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gissing canary

Just back from the game - Calm Down

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I just got back from the game to read all the anti grant stuff on here.I am shocked!  I get why people are annoyed about Brown, but Dave was shattered after the game on sat and that was 30mins!!  Not away for 90mins, we needed the energy.Lappin did well.  Granted Chadwick was awful, but he was removed at half time.Doc was ok, other than the rugby tackling, and I cant stand him, and even questioned on here if he should get a new contract last year.We were in trouble for the first 20-25mins, I will agree, but to say backs against the wall for 90??? RUBBISH!!!We need some players, yes, but Grant out, are you kidding me??  This is a cheaply put together team, beaten away by a very expensive one!! Andy Reid who scored twice, cost close to the cost of the starting line up of our team.  GET REAL PEOPLE!!  we need a centre back.  But for heavens sake back the manager and team!  We looked balanced, we caused them problems, but we need a centre half, and time for the team to gel.  My support for grant has increased.Who else will work on this budget??  We got rid of 2 midfielders for 2mil, and replaced them with 400k, and they are better than the old lot, so ease up!!

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good to have some perspective from someone who was actually there. Grant should stay, he tried to do what he said he would do and what all promoted teams last year did, grind out a 1-0 win. he said thats what he intends on doing at the start of the season, so it didn''t work this time. but for 85 minutes we were on target for the away point at a place very few will get one.

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[quote user="gissing canary"]I just got back from the game to read all the anti grant stuff on here.I am shocked!  I get why people are annoyed about Brown, but Dave was shattered after the game on sat and that was 30mins!!  Not away for 90mins, we needed the energy.Lappin did well.  Granted Chadwick was awful, but he was removed at half time.Doc was ok, other than the rugby tackling, and I cant stand him, and even questioned on here if he should get a new contract last year.We were in trouble for the first 20-25mins, I will agree, but to say backs against the wall for 90??? RUBBISH!!!We need some players, yes, but Grant out, are you kidding me??  This is a cheaply put together team, beaten away by a very expensive one!! Andy Reid who scored twice, cost close to the cost of the starting line up of our team.  GET REAL PEOPLE!!  we need a centre back.  But for heavens sake back the manager and team!  We looked balanced, we caused them problems, but we need a centre half, and time for the team to gel.  My support for grant has increased.Who else will work on this budget??  We got rid of 2 midfielders for 2mil, and replaced them with 400k, and they are better than the old lot, so ease up!![/quote]Your views seem to differ from that of the Radio Norfolk commentary team including the always neutral Niel Adams, who admitted we were awful and deserved nothing from the game thanks to our depressingly negative tactics. The arguements put forward by them was that there was NO balance, we caused them NO problems and went out to grind out a draw with almost no intention of scoring. If you''re happy for that to continue then fair enough, but some of us expect a little bit more from NCFC. I have a four-hour round trip to get to every Norwich home game and I don''t want to see this dull, uninspiring, depressing dross that Peter Grant calls football anymore. We were lucky to score on Saturday, and if we hadn''t Grant''s head would have been officially on the chopping block as we speak.

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Yes I agree, I was there too.  Grant is not perfect but to want him sacked is ridiculous... If you sack if it doesn''t instantly bring rewards we are never going to get anywhere.. We are not a parachute team so why should we still have the expectation of it?  That said, it''s sad both NCFC and Worthy messed us up when we had the chance to be good.  Grant has got a very difficult job.  The signings are mostly his but he has done well with the extremely limited resources he has had.

Grant was not really at fault yesterday, there''s only so much he can do.

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Big Dave was shattered after 30 mins on Saturday?How do you know this?We heard directly from two people who were there and they did not have a good thing to say about the team/tactics.

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I was at the Valley last night, some of my family are charlton fans, so I was sitting in the East stand in line with the 18 yard box.  Lappin did well, Drury was ok, all I can say about Brown is that he will work his socks off all game for us. just a shame he''s not a goal scorer through and through, ( he even popped up at left back covering Drury!). Brellier is poor, gave the ball away too much.  Hucks & Brown up front was never going to get a goal.  So why wait until the 88th minute to bring on 2 new strikers? 

The second penalty was dubious, foul outside the box, the Ref was very poor too.  Danny Mills was mouthing off all night, he gave the linesman loads of grief.

What was wrong with Chadwick? He looked lethargic, had lots of chances to go wide and get a cross in, but always played it back to Otsemaboor, who wasn''t that good last night.  One Chartlon fan sitting near me said we looked shot shy, I have to agree. 

Ok we went 4-4-2, but it was the team selection was wrong.  Cureton should have been on from the start with Hucks out wide and Lappin in the middle.  You have to feel for Brown though, all his hard work deserves a goal.

 

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Hats off to the guys who actually went to the game for the clear perspective.

Big thumbs down to anyone who believes Neil Adams ever says anything the callers are going to disagree with (always neutral[:O]).

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Having been to the game last night you have to ask a few questions of firstly the overall teams ability and secondly what the board/Peter Grant have been up to over the closed season.  Since the end of last season if you asked any fan what Norwich needed they would say a decent centre half to play with Shackell/Dougherty.  Last night Dougherty played and in a nutshell gifted Charlton the 3 points.  Throughout the game he gave away multiple free kicks through his inability to keep his hands down in challenges and finally he gets the wrong side of the defender and lunges in.  Penalty.  Grant and the board have to take responsibility for this though as if they had done their jobs properly Dougherty should have been on the bench at best.

Regards the game itself the original 4-5-1 did not work in the first 30 minutes with players looking like they didnt know where they were meant to be and short of confidence.  Finally when Grant changed it round things improved a bit, with some passing finally getting going.  The second half was a more even affair but everyone could see that the effort of keeping Charlton out in the first 30 minutes was taking its toll in the last 20 minutes.  Why Stravkha and/or Cureton were not introduced after 70 minutes is beyond me.  You have to think this would have eased a little of the pressure on the defense, as Brown although average, worked hard and held the ball up fairly well, was knackered with 15 to go.

On a more general level Charlton are not that good a side.  To get promoted in this division you have to win games.  Why are we going to Charlton to try and nick a point.  So many times including under Worthington, Hamilton etc Norwich have gone away from home and played negatively.  We have decent attacking players.  Your two main summer signings are left on the bench (and not brought on until too late) and the team does not play 4-5-1 well.

Man of the Match (on both sides) was Dion Dublin by a distance.  His quality and positional sense was awesome and his goaline clearance inside the first 20 mins had to be seen to be believed.  The contrast between him and Dougherty is stark.  It does rather sum up Championship football and Norwich when the best player on show is 38 and probably beyond his peak.

As for Grant I think the jury is still out.  And their lack of foresight last night over the summer cost them 3 points.

 

 

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[quote user="jetstream"]Big Dave was shattered after 30 mins on Saturday?

How do you know this?

We heard directly from two people who were there and they did not have a good thing to say about the team/tactics.


[/quote]

If you went on Sat you would have seen that Dave the Striker was hobbling big-time after the game, and looked spent.  You do not even need to have been there to know this - take a look on the footage from the game on the NCFC site and the camera focuses in on him sat on the pitch as if he''s played 90mins + Extra time rather than 20-25 as a sub.  He looks good but clearly needs to rebuild his fitness levels after his illness.

We''ve now heard from more than 2 people who seem to have a more positive opinion on last night, so perhaps there is an alternative view to the negative one that was portrayed last night.  I have to say that Adams really does seem to have taken an about-turn and has been almost totally negative from the off this season - rather strange as he was always being criticised for being Mr Positive last time out. 

When all is said and done, IMO a 0-0 at Chartlon would have been a good result for any side and we almost made it - they have Prem players and lots of cash spent so we couldn''t really expect to go there and openly outplay them on their own patch, we had to play on the break and it very nearly came off.  I can''t imagine too many moaning had it done so.

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Finally, someone who saw the same game as I did.

We were not that bad to be honest (apart from the first 20 where we could have been 2 or 3 down!). I can''t fault many of the players except maybe Chadwick. Dion Dublin probably has one of the best footballing brains I have seen. Honestly, without him we would probably be relegation contenders.

Not to say that we aren''t anyway. For all the huffing and puffing, there is an element of skill missing from the team. We just don''t scare other sides. When Charlton went forward they looked dangerous. Quick passing moves. We attack and there is no-one in the box. Noone wants the ball. Chris Brown played well last night, but he needs someone there with him. Huckerby, for all that everyone loves him, was a waste of space last night. When faced with a physical challenge to get the ball he will either 1) throw himself on the ground looking for a foul or 2) chicken out of it. I know he has unbelievable skill when the ball is at his feet, but its the other times that worry me.

Jamie Cureton should have come on at half time last night. If this had have happened I rekon we might have nicked it. I can''t explain how frustrating our tactics were last night. Grant, to me, has shown unbelievable nievity in terms of tactics here. If you leave last seasons top scorer on the bench until it''s too late, he''s going to get annoyed!!!

Personally, I don''t think we will do anything with Grant in charge. If people are happy with a return to the days of Hamilton an Rioch then we have the right man. The board continually disappoint in terms of their managerial appointments. When will we take a chance on a proven manager, not someone who is making the step up from coach!!! If this level of football continues, we will be away at Northampton in a couple of years, not Charlton!

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[quote user="MK Canary"][quote user="gissing canary"]I just got back from the game to read all the anti grant stuff on here.
I am shocked!  I get why people are annoyed about Brown, but Dave was shattered after the game on sat and that was 30mins!!  Not away for 90mins, we needed the energy.
Lappin did well.  Granted Chadwick was awful, but he was removed at half time.
Doc was ok, other than the rugby tackling, and I cant stand him, and even questioned on here if he should get a new contract last year.
We were in trouble for the first 20-25mins, I will agree, but to say backs against the wall for 90??? RUBBISH!!!

We need some players, yes, but Grant out, are you kidding me??  This is a cheaply put together team, beaten away by a very expensive one!! Andy Reid who scored twice, cost close to the cost of the starting line up of our team.  GET REAL PEOPLE!!  we need a centre back.  But for heavens sake back the manager and team!  We looked balanced, we caused them problems, but we need a centre half, and time for the team to gel.  My support for grant has increased.

Who else will work on this budget??  We got rid of 2 midfielders for 2mil, and replaced them with 400k, and they are better than the old lot, so ease up!!

[/quote]

Your views seem to differ from that of the Radio Norfolk commentary team including the always neutral Niel Adams, who admitted we were awful and deserved nothing from the game thanks to our depressingly negative tactics. The arguements put forward by them was that there was NO balance, we caused them NO problems and went out to grind out a draw with almost no intention of scoring. If you''re happy for that to continue then fair enough, but some of us expect a little bit more from NCFC.

I have a four-hour round trip to get to every Norwich home game and I don''t want to see this dull, uninspiring, depressing dross that Peter Grant calls football anymore. We were lucky to score on Saturday, and if we hadn''t Grant''s head would have been officially on the chopping block as we speak.
[/quote]

Why were we lucky to score on Saturday?!?! From where I was sitting it looked like a well worked set piece. [*-)]

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I agree wholeheartedly with those people who say City didn''t do badly against one of the most expensively assembled teams in the division.

Apart from Doherty''s totally clumsy challenge, City were undone by a poor referee and a lack of a killer finish up front.

Grant should be critiscised for playing Chadwick from the off again and only bringing on Strihavka and Cureton when the game was beyond City, but his side did well.

If we could just keep concentration for 90 minutes and not get dragged into the cynical attempts of players like Danny Mills to get players sent off, we could have had a very decent point.

Let''s see how we fare against Wolves.

OTBC

www.cheepshot.co.uk

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