had a very good game apart from slipping a couple of times.

Earnie- wasted up front on his own. We don''t need him picking the ball up deep as there is no outlet apart from sideways or back.

Overall observations

1. Too nonchalant at the start. We thought we were AC Milan and paid the price. Passing but no penetration.

2. Great to see the ball on the ground. Many times you could see someone wanting to hoof as they did last year but then not doing so and playing a safer ball to a colleague. However why paly the ball on the ground and then the final ball into the box in the air? We have no one to head it right now unless a sustained period of pressure means Doc or Shacks are up there.

3. Fitness levels. I still don''t see much evidence that we are fitter than anyone else as the clubs publicity machine would have us believe. Luton looked just as energetic and caused problems on the break.

4. Formation. I fear that 4-5-1 with Earnie up front is a tough one to succeed with. Deano is the right sort of player for this, but the only one we have with ability to shelter the ball off a chest or head is Thorne and he''s third in the pecking order.

5. Good to see the character from 0-2 but the calls on Radio Norfolk saying we are a shoe in for top spot are somewhat blinkered by the euphoria of a great comeback.