Our Club

[Patches OHoolahan 0]

Now I may be shouted down as a board apologist, Roeder supporter or anything else people may come up with, but I think the squad we have at present is very strong compared to most in the league. This is the source of frustration for me in that we are not living up to our potential. However I can see us hitting a run of form potentially better than that of our purple patch last year, because our squad is definitely better now, regardless of what you think of Roeder''s loan policy or his arrogant personality. Could we have even considered a frontline of Antoine Sibierski and Leroy Lita under Peter Grant, I don''t think so even if they were loans. We have the quality, we just have to show it on a more consistent basis. I realise the board have said that there will be little or no money available to GR this coming transfer window, but if we can retain most of our loan players, bar maybe Lita who seems almost certain to move elsewhere, then we can at least get in the playoffs. Optimistic maybe, but as a supporter who was not old enough to comprehend the glory days of the early ''90s I have to retain faith that one day we could go back to the pinnacle of our potential as a club, playing good football and winning against the odds. That is why the club will have my full support, I shall never wish Norwich to lose, nor be relegated in order to oust the current board or the current manager. The likes of Cluck, Wiz and Smudger may now say that I have my hands over my eyes and don''t want to see the mess that this club is in and  the new depths to which we could plummet, but that is not true, I see where we could go in a more optimistic light. Currently we have a squad stronger than our championship winning team IMO, and while off the field activity is important  it is on the pitch where our real future will be decided and we have a league that is ripe for domination by a team other than Wolves at our mercy.

[Fuglestad 0]

[quote user="Qui Gon Jim"]Now I may be shouted down as a board apologist, Roeder supporter or anything else people may come up with, but I think the squad we have at present is very strong compared to most in the league. This is the source of frustration for me in that we are not living up to our potential. However I can see us hitting a run of form potentially better than that of our purple patch last year, because our squad is definitely better now, regardless of what you think of Roeder''s loan policy or his arrogant personality. Could we have even considered a frontline of Antoine Sibierski and Leroy Lita under Peter Grant, I don''t think so even if they were loans. We have the quality, we just have to show it on a more consistent basis. I realise the board have said that there will be little or no money available to GR this coming transfer window, but if we can retain most of our loan players, bar maybe Lita who seems almost certain to move elsewhere, then we can at least get in the playoffs. Optimistic maybe, but as a supporter who was not old enough to comprehend the glory days of the early ''90s I have to retain faith that one day we could go back to the pinnacle of our potential as a club, playing good football and winning against the odds. That is why the club will have my full support, I shall never wish Norwich to lose, nor be relegated in order to oust the current board or the current manager. The likes of Cluck, Wiz and Smudger may now say that I have my hands over my eyes and don''t want to see the mess that this club is in and  the new depths to which we could plummet, but that is not true, I see where we could go in a more optimistic light. Currently we have a squad stronger than our championship winning team IMO, and while off the field activity is important  it is on the pitch where our real future will be decided and we have a league that is ripe for domination by a team other than Wolves at our mercy.[/quote]

Good post, I agree with most of this, except your frankly ludicrous claim that this side is better than the Championship winning side. It is not. Other than that, I agree, things could be a lot worse. The fans need to unite behind the team at the moment, but I doubt it will happen. Moaning is a lot easier.

[CDMullins 436]

Absolute Delusion.

We do not have the quality, player for player, we deserve to be where we are. Quality players produce, even glimmers of hope, we have none of that!

We are not (and for the for-seeable future stuck with the Barnsleys and Blackpool''s of this world.) 

[chicken 0]

[quote user="Fuglestad"]

[quote user="Qui Gon Jim"]Now I may be shouted down as a board apologist, Roeder supporter or anything else people may come up with, but I think the squad we have at present is very strong compared to most in the league. This is the source of frustration for me in that we are not living up to our potential. However I can see us hitting a run of form potentially better than that of our purple patch last year, because our squad is definitely better now, regardless of what you think of Roeder''s loan policy or his arrogant personality. Could we have even considered a frontline of Antoine Sibierski and Leroy Lita under Peter Grant, I don''t think so even if they were loans. We have the quality, we just have to show it on a more consistent basis. I realise the board have said that there will be little or no money available to GR this coming transfer window, but if we can retain most of our loan players, bar maybe Lita who seems almost certain to move elsewhere, then we can at least get in the playoffs. Optimistic maybe, but as a supporter who was not old enough to comprehend the glory days of the early ''90s I have to retain faith that one day we could go back to the pinnacle of our potential as a club, playing good football and winning against the odds. That is why the club will have my full support, I shall never wish Norwich to lose, nor be relegated in order to oust the current board or the current manager. The likes of Cluck, Wiz and Smudger may now say that I have my hands over my eyes and don''t want to see the mess that this club is in and  the new depths to which we could plummet, but that is not true, I see where we could go in a more optimistic light. Currently we have a squad stronger than our championship winning team IMO, and while off the field activity is important  it is on the pitch where our real future will be decided and we have a league that is ripe for domination by a team other than Wolves at our mercy.[/quote]

Good post, I agree with most of this, except your frankly ludicrous claim that this side is better than the Championship winning side. It is not. Other than that, I agree, things could be a lot worse. The fans need to unite behind the team at the moment, but I doubt it will happen. Moaning is a lot easier.

[/quote]I agree with the OP. On paper we are a better side apart from in the striking department. Easton, Holt, Francis, Rivers in midfield - Croft, Hoolahan, Patty and Bell are all better wide players for starters and Holt himself has said that Clingan is a better player than he is/was. Drury, Makay, Fleming, Edworthy - this is where the biggest bone of contention will be. At that time the only one of those with an ounce of pace was Drury. Makay was never technically gifted or the best footballer but a good defender - I would still say that Stefanovic offers more all round. Fleming - good solid player but better than Kennedy? Not so sure. Edworthy Vs Otsemobor - its pretty even here, what Edworthy lacked in pace and going forward he makes up on Semi by solid defencive nouse.One thing that people seem to forget about the play-offs and the promotion season and that is we managed to get through those seasons with very very few injuries which hid the lack of depth in the squad.

[First Wizard 0]

FFS! give me strength![:S]

[Fuglestad 0]

[quote user="chicken"][quote user="Fuglestad"]

[quote user="Qui Gon Jim"]Now I may be shouted down as a board apologist, Roeder supporter or anything else people may come up with, but I think the squad we have at present is very strong compared to most in the league. This is the source of frustration for me in that we are not living up to our potential. However I can see us hitting a run of form potentially better than that of our purple patch last year, because our squad is definitely better now, regardless of what you think of Roeder''s loan policy or his arrogant personality. Could we have even considered a frontline of Antoine Sibierski and Leroy Lita under Peter Grant, I don''t think so even if they were loans. We have the quality, we just have to show it on a more consistent basis. I realise the board have said that there will be little or no money available to GR this coming transfer window, but if we can retain most of our loan players, bar maybe Lita who seems almost certain to move elsewhere, then we can at least get in the playoffs. Optimistic maybe, but as a supporter who was not old enough to comprehend the glory days of the early ''90s I have to retain faith that one day we could go back to the pinnacle of our potential as a club, playing good football and winning against the odds. That is why the club will have my full support, I shall never wish Norwich to lose, nor be relegated in order to oust the current board or the current manager. The likes of Cluck, Wiz and Smudger may now say that I have my hands over my eyes and don''t want to see the mess that this club is in and  the new depths to which we could plummet, but that is not true, I see where we could go in a more optimistic light. Currently we have a squad stronger than our championship winning team IMO, and while off the field activity is important  it is on the pitch where our real future will be decided and we have a league that is ripe for domination by a team other than Wolves at our mercy.[/quote]

Good post, I agree with most of this, except your frankly ludicrous claim that this side is better than the Championship winning side. It is not. Other than that, I agree, things could be a lot worse. The fans need to unite behind the team at the moment, but I doubt it will happen. Moaning is a lot easier.

[/quote]

I agree with the OP. On paper we are a better side apart from in the striking department. Easton, Holt, Francis, Rivers in midfield - Croft, Hoolahan, Patty and Bell are all better wide players for starters and Holt himself has said that Clingan is a better player than he is/was. Drury, Makay, Fleming, Edworthy - this is where the biggest bone of contention will be. At that time the only one of those with an ounce of pace was Drury. Makay was never technically gifted or the best footballer but a good defender - I would still say that Stefanovic offers more all round. Fleming - good solid player but better than Kennedy? Not so sure. Edworthy Vs Otsemobor - its pretty even here, what Edworthy lacked in pace and going forward he makes up on Semi by solid defencive nouse.

One thing that people seem to forget about the play-offs and the promotion season and that is we managed to get through those seasons with very very few injuries which hid the lack of depth in the squad.
[/quote]

Sorry but Super Eddy was much quicker than Drury and probably getting close to Semmy.

[Patches OHoolahan 0]

I have to disagree with CDMullins on this. Player for player we are better than most in this league, it is the lack of team cohesion and motivation that has let us down at times, as well as ill-discipline in Rusty''s case. We are not better in these departments when compared to the Championship winning side, that I will concede, but in terms of individual raw talent, we are IMO. Wiz, may I ask which part of my post you have a problem with, or perhaps it''s all of it? Surely you must see that our team is far more balanced than in previous years, and while I continue to disagree with the decision to release Huckerby, this has helped matters somewhat. He is an ingredient we are lacking when compared to the championship side; that enigmatic match winner but it seems unlikely that we will have another of those any time soon. That is what set us apart from other teams, as well as a settled defense which I believe could be achieved if we persisted with a backline of Otsemobor, Stefanovic, Doherty and Drury.

[Iwan is God 0]

100% effort, sky hight morale & Darren Huckerby got us promoted. We no longer have any of these!!

[CanaryOne 0]

Sorry cannot agree , when we play away we are a nailed on 3 points for the home side (What odds Forest have us beat by half time next week ) and we are struggling against the poorer sides at home (Blackpool,Doncaster,Preston to name 3) we look to me like a team that will be around the bottom 3 all season and with the team likely to be even weaker after Jan this could well be the season we drop .

[. 0]

 

Halleluja!!!!...Such classic utterly inane drivel makes it all worthwhile coming on here sometimes......

Perfect....just perfect!

 

[VOR 0]

If you genuinely believe your squad is better than most in the league then I''m sorry your seeing what you want to believe and not being realistic.

I think your squad is underperfoming, but it is not a top-half of the table squad. As for the playoffs or being better than your championship winning squad, that''s just way way off the mark. I think it''s natural for a supporter to think their squad is slightly better than it is, we all do it.

The standard of most championship squads had improved significantly in recent years, even for the weaker teams. Barnsley splashed out 1.5m on Hume, Forest have Earnshaw, Blackpool have some tidy players and signed Gow. You think these teams are weaker than you because of where they have been but if you look at their squads i don''t think they are any worse than your present team. Lita has made a big difference as he is a player that would get into any squad in this divison. I couldn''t say that about many, if any, of your other players. Look at your supposed better players

Marshall - ok but makes mistakes fairly regularly, Otsemobor - neat and pacy but can he defend, Kennedy looks ok, Bertrand - seems to be rated higly but inexperience, was probably worst player on pitch at Portman Road last season, Pattison - very average, Clingan - looks ok but nothing special, Hoolahan - one good gane every 5 or 6, Bell - looks reasonable. Sibierski - not the player he was. Out of the remaining players I don''t think many clubs would be queuing up to sign them.

With Lita (a goalscorer) I''d say the squad should be able to achieve 12-15th. Without Lita I''d say 16th -22nd depending on confidence, cos they need that to make up for the lack of quality. No confidence and you will struggle as is showing, if the confidence comes back mid table will be attainable for you guys

[CDMullins 436]

Good post Vor,

 

Look at that coming from a ''outsider'', We have this City bias and delusion that we have a good side, we really dont, with out them few goals Lita had scored we would be in serious trouble1

[Camuldonum 0]

[quote user="VOR"]

If you genuinely believe your squad is better than most in the league then I''m sorry your seeing what you want to believe and not being realistic.

I think your squad is underperfoming, but it is not a top-half of the table squad. As for the playoffs or being better than your championship winning squad, that''s just way way off the mark. I think it''s natural for a supporter to think their squad is slightly better than it is, we all do it.

The standard of most championship squads had improved significantly in recent years, even for the weaker teams. Barnsley splashed out 1.5m on Hume, Forest have Earnshaw, Blackpool have some tidy players and signed Gow. You think these teams are weaker than you because of where they have been but if you look at their squads i don''t think they are any worse than your present team. Lita has made a big difference as he is a player that would get into any squad in this divison. I couldn''t say that about many, if any, of your other players. Look at your supposed better players

Marshall - ok but makes mistakes fairly regularly, Otsemobor - neat and pacy but can he defend, Kennedy looks ok, Bertrand - seems to be rated higly but inexperience, was probably worst player on pitch at Portman Road last season, Pattison - very average, Clingan - looks ok but nothing special, Hoolahan - one good gane every 5 or 6, Bell - looks reasonable. Sibierski - not the player he was. Out of the remaining players I don''t think many clubs would be queuing up to sign them.

With Lita (a goalscorer) I''d say the squad should be able to achieve 12-15th. Without Lita I''d say 16th -22nd depending on confidence, cos they need that to make up for the lack of quality. No confidence and you will struggle as is showing, if the confidence comes back mid table will be attainable for you guys

[/quote]

Nottingham Forest an absolutely stunning squad including Earnmore.  I agree!

[CanaryOne 0]

He is an Ipswich fan i think,but yes he is more correct than our own supporters who think we have a top half side .

[gazzathegreat 0]

Chicken, it''s a shame isn''t it, that we can''t just play on paper. Whether we are or are not on paper a better side than the promotion winning side is debatable, but on the pitch it''s proving not to be true. We are in the bottom half of the table and constantly flirting with the bottom three. We haven''t put together a consistent run (well not a consistently winning one).

Trouble is, better names on paper need to transfer to better performances on the pitch, better belief in themselves and better understanding of the manager''s tactics.

Clingan may well be better than Holt, Kennedy maybe better than Fleming, but what they are not good at is playing as a team. Not sure why this is, other than the fact the team is changed practically every week.

They have a lot to do IMO to live up to the side of 2003/4.

[Patches OHoolahan 0]

Nottm Forest have won 1 game in 13, and while I also thought they had a good squad Cam, its not proving true in practise. Similar to our own situation you might say, however we have players of championship/premiership experience/quality, admittedly with Stefanovic out we are lightweight at centre back now but teams like Blackpool are only doing better than us because they play as a unit, but with mediocre players. I agree that Earnshaw is quality at this level, as is Lee Martin, but who else have they got at this level who has done well, while their defense is leaking goals ata ridiculous rate at times. Gazza, i couldn''t agree more that we need to transfer our quality on paper onto the pitch, but I retain faith that we will do that at some point soon. They will only live up to the 2003/4 team when they do what you say, but why can''t they? Is it not possible, or even feasible that we may start to play as a team, who work hard, close down and do all the simple things well with the quality to separate us from other sides like our championship winning side. Vor I take your points, which are pertinent as an outsider, but I retain my ''overly-optimistic'' viewpoint of things and I would contest our sqaud strength again compared to most in this league. Brum, Reading, Sheff U and Wolves are the stand out squads for me, we''ve beaten two and drawn with one of the four already, if we play consistently against the other teams in this league why couldn''t we win most of our home games. Our away form does concern me as well, but we can rectify that if we start to work as a more cohesive unit IMO. our strength in the 2003/4 season seemed to be good defense backed up with that ability to nick a goal, bar the Burnley game of course. And Cluck, as you failed to provide a constructive criticism of my post I shall lower myself to your level and quote my namesake: "Holy hell son, you''re about as useful as a c*ck flavoured lollipop!"

[nutty nigel 7,554]

[quote user="gazzathegreat"]Chicken, it''s a shame isn''t it, that we can''t just play on paper. Whether we are or are not on paper a better side than the promotion winning side is debatable, but on the pitch it''s proving not to be true. We are in the bottom half of the table and constantly flirting with the bottom three. We haven''t put together a consistent run (well not a consistently winning one). Trouble is, better names on paper need to transfer to better performances on the pitch, better belief in themselves and better understanding of the manager''s tactics. Clingan may well be better than Holt, Kennedy maybe better than Fleming, but what they are not good at is playing as a team. Not sure why this is, other than the fact the team is changed practically every week. They have a lot to do IMO to live up to the side of 2003/4.[/quote]

This is all true Gazza and the good players on paper have to become a good team on the pitch sooner rather than later or we will be in big trouble. Oh and to get anywhere near the top of this league we will have to be better than 2003/4 because the standard of this league is a lot higher now.

 

[gazzathegreat 0]

Patches, it''s something called team spirit. We just don''t have it. Many possible reasons but really it''s down to the manager to bring out the best in his players and up to the players to respond to that and do their best. IF we honestly think every one of them is at the moment doing their very best we are in serious trouble.

To get any better we have to up our game considerably. Can we do it, well we are now a fair way into the season and aside from maybe 4 of those games I have not seen any evidence to say we can. Whether this is due to tactics changing to suit players brought it, or just the spirit of doom and apathy spreading through the club I am not sure. What is needed is for Mr Roeder to work it out and fast. Or we will continue to fight relegation.

Nutty - I like you had that faith until recently, but at the moment I don''t. Of course we can all cite different reasons why it''s not transferring from paper to pitch, but if things don''t improve we will simply have to admit we are not good enough. I would welcome the 2003/4 team back any day of the week. I think they would be considerably higher up the table than the present one, whether the league is stronger or not.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="Patches O Hoolahan"]I have to disagree with CDMullins on this. Player for player we are better than most in this league, it is the lack of team cohesion and motivation that has let us down at times, as well as ill-discipline in Rusty''s case. We are not better in these departments when compared to the Championship winning side, that I will concede, but in terms of individual raw talent, we are IMO. Wiz, may I ask which part of my post you have a problem with, or perhaps it''s all of it? Surely you must see that our team is far more balanced than in previous years, and while I continue to disagree with the decision to release Huckerby, this has helped matters somewhat. He is an ingredient we are lacking when compared to the championship side; that enigmatic match winner but it seems unlikely that we will have another of those any time soon. That is what set us apart from other teams, as well as a settled defense which I believe could be achieved if we persisted with a backline of Otsemobor, Stefanovic, Doherty and Drury.[/quote]

May I refer you to our league position Patches?

[DONT REMEMBER YOUR TENURE AS ENGLAND MANAGER 0]

Agreement with a scummer; oh dear, three hail Mary''s and all that but he/she is spot on.

[Camuldonum 0]

 

I was actually being ironic about Forest but they are another team at the moment which didn''t look bad before the season started but which just hasn''t worked so far..........

[Grando 263]

I just want to put the record straight regarding Gary Holt - all this Clingan is better than Holt is nonsense... From the play-off season to when we got promoted he was fantastic for us, just not up to it when we reached the Premier.

Yes, Clingan looks a half-decent player, but don''t forget how effective Holt was for us in his prime.