Player Ratings - Norwich v Leicester

[Chesney Hawkes 0]

We should have beaten Leicester 3 or 4-0.

Marshall 6 - steady, not very busyOtsemobor - 7 - good game, linked up wellCamara - 6 - not his best, but better 2nd halfShackell - 7 - clean sheet, defended wellDoherty - 7 - as Shackell.  2nd half header just wideCroft - 8 - MOM - I''m no Croft fan but more performances like this and I will be.Russell - 7 - since when was getting punched in the face a bookable offence?Fotheringham - 7 - kept the midfield ticking over without impressing that muchBetrand - 7 - looked lively, wanted the ball more than he got itDublin - 7 - hit the bar, ran his heart outEvans - 6 - oddly, looked less lively than his 38 year old partnerSubs:Cureton - 6 - forced a good save but fluffed a one on one.We really really need to buy a striker.  Or two strikers.

[Buncey 1]

How we did not win this I will never know. Dissapointing.Marshall 6 - Nothing to do.Otsemobor - 7 - Very good game. Strong on the ball. Got forward well and tackled well.Camara - 5 - Poor. Quite a few mistakes. Made up with some good play.Shackell - 7 - clean sheet, defended wellDoherty - 8 - Very good. Not a fan of the docs, but he played very well todayCroft -9 - MOM - A superb performance. He was just brilliant today. He did everything but score.Russell - 7 - Did well and got stuck in. He got clattered constantly throughout the game and attacked as well.Fotheringham - 7 - Good without ever being great. Good passing, good set pieces, could have pushed forward more.Betrand - 8 - Very good. Fast, whipped the ball in and got involved. Tracked back well. Hux who?Dublin - 8 - Wonderful set up play. Was in the thick of everything. Could have scored god knows how many times. Looks like he''s still 21Evans - 6 - Quiet. Not quite on the ball. Offside a lot and didn''t do a great deal.Subs:Cureton - 6 - Lovely linking play and movement. Just can''t hit a football at the moment.We need a striker who can score. This should have been a walk in the park. It was but we just can''t score goals.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Marshall 6 - A virtual spectator

Otsemobor - 7

Doherty - 8

Shackell - 8 - Both centre backs were excellent today, barely put a foot wrong

Camara - 5 - Tried hard but a bad day at the office

Croft - 8 - MOM - excellent, worked very hard and caused them a lot of problems

Russell - 7

Fotheringham - 7

Bertrand - 7

Dublin - 7

Evans - 5 - Looks like he''s trying to steal Cureton''s record for most offsides in a match

Subs:

Cureton - 6 - Looked lively but can''t hit a barn door

Overall a very good performance and we should have easily beaten them. Again though our finishing let us down.

[Sing up the river end 0]

Marshall 6 nothing to do

Ostemobor 7 good going forward although died at in the 2nd half

Camara 4 Didn''t put a foot right allday

Shackell 7 solid enough

Doherty 6 Mistake near the end nearly cost us the point,apart from that did well

Croft 8 MOTM played well and is finaly looking like he can now cross a ball

Russell 7 played ok should of had a penalty

Fozzy 7 great passing,him and Crofty the inspiration going forward

Betrand 5 Hardly touched the ball but done nothing wrong

Dublin 8 Nearly MOTM commanded the front line,looked a class act

Evans 5 Nearly went on the pitch and punched him he was crazing me being offside so much

subs

Cureton 4 the normal can''t hit a barn door at the moment

 

 

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Fellas"]

Doherty - 8 - Very good. Not a fan of the docs, but he played very well today


[/quote]

In my opinion he''s as good as any centreback in this league at the moment.

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="James Maloney"]We should have beaten Leicester 3 or 4-0.


Marshall 6 - steady, not very busy

Otsemobor - 7 - good game, linked up well

Camara - 6 - not his best, but better 2nd half

Shackell - 7 - clean sheet, defended well

Doherty - 7 - as Shackell.  2nd half header just wide

Croft - 8 - MOM - I''m no Croft fan but more performances like this and I will be.

Russell - 7 - since when was getting punched in the face a bookable offence?

Fotheringham - 7 - kept the midfield ticking over without impressing that much

Betrand - 7 - looked lively, wanted the ball more than he got it

Dublin - 7 - hit the bar, ran his heart out

Evans - 6 - oddly, looked less lively than his 38 year old partner

Subs:
Cureton - 6 - forced a good save but fluffed a one on one.

We really really need to buy a striker.  Or two strikers.

[/quote]

Were you at the game James?

[sam 0]

i wasn''t at the game today so maybe i am not as correct as some of you, but:

• If it was a 0-0 draw, how did norwich get so many good ratings??
• Fotheringham has got 7''s all round, despite the fact that most people are saying it wasn''t one of his best games!!
• If Dublin missed all these chances, how does he get 7''s and 8''s??

the fact is norwich didn''t win 3 or 4 nil, because they have no strikers with a killer instinct to stick most of the chances away, i''m not having a go here but can someone enlighten me??

[kick it off 1,956]

I was at the game. The ratings are spot-on. Most entertaining 0-0 draw i have ever seen. We played some breathtaking football, we were simply stunning, our disallowed goal was onside, we hit post, bar, had two cleared off the line and the ref gave us nothing all game including two stonewall pens and booked rusty for getting punched by their keeper, also booked their keeper instead of sending off.

 

Fozzy was good today, he ran most of our play, Croft was phenomenal and Dublin did well, won alot in the air, held it up well, hit the bar with a header, and his other chances were difficult, where he was stretching and just couldnt get enough contact or when the ball went in behind him. He had a good game.

 

Maybe if you''d actually gone to watch the game you might know all this sam. Then again, im guessing you were on here being negative while we turned in one of the best performances i have seen for a long time.

[kdncfc 0]

Some of our football was breathtaking especially in the first half, 5-0 wouldn''t have flattered us but our strikers were again guilty of missing some decent chances, Cureton missed a one on one towards the end and we also missed several other chances, we also had a lot of situations where the ball just wouldn''t fall for us in the box, credit to Leicester for throwing their bodies in the way even though they didn''t play well. I would say that was our best performance since relegation and the most entertaining 0-0 I''ve ever seen, good atmosphere as well.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

[quote user="sam"]

• If it was a 0-0 draw, how did norwich get so many good ratings??

[/quote]

We played well, perhaps? Just because it was 0-0 doesn''t mean it was a bad performance.

[ricky knight 0]

A great performance maybe but still 2 points dropped to a team below us in the table. we need to win these games, sorry reality guys, you may carry on now.

[IRN-BRU 0]

Can understand where your coming from sam, but the ratings are spot on, you really had to be there today to appreciate it. Just look at Holloway''s post match comments.

[sam 0]

bloomin heck, it sounds like norwich might have given man utd a game today the way you lot are talking them up

i see words like phenominal and breathtaking but yet you didn''t score, oh dear

[RustysRevenge 0]

[quote user="Fellas"]How we did not win this I will never know. Dissapointing.

Croft -9 - MOM - A superb performance. He was just brilliant today. He did everything but score.

[/quote]

But he did!

[Buncey 1]

[quote user="ricky knight"]

A great performance maybe but still 2 points dropped to a team below us in the table. we need to win these games, sorry reality guys, you may carry on now.

[/quote]True words ricky. You could see past all the smiles of all the fans tonight, you could see the disapointment. It''s all well and good caning those teams but that is 2 points lost for us. Liecster were only after the point after 30 mins. They were simply outplayed. On another day that croft goal would have stood and we would have gone on to flatten them. We need a striker who can score those goals and then let us command these games from the position of victors.

[FU MAN SHOE 0]

Best 0 - 0 seen at CR....emotional but bl*#dy frustrating

In addition to the team scores

Linesmen - 4

Ref - 5

and from the vantage point of the lower N & P for the singing:-

Barclay - 9

Snakepit  - 9

Jarrold - 5

N & P  - 7

[Mason 47 1,403]

Has anyone checked to see if someone is actually giving Russel a shirt with ''kick me'' number 20 on it instead of his name... what does he have to do eh? He does put himself in the way very often- all teams need a guy like that.

Last thing I saw was the goalie diving on top of him..... then Russel gets booked? Baffling.

The Lee Croft situation is that hes been given a chance in the team, as most young players eventually do, ahead of an established player- in the case Huckerby. As we can see he has broken the mould for most of our younger players this season (Jarvis x2, Martin etc) by taking this chance. And hasnt he done it well...

Anyone else notice that the balls Bertrand was putting into the box were absolute quality for most of the afternoon? Great game from him- Camara... sigh.. all you can do is chuckle tbh. After all, it takes something special to clear the ball backwards while trying to kick forward. The central defence today was adiquite but I would prefer Shackell to be back up at best because he does not convince me anymore. Doc-[Y][Y]. Nuff said.

Forward line- didnt Dubs want to score today or what! COuldnt really hae done much more with that header off the bar, and I think really he is the best striker at the club right now- what does that say about our club, hes retiring this season....

Am I the only one to think Evans has somehow bulked up since we last saw him? Good game, but not sure that he will be the main striker come the end of Januray. I really hope Cureton drastically improves soon because he is missing far too many chances to justify being called a goalscorer- that excuse only works for Chris Brown, and even he scored today...

Might be it for Huckerby Im afraid- you do come to the conclusion that if he is going to participate at all he would make the bench. Alas no.

Review over..... Im sleepy

[ZLF 275]

Hmm;  summary for me would be fantastic commitment from all 11 city players,  with a couple outstanding in that respect,  but lacking in quality with the final ball. Solid in defence,  controlling in midfield but lacking a cutting edge.  2 clear candidates for motm with croft pinching it,   but the strikers all need to do far far far better - shockingly wasteful.  Ref did get the key decisions wrong but the only reason we did not take three points was profligate finishing from the strikers - again... 

Marhall - 5 Any threat from Leicester came from his hesitancy to leave his line;  did not have  much to do but did not inspire confidence at all

Otsemebor 7 - linked well with croft and defended well

Camara 5 - did he have his boots on the wrong feet today?  Awful when he had the ball, but never really threatened

Shacks 7 - mainly in control but did lose Hayles on a couple of occassions in the second half.

Doc 8 - commanding today - which of you wanted Steve Howard?  He was in Doc pocket and shocking.

Fozzy & Rusty 7 - both worked exceptionally hard and dominated midfield,  both got forward well and took a lot of aggression,  did not pass that well actually

Betrand 7 - First time I have seen him and thought he was quality,  best cross of the day for crofts disallowed goal,  but his movement was good if not seen or taken up by his midfield colleagues. His crossing is excellent (better than crofts) but like croft there is no point putting in a beautiful looking cross if its no where near our strikers. Tired in the second half but more to come I hope

Croft 8  His energy and drive to take players scared leicester all day - best game I have seen him have..  But he still needs to improve his end product.  While its not his fault the strikers and midfielders are not getting in on his crosses he does also need to look and think before he puts a cross in to nobody (same as Betrand) ;  however he rarely put one behind the goal line which is a vast improvement.  Shoudl have done better when through on the keeper in the first half    

Dion 6 - had three excellent chances, unlucky with the woodwork and wasteful with the one he tried to finish too flashily, probably the best chance of the day.  Battled well against physical defenders but did not win enough ball,  when he did there was some good link up play,  but he still lost possession far more often than he retained it.  Disappointed at how infrequently he was in the box to feed on the number of crosses into the box;  its what you are there for dion  

Evans 7 Not sure what everyone else saw but I thought he was superb today,  perhaps if he has the chances we would have won?  His build up play and first touch were excellent and his movement gave us options,   disappointed he was subbed.  Like Dion has to be anticipating bertrand & corfts crosses much better and the one thing that he really needs to improve on

Subs

Cureton 5 one good cross and 2 missed chances,  just another bad day at the office. 

 

[Huddy 0]

Marshall   6   Nothin to do, but a couple of shaky moments

Semmy   7   Solid, getting better, not hugely tested

Camara   6   Awful 1st half, solid 2nd, caused some panicky moments, but did well inm 2nd half against decent wingers.

Doc   8   Hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon and dont understimate the opposition in howard and also then Hayles.

Shackall   8   Ditto, there best game as a partnership. Perhaps they heards Taylors on his way!!!!

Croft   8   Ive been his biggest critic, but a run in the team has shown him fulfill that early potential. Shame he cant it a cows backside with a banjo, and when he did he was offside! Caused mayhem down the right.

Bertrand   7.5   Looked a tidy player, hardly put a foot wrong.

Russel   7   Solid, did well, we dominated midfield. Looked good.

Fozzy   7   Same as Russel, didnt stand out, but did the dirty work.

Evans   6.5   Struggled a bit, caught offside, and could get no change from leicesterdefence.

Dublin   8   Could have easily scored, immense threat, winnin everything in the air.

subs:

Cureton   7   Should have scored but looked lively.

  

 

[Old Boy 0]

Marshall 5 - the one player that failed to impress yesterday. Why didn''t we send Lewis on loan for the rest of the season, with a recall option, and then make a decision between him and Marshall in the summer? I''m afraid I haven''t ever seen anything from Marshall other than a handful of brilliant reaction saves, which to be fair most goalies will be capable of - e.g. the Bury keeper. The bigger picture is a lot more worrying.Otsemobor 8 - where was the Hungarian wonderkid? Overlaps well with Croft, and I can see that improving further given more games.Shackell 7 - still looks lacking in confidence, and unlike the Shacks who first broke into the team a couple of seasons ago, but very focused and gutsyDoherty 8 - he''s getting back to his form of a couple of seasons ago. It''s a pity he''s not more of a goal-scoring threat from corners thoughCamara 7 - Generally a good game, but left his shooting boots in the changing room - that''s a bit harsh to say about a left-back I suppose. Makes you wonder what will happen when Drury gets back to fitness.Croft 8 - would have been a 9, or 10, if he''d only kept a cool head when he had chances to score (except of course the one that he did score!). The bloke is a revelation, is always aware of runs by Semmy, and is very tenacious. For a winger, he lacks a little bit of pace, but I''m just glad to see him using the assets he does have.Fotheringham 8 - some very good quick passes (and some poor ones) and very energetic and mobile in the first half particularly. I wish his volley had gone in - what a goal that would have been. Corner kicks quite poor though.Russell 8 - the sort of whole-hearted, brave and commited player I like. Very high workrate, and generally good on the ball yesterday. You wonder what it would take to put Rusty down - a tactical nuclear strike probably. He took some horrible tackles, but popped straight back up.Bertrand 8 - looks like a natural in that position at this level. What a great cross/pass for Croft''s "goal". Tired in the second half.Dion 7 - difficult to mark, because a lot of what he did was exquisite - flicks off his head and chest which opened up their defence - but fell down on the big things, like putting the ball in the net. Basically a very very good footballer at the end of his career, still giving it everything, using all his experience and intelligence, but physically a little off the pace.Evans 8 - I like him a lot - another wholehearted and brave player. He has very good feet, good balance and is very quick. I wasn''t happy about his substitution, but it may have been because he was caught offside (rightly or wrongly, who knows?) three or four times. I really hope we can keep him until the end of the season.SubsCureton 6 - tried his hardest, but couldn''t do the business.Overall a great first-half performance, a bit more muted second half. We need to improve set-pieces - corners and free-kicks - and find that cutting edge. Defensively we were great, because we attacked the ball in midfield, first half particularly. I''d like to see the Leicester possession stats for their final third - the possession they had was nearly all in the other two-thirds.

[macdougalls perm 0]

[quote user="sam"]

i wasn''t at the game today so maybe i am not as correct as some of you, but:

• If it was a 0-0 draw, how did norwich get so many good ratings??

• Fotheringham has got 7''s all round, despite the fact that most people are saying it wasn''t one of his best games!!

• If Dublin missed all these chances, how does he get 7''s and 8''s??

the fact is norwich didn''t win 3 or 4 nil, because they have no strikers with a killer instinct to stick most of the chances away, i''m not having a go here but can someone enlighten me??

[/quote]

Your first line is very accurate - I was there and it was a very good performance. I will agree with you though that we need somebody to stick the chances away. And usually Dublin is pretty clinical, extremely clse to scoring on a couple of occasion. I would imagine that most Leicester fans that watched this game would have thought themselves extremely lucky to get a point.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="Old Boy"]
Overall a great first-half performance, a bit more muted second half. We need to improve set-pieces - corners and free-kicks - and find that cutting edge. Defensively we were great, because we attacked the ball in midfield, first half particularly. I''d like to see the Leicester possession stats for their final third - the possession they had was nearly all in the other two-thirds.
[/quote]

Agreed.  BBC gives possession as Norwich 61%, and Holloway was quite charming in his post-match quotes:

"I''ll certainly take that point and put it in my top pocket. I thought Norwich were terrific today, especially in the first half.

"Their fans were superb, cheering them on and I thought we did really well to hang on. It was like the Alamo at times and we rode our luck on occasions."

I think they were in our penalty area about three times in the entire match.

[Chesney Hawkes 0]

[quote user="YankeeCanary"]

Were you at the game James?

[/quote]I was, my transatlantic friend.  Were you?  And why do you ask?

[Iwan=legend 0]

[quote user="James Maloney"]We should have beaten Leicester 3 or 4-0.


Marshall 6 - steady, not very busy

Otsemobor - 7 - good game, linked up well

Camara - 6 - not his best, but better 2nd half

Shackell - 7 - clean sheet, defended well

Doherty - 7 - as Shackell.  2nd half header just wide

Croft - 8 - MOM - I''m no Croft fan but more performances like this and I will be.

Russell - 7 - since when was getting punched in the face a bookable offence?

Fotheringham - 7 - kept the midfield ticking over without impressing that much

Betrand - 7 - looked lively, wanted the ball more than he got it

Dublin - 7 - hit the bar, ran his heart out

Evans - 6 - oddly, looked less lively than his 38 year old partner

Subs:
Cureton - 6 - forced a good save but fluffed a one on one.

We really really need to buy a striker.  Or two strikers.



[/quote]

 

Was I the only person in the whole ground to see Russell give the goalie a couple of corking punches to the ribs while they were tangled up?! they both should have been sent off and we were mighty lucky Russell only got a yellow. Yes, Russell got a whack but he gave back as good as he got, and then some!!

[corbs 0]

This looked a must win game after the disgrace of Bury, but hey, we were a unit, we kept our shape and I saw no weak links, really positive stuff from Crofty, and the young-un ''plastic'' looked cultured, please keep this coming Glen, and we may have our Norwich back!

[sam 0]

[quote user="HUDDY "]

Croft   8   Ive been his biggest critic

[/quote]

i wouldn''t be to sure about that, i don''t rate him at all and one good performance won''t change my mind about him, i think he is very poor (not in the sense that he doesn''t have lots of money)

[Ginja 26]

[quote user="sam"]

bloomin heck, it sounds like norwich might have given man utd a game today the way you lot are talking them up

i see words like phenominal and breathtaking but yet you didn''t score, oh dear

[/quote]Why do you keep refering to NCFC as "you" rather than "we", any fan of a club always refers to his club as "We played well today" or "However we didn''t score" and when talking in respect to the opposition you might say "You didn''t have any real good chances today" or "Your team were poor today"You come on here slagging the team and supporters off, acting like you know it all, but yet I get the feeling you never go to OUR games or even support OUR club.You clearly weren''t even at the game on Saturday so I don''t know how you can come out saying this stuff. What a muppet.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

[quote user="UEA Canary"][quote user="sam"]

bloomin heck, it sounds like norwich might have given man utd a game today the way you lot are talking them up

i see words like phenominal and breathtaking but yet you didn''t score, oh dear

[/quote]

Why do you keep refering to NCFC as "you" rather than "we", any fan of a club always refers to his club as "We played well today" or "However we didn''t score" and when talking in respect to the opposition you might say "You didn''t have any real good chances today" or "Your team were poor today"

You come on here slagging the team and supporters off, acting like you know it all, but yet I get the feeling you never go to OUR games or even support OUR club.

You clearly weren''t even at the game on Saturday so I don''t know how you can come out saying this stuff. What a muppet.
[/quote]

He''s a Leeds fan isn''t he?

[Chesney Hawkes 0]

[quote user="Graham Humphrey"]

He''s a Leeds fan isn''t he?

[/quote]You know, that explains SO much.

[Matt Morriss 69]

[quote user="Sing up the river end "]

Marshall 6 nothing to do

Ostemobor 7 good going forward although died at in the 2nd half

Camara 4 Didn''t put a foot right allday

Shackell 7 solid enough

Doherty 6 Mistake near the end nearly cost us the point,apart from that did well

Croft 8 MOTM played well and is finaly looking like he can now cross a ball

Russell 7 played ok should of had a penalty

Fozzy 7 great passing,him and Crofty the inspiration going forward

Betrand 5 Hardly touched the ball but done nothing wrong

Dublin 8 Nearly MOTM commanded the front line,looked a class act

Evans 5 Nearly went on the pitch and punched him he was crazing me being offside so much

subs

Cureton 4 the normal can''t hit a barn door at the moment

 

 

[/quote]Thanks Sing Up The River End for finally giving an accurate rating for Fozzy, i thought he was superb, all Croftys good work was engineered by Fozzy, and Semmy. As usual was involved in every 50/50 goin and kept the ball for us, kept the tempo high with a great mixture of simple keep-ball passes mixed with creative forward passes. Fotheringham was excellent on saturday, thats the best i ve seen him play, and the 1st half was the best Norwich have played all season, and it was all down to Fozzy and Crofty. Got stuck in played it simple to maintain possession where necessary and took a risk with a creative forward pass when the time was right. Great passing, great tackling, great corners and as usual 110% energy and committment. Where Fozzy excels is 90% of the time the decision he makes and the pass he chooses to make is the right one, whether it be a 5 yard pass to Semmy, back to Doc or a creative forward pass into the channels, he is really dictating how we play now and taking games by the scruff of the neck.I guarantee 100% if it werent for Fozzy we wouldnt have been half as good on saturday. He gets the best out of our attacking players, and demands that we play a high tempo with quick passing, utilising our quick wingers Crofty and Bertrand. Isnt he such a better captain than Shackell and Drury ever have been?