Norwich Win Over Ipswich Video

[YankeeCanary 0]

Over the past week I received a copy of the video game of the Norwich win over Ipswich at Carrow Road last month. This was very generously provided to me by SI at his cost. He said he enjoys reading my posts ( foolish man ) but that what I lack is an awareness of what is actually taking place on the pitch ( and the anxiety and frustrations the fans go through ) because I am not able to see the games. Quite correct. I have watched the video a number of times and was absolutely thrilled that you provided this opportunity for me SI. What you said to me, verbatim, was: " I would like to send you a copy of this year''s derby at CR. I can have it dispatched anywhere in the States by the end of the week, and then I would like your opinions on the players, the tactics, the manager, the supporters, before our next game and while we are still 8 points from third". It''s difficult to give input against all of these points from a video but, SI at the time of writing, we are still 8 points above third place, so here are my observations:

Definitely a game of two different periods as far as Norwich were concerned. In the first half an objective observer would have concluded that Ipswich were the Division leaders. They were, by far, the better footballing side and created numerous chances. Including the two that came off the woodwork, I counted seven Ipswich chances that could have easily resulted in goals. Of these, Bent contributed with four opportunities. I was very impressed with his performance as I was with Kuqi while he was on the pitch. To digress, there apparently were a number of games during this period where Norwich did not turn up for the first half. If this is a tactic, e.g. soak up what the opponent can throw at you, in this case it could have easily cost them the match. The fact that it didn''t was due to good fortune and very little else. The main problem appeared to be how the Norwich players performed when Ipswich had possession. Norwich players, too often, would stand yards away from the open Ipswich players and only make a move towards the opponent when the ball had been brought under control and the man began to move forward. Too late. This approach in the Premiership will, undoubtedly, result in a quick demise. Ipswich were by far superior at keeping the ball on the ground, running into open spaces, executing the pass and go. Observation of some Norwich players:
While Svennson appeared to have a decent attitude, and I have read that he does have some pace, he was always a half-step at least too slow. He may be out of shape but despite that a good striker knows when and how to position himself to be a half-step quicker than opponents at key moments- he did not appear to have that skill. I give him credit for the number of times he was back on his own goal line helping out in defense but found myself asking why he was required to do that with Norwich playing in front of their own fans. Henderson may be young but the number of times he carelessly gave the ball away to Ipswich was awful. He appeared to lack the confidence to take his man on. Full marks for calmness under the circumstances to Robert Green, who always looked in control, and also to Nigel Worthington on the sideline who remained very calm through this poor first half performance. Fans were, obviously, very upbeat and noisy at the start as one would expect for the local derby but, understandably, became very quiet as the match moved towards half-time.
Norwich came into the second half with more purpose and, while Ipswich were still playing nice football, they were now being hurried into action. Therefore, there was an increased amount of time being spent in the Ipswich half, where they were weaker, a key point that we should been focusing on pre-match and coming into the game prepared to exploit. Norwich players that did impress me were Huckerby and McVeigh, not so much for a strong role in this particular game but their obvious class and abil

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Well Done SI for sending the video To Yankee a kind thought which he has obviously appreciated.Sums up for me the posters on this site and the friendships we have formed over the past months.