Player ratings

[ZLF 274]

A very good all round performance, solid in defence (although all of them had moments of madness)  competitve (and dominating) in midfield and lively up front. A better alround performance than Tuesdays with several candidates for MOTM and my only criticism is that 1-0 didnt do us justice.

Warner  6  Little to do,  kicking a bit wayward but solid.

Hughes 7 Like the rest of the defence continues to struggle when the ball is at his feet (on superb second half cross excepted) but was solid today.

Shax 7 - in control,  poor passing

Doc 7 won his battle, poor passing,  unfairly booed in the lower barclay today.

Drury 7 - bizarre to see him be sent on again when it was clear he wouldnt continue

Lappin 7 - better at left back than previously and got forward well

Etuhu 8 - super - my MOTM - showed why we are so frustrated with him.

Safri 8 - excellent 

Croft 6 - worked enormously hard but simply nothing came off for him.  A rest may do him good but that would be tough on him.

Martin 7 - should have scored (I thought he had scored - I was wrong, I was wrong ) sublime assist for the goal

HUx 7 - ran their right back ragged,  an inspiration to us all.

 

Fozzy 6 out of position - but solid

Dion 6 little impact

Chadwick 6 building up fitness. 

[Master J-Do Pur 0]

Thank you once again for this. Us students unable to make it back for games rely heavily on these to see how our players are performing. Good to hear Etuhu has two good games in a row!!!! Hopefully he can carry it on

[Pete Raven 276]

I''d have to agree with Dickson as MOTM.

[EadiesRight Foot 0]

Agree with all that Zip. Was quite worried about Warners kicking. It seemed a lot worse from Tuesday night, and there was also a little nervy moment in the start of the second half when the ball bounced right across our 6 yard box from a cross.

Ethuhu was the dynamo that we all expect of him today. He showed his appreciation by clapping the Jarrold Stand afterwards. Like Neil Adams mentioned on Canary Call, he is totally a confidence player, and we are starting to see the best of him. Lets hope this continues next season.

A team performance like that, and a hell of lot more consistency, and there is no reason why we shouldnt be in the right half of the table, and near the playoffs.

Thought Martins lay off started the little backheel competition between the players. Anyone else think he needs to be a little more aggressive challenging for aerial balls. I understand he was up against some big centre half in Fortune, but thought he could be a little more competitive. Only a little gripe - I dont expect him to be the finished article just yet.

 

[ZLF 274]

The feeling I left the ground is one of hope for next season but a bigger one of if only for this season - we should have been a contender this year.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Warner  6  not a lot to do, poor kicking

Hughes 6 typical Hughes, some good moments but the usual poor stuff intermingled amongst it.

Shax 7 - solid defending

Doc 7 has looked far more assured in recent weeks.

Drury 7 - solid enough until going off injured

Lappin 7 -looks decent, both at left back and left mid.

Etuhu 8 - a good performance from Etuhu, still looks a little lost at times but has improved his workrate in recent weeks

Safri 8 - played well as usual

Croft 6 - gave his all to little effect

Martin 7 - amazing backheel, whatever ''it'' is he seems to have it.  The vision from him is exceptional.

Huckerby 8 - a threat throughout

 

Fozzy 6 solid if unspectacular

Dion 6 little impact

Chadwick 7 got involved from the moment he entered the pitch

Granty 8 zonal marking is gone, a proper shape is appearing and week in week out the performances are improving

[nutty nigel 7,531]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

The feeling I left the ground is one of hope for next season but a bigger one of if only for this season - we should have been a contender this year.

[/quote]

I agree about the "If only". I just find this league so crazy at times. Southampton looked a good bet for auto promotion a couple of months ago and now they are dropping away from the play off places. Stoke went into yesterdays game with a good chance of the play offs and yet we were a lot better than them. It''s disappointing to have nothing to play for when we know we are capable of being at least where Cardiff are.

But, you are right, there is hope for next season. A lot more hope than 12 months ago. And one of the best things about yesterday was being at Carrow Road with that feeling of togetherness again both on and off the pitch.

 

[nutty nigel 7,531]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]

Granty 8 zonal marking is gone, a proper shape is appearing and week in week out the performances are improving

[/quote]

I noticed the zonal marking gone too CJF.

The zonal marking arrived with Hunter. I guess Grant didn''t want to change too much too quickly. Or maybe Duffy had something to do with changing it. Or even maybe it''s going to be a case of different tactics for different games.

Stoke are a physical side and we matched them , especially in midfield. To use the old "worthy speak" we earned the right to play. If we consistently put in these performances against this type of team the future should be very bright indeed.

 

[sket 0]

i think some of you are being a tad harsh and abit negative.
i thought the defence did well today in passing the ball rather than just hoofing it everyime. although some of that did still happen it was much improved from games earlier on this season.
the midfield two were excellent, etuhu was big and made an impact so much so i thought some of thier players were abit scared of him (see all the time he had when he sent a powerful shot just wide in the second half). Safri played really well, always seemed to be there mopping up and was always hassling the opposition and coming away with the ball.
croft i thought played alright, maybe he didnt do too much going forward but his tracking back was very good unlike performances earlier this season. he seemed to really care and helped the defence out alot.
huckerby played how he always does and caused the opposition problems all day long.
martin showed some good touches on the ball, i thought their centre backs were abit too strong for him and so he couldnt really take people on but still he played well.
special mention again to our defence''s new found passing skills. the game left my highley optimistic for the future.
i would also like to add the way city switched play was first class and stoke found that hard to cope with.