Norwich City 3-2 Wigan Athletic FT

[SnakepitCanary 0]

I really enjoyed todays game. Positives have to be Otsemobor and Martin. Otsemobor looked so dangerous, I just wish we retrained him to play as a winger. Martin looked very good, but I don''t understand why Martin played on the left wing? He did his best but he just can''t play on the wing. He looked dangerous in the box, always coming into the box late and getting in good positions. He does look alot muscular and but that can only be a good thing in League One. I just hope he plays more centrally. Also Holt looked very good on his own in my opinion, looked very Ashton-esque in the way he dealt with trying to win headers and keeping it simple on the ground. Negatives though have to be Whaley. Even though he scored, his crossing was rubbish and apart from his goal and his run in from the left and having a strike that went close, I didn''t rate him. Doherty and Spillane looked abit shaky at the start but did better after half time. I suppose playing against Premiership opposition was alway going to be difficult. Tuder Jones also misplaced a few passes, but he eventually played well and made some great tackles. All in all a good team effort, and I am really looking forward to Colchester. I better snap up a ticket quickly!

[Yelverton Yella 0]

Just back from the game and really really impressed.As others have said, Wes ran the show and looked a class above any other player on the pitch. He must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch, tackled back (not such a good idea when he gave away a goal!!) and appeared from nowhere to steal the ball from the toes of the Wigan players. There is no doubt he is going to be injured this season- if it had been a proper game he would have drawn about three yellow cards from Wigan players who he had embarrassed and who tried to exact revenge!Semi was a revelation- beating players going forward with quick feet, mopping up defensively and trying to prompt attacks whenever he could! I don''t know what''s been said to him but he looked pure class today.Whaley will be a big player for us . Not quite up to pace today but showed enough to impress. Sublime link up play between Wes and Whaley for the winner- these two have quick football brains as well as pace.Defence looked pretty solid although I thought we defended too deep at times and let Wigan stroke the ball around. Just felt sometimes the central midfield went missing but we have time (and cover) to find the right combination of players and tactics.The great thing was, we looked an organised unit and players were prepared to cover back, tackle and throw their bodies in for blocks even though this was just a friendly. The other thing was- you could see that Wigan really didn''t like losing to us- it may only have been a friendly but they were really trying hard to equalise at the end. (BTW, HOW much did they pay for Jason Scotland? Shades of Akinbiyi if you ask me!)A very satisfactory afternoon and another step along the way; certainly won''t have done confidence any harm and I am just beginning to allow a hint of optimism to creep into my mind- roll on next week!Finally, I had  a quiet chuckle to myself having read a post on the Latic''s message board earlier in the week when they had just tonked PNE with ''champagne football'' and were crowing about expecting a top ten finish in the Prem. Somebody asked why they were playing Norwich and the reply was ''Probably a favour from Bruce to an old club of his before he left. Bit pointless really since they''re a rag bag team just thrown together''.......

[CaptnCanary 0]

At the end of last season when Gunn was confirmed as manager for the coming season I honestly believed that we were likely to face another relegation battle this season. I thought we would bring in maybe 4 or 5 mediocre looking players and would struggle badly.

Over the summer I have been pleasantly surprised that the number of signings have gone into double figures. We now own a squad which we have not been able to say for a good while. The players signed also look promising at League 1 level. I''m not getting too excited because I think most people would have been very unhappy with most of these signings had we been a championship side.

The other thing that has surprised me is the results in pre-season. And also the performances that seem to have been put in - even by players we had last year but who did not perform such as Semmy.

I''m still reserving judgement until we get a couple of competitive games under the belt. But it actually looks like there is at least some hope of a good season to come. And thats a big turn around in the thoughts I had until recently. If we give Colchester a tonking I might even start to get a little excited about our chances. Its a case of wait and see at the mo but congrats to Gunny and the team for the work done so far!

[Beauseant 0]

Really enjoyed my first viewing of the new squad, and , for a pre-season game it was entertaining, especially in the second half. I was very impressed with Spillane and Martin on their return. It looks like the exile at Luton has toughened both of them, and Martin''s second was particularly well taken. Whaley looks like an excellent signing and will score some useful goals as well as having pace to burn, Tudur-Jones looked solid, Hughes is good on the ball while clearly lacking match sharpness and Gill looked good when he came on. Can''t really judge Theo on that as he had relatively little to do, but he looks confident and one diving punch in the first half was very impressive. Holt is  a totally selfless target man who will shed blood for the cuase, and reminds me a little of John Manning for the oldies amongst you!

As for the old boys, as a committed Semi criticiser I have to say that he put a great shift in today and made a great run for the first goal which he presented on a plate to Martin. Drury was also very sound depiste being one-on-one several times in the second half. Doc, however, looked a little sluggish and went to ground much too easily for their first. However, the undoubted star of the show was Hoolahan, who, apart from giving the first goal away, was absolutely superb, with his crossfield passs for the winner the icing on the cake.

As for the other subs Ademyemi looked assured, but nearly got caught out while dwelling on the ball (although he did superbly to win it back). He''s clearly a great prospect but not a potential starter yet. Cody worked hard but lacks match fitness and As for Curo, I''m actually now embarrassed for the bloke, given how far off the required standard he is.

Lots to look forward to, and I think we''ll do well this year, but let''s not get too carried away just yet.

[NCFC_Thain 0]

Otsemobor did really well for the first goal, even if he did handle the ball to bring it down. Really impressed with him today.

[Simon Lappin, King Of Spain 0]

[quote user="Yelverton Yella"]Just back from the game and really really impressed.

As others have said, Wes ran the show and looked a class above any other player on the pitch. He must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch, tackled back (not such a good idea when he gave away a goal!!) and appeared from nowhere to steal the ball from the toes of the Wigan players. There is no doubt he is going to be injured this season- if it had been a proper game he would have drawn about three yellow cards from Wigan players who he had embarrassed and who tried to exact revenge!

Semi was a revelation- beating players going forward with quick feet, mopping up defensively and trying to prompt attacks whenever he could! I don''t know what''s been said to him but he looked pure class today.

Whaley will be a big player for us . Not quite up to pace today but showed enough to impress. Sublime link up play between Wes and Whaley for the winner- these two have quick football brains as well as pace.

Defence looked pretty solid although I thought we defended too deep at times and let Wigan stroke the ball around. Just felt sometimes the central midfield went missing but we have time (and cover) to find the right combination of players and tactics.

The great thing was, we looked an organised unit and players were prepared to cover back, tackle and throw their bodies in for blocks even though this was just a friendly. The other thing was- you could see that Wigan really didn''t like losing to us- it may only have been a friendly but they were really trying hard to equalise at the end. (BTW, HOW much did they pay for Jason Scotland? Shades of Akinbiyi if you ask me!)

A very satisfactory afternoon and another step along the way; certainly won''t have done confidence any harm and I am just beginning to allow a hint of optimism to creep into my mind- roll on next week!

Finally, I had  a quiet chuckle to myself having read a post on the Latic''s message board earlier in the week when they had just tonked PNE with ''champagne football'' and were crowing about expecting a top ten finish in the Prem. Somebody asked why they were playing Norwich and the reply was ''Probably a favour from Bruce to an old club of his before he left. Bit pointless really since they''re a rag bag team just thrown together''.......
[/quote]

 

We''ve looked very solid in all the preseason games i''ve seen, particualrly against palace. I think Butterworth has to take a lot of credit for this, he was very vocal at the Palace game and looked like he was controlling things from the touchline.

Hopefully this is a winning habit which will continue into next week and beyond!!!!!!

[Rum Ol Boy 0]

[quote user="Scooby"]

[quote user="Rum ol boy"]what a wonderful result! we seem to have a winning mentallity at the moment, lets hope we get off the bus running at Colchester and never look back. Well done Bryan, and well done lads! OTBC[/quote]

Aren''t we at home???

[/quote]

 

its a figure of speech mate

[Katie Borkins 1]

Just to remind us all how relevant pre-season friendlies are.

Carry on.

[Indy 3,296]

Totally agree Bor, we won''t win the game at Blackburn as we don''t win opening games of the season either, then we play Sheffield We''d and Hooper is always going to score gains us as its Sod''s law.......so let''s not get too carried away till end of September

[Keith Scott 244]

This would be the pre season we looked fantastic and went on to be fantastic and win the league right?

[nutty nigel 7,527]

That''s the one!

Bring back Gunny :)

[Making Plans 936]

[quote user="Katie Borkins"]Just to remind us all how relevant pre-season friendlies are.

Carry on.[/quote]Of course the pre-season friendlies may just have been off days and once the season starts we could go on a blinding run and be top of the league.We all know that that is possible but deep down most of us know that it is not going to happen.We have too many deficiencies & too many question marks over too many areas and it''s unlikely that they will be put right in a week, a month or even a season.

[Mr Angry 1,554]

That Colchester result really was quite cataclysmic wasn''t it? Hardly anyone on the original thread posts now, only 7 years later.

[Indy 3,296]

We''re not a bad team and have a good squad, we just miss two additional strikers.

I''m pretty sure Roofe would have been a great buy along with a loan of Bamford in this league.

I don''t think Whitts will start on Saturday and away to Blackburn was always going to be one up top so Jerome to start.

Not all doom and gloom guys!

[Branston Pickle 3,651]

''The preseason friendlies may have been off days''? We lost a game today + a reserve side lost when on tour, we otherwise won 4 first team games - why should we take notice only of the bad ones? IMO we shouldn''t actually be going on too much about any, it''s pretty much all about game time

[nutty nigel 7,527]

This is a good find. Not only were there so many happy clappers there was also a distinct lack of nappy crappers. Over the past 7 years that situation has reversed.

Just goes to show none of us should take our opinions too seriously.

[Mr Angry 1,554]

And Nutty, it seems that the lower in the league system we were, the happier we were about the future. Strange indeed.

[cornish sam 951]

It makes me smile some of those names being bandied around with excitement, otsemobor, Whaley, owain Tudor Jones... What astute purchases those turned out to be!

[lake district canary 4,531]

After the doom laden years of Grant/Roeder,  Gunn represented a call to return to being Norwich as we know it - attacking and entertaining using ex-players of ours to instigate that.  The squad rebuilding (from almost nothing, let''s remember) went apparently well that summer and the results/performances pre-season were a breath of fresh air.   That it went spectacularly wrong is history,  but it is probably better to have a poor pre-season than a spectacularly good one. Much better to see what is wrong pre-season and use that as a springboard to getting it right when it really matters - a bit like rehearsals for a play, or a concert - that is the time to sort things out - and then to get it right in actual performances. League games are the real thing so we should probably judge the team on those, not the rehearsals

[BroadstairsR 2,140]

Pre-season fixtures have a few functions and one of those being to assess strengths and weaknesses, either with individuals or in the way the ''team'' performs as a unit.

Let''s not kid ourselves that in the earlier stages of this game there was a feeling of deja vu evoked by some poor play.

The midfield defenders were inadequate enough to expose a shaky defence to the attacking will of a decent German side who seemed classier than us in their technique and planning. Our forward play was frenetically unsystematic.

It was pretty bad.

That we improved in all areas considerably after our goal and revised memories of our better spells from last season by our passing and general attacking intent and this restored reasons to be optimistic.

At a loss to understand the Jake Murphy business which could have been avoided in the first place as he was the first choice for this game of probably none but the manager, but overall AN''s credibility remains more or less intact.

The vultures are hovering, I''ll stick to my ten games assessment.

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]''The preseason friendlies may have been off days''? We lost a game today + a reserve side lost when on tour, we otherwise won 4 first team games - why should we take notice only of the bad ones? IMO we shouldn''t actually be going on too much about any, it''s pretty much all about game time[/quote] All about game time? Didn''t the Hannover players get game time too then? Is it some sort of gross error to see these games as opportunities to actually put into practise the teamwork, skills and strategies on which you''re going to rely in the season ahead? Hannover showed that getting game time doesn''t have to mean fielding a disorganised rabble. 

[Jacko 0]

Disappointing result today but I wouldn''t be too concerned just yet. If you look at Burnley last season they lost (4-2) to Accrington Stanley and Chesterfield (3-2) in pre season. And though results came deep into pre season - not at the beginning.

They also failed to win any of their first 4 competitive matches which included being dumped out of the league cup by Port Vale. It shows the need for people to keep their heads and not panic.

We have strong squad of players for this level and we have a strong manager for this level. This has been proven on various occasions before. I am confident that we will achieve a top 6 finish this season.

[hogesar 9,654]

Didn''t Simon Whaley struggle to find a club after us and isnt actually playing anymore?

[Katie Borkins 1]

Became an electrician.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Katie Borkins"]Became an electrician.[/quote]That''s shocking.......

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Pre season results, good or bad, mean absolutely nothing. Performances, team or individual , don''t mean much either TBH