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Canary02 III

Hard to move on - Doc and Semi

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I''ve done the Saturday evening fume, followed by the Sunday sulk, and by now I''m usually feeling Monday melancholy and starting to look forward to the next match, thinking of what might be, what positive indicators were there in the last game to take forward. However, today I''m struggling.

The best I can come up with is that for all the new signings: Nelson and Theoklitos definitely and Whaley, Gill, Tudor-Jones and Holt in all probability, they will have never played a worse match before. This is most likely the lowest point of their careers and the gravitational theory alone suggests that we can only get better.

I wish I could say the same for two of the chief culprits however. Doherty and Otsemobor were individually awful but can any of us say we were surprised by this? Is it the first time either have been abject in a City shirt? Is it any surprise that the worst ever home defeat in our history occurred when those two were responsible for looking out for a new keeper and a centre half making their debuts?

Both have good qualities and can have good games occasionally, but likewise both are tainted by a psychological fragility that comes to the fore every time the pressure is on. Worthington''s last game against Burnley? Doherty has a mare culminating in a sending off. Charlton last season? Two of the worst players on the pitch, and yet here we are again, following a woeful defeat in a key match that both have played 90 mins in, wondering why we lost. It''s not lack of ability as much as lack of mental toughness. Malky Mackay was only a marginally more gifted footballer than Doherty in technical terms yet he was 10 times the player because he had the willing mentality honed at Celtic that Doherty can never have. If there is a bouncing ball in defence with a big striker closing in, Doc will hesitate, back off and hope that the striker isn''t so quick he can play the ball and sprint around before he''s had the chance to turn and get in position to cuddle him. Malky would throw himself at the ball and 9 times out of 10 clear it. The other time he would lose it and the striker would have a chance, but he accepted that gamble and that possibility of blame. That''s what makes a player better than the sum of his parts, and why the likes of Captain Fanspastic and Semi-interested will forever be losers.

I think we have to give the newcomers a second chance to prove themselves, and go into the game with an open-mind on them. But how many chances are we going to give to two serial apologists who time and time again have let us down? Otsemobor may make way for Spillane after Saturday but I can''t see Gunn dropping his captain, although how anyone could justify his leadership after Saturday is beyond me. He may be a good lad at Colney, and be a decent occasional performer, but mentally he''s weak and he lets us down in big games every time.

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I think we will see Spillane come in at right back and Askou for Nelson tomorrow night.  Hopefully having a bit of pace alongside him will improve Doc''s game as he always seems to struggle in this department.

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Yeah, as long as Doc doesn''t have to move and someone else makes him look good, that should be ok.

Sorry i don''t mean to be rude of facetious, it''s just so many people seem happy to remove everyone apart from Doc, it''s always everyone elses fault and not his, because his previous season was so good.

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Dotherty is absolutely crap anyway and i would be quite happy never to see him play again. Why oh why does he always have to have his arms up and around oposing players necks the whole time? It''s because he''s crap, slow and the bloke has NO common sence. As the team captain he should of been the FIRST person to apologise to fans after that shambolic performance!!!

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I left the ground convinced that (irrespective of who we have in goal) if we play the rest of the season with those two at CD and RB we will be relegated again, no doubts. Having had a day or so to cool down that seems a bit rash but, even in the incredibly poor team ''performance'' that we saw on Saturday those two clowns were head and shoulders above everyone else in terms of sheer crapness and incompetence. I don''t think I''ve ever said this before about a professional footballer in anything other than jest but I quite genuinely think that I would have been as much use as Doherty was in defence on Saturday. Not sure I''ve ever seen such an inneffective central defender in my life.    

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This is so so true , it really is time for the bloke to be dropped. I honestly feel he has been the biggest problem in the team for the last two years. I don''t understand the way myself and everyone I know see''s how poor Doherty is and yet he still plays and worse is the captain. I serious think we won''t improve until he is out of the team. I am also getting bored of people saying play a fast player next to him, his rubbish this just ends up making the other player looking poor because his having to do more.

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While not at the game to judge oherty''s performance, the CB culprit who was absolutely shocking was Nelson. Letting a 5ft 8 inch forward get in front and then head a ball in? Schoolboy stuff, for all the goals he was slow and not where he should have been.

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Doc has been our best defender for the last couple of seasons. I can see your point in saying he''s slow and all arms around the defender but in truth he has been quite good the last 2 years. The sad thing is that we never invested in the defence with a quality centre half. Taylor form Birmingham would have been perfect but we didn''t want to pay the money for him (1 million) if I remember rightly. The strange thing about this message board is the fact people just don''t understand how N.C.F.C operate. I am 28 years old and watched Norwich since I was 6. In that time Norwich have always, always, sold their best players and replaced them with crap. Why the hell is everyone so suprised at our demise? It has been this way for as long as I remember. This was always going to happen. So the sooner you all accept you are fans of a selling club the better. They have had no ambition for the last 20 years and that isn''t going to change.

 

Happy days x

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[quote user="coops"]

In that time Norwich have always, always, sold their best players and replaced them with crap. Why the hell is everyone so suprised at our demise? It has been this way for as long as I remember. This was always going to happen. So the sooner you all accept you are fans of a selling club the better. They have had no ambition for the last 20 years and that isn''t going to change.

 

Happy days x

[/quote]

Sad but very true!

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I''m happy with Norwich being a selling club.

We use to buy half decent players, keep them for a couple of seasons and then sell them on. Keeps the club healthy and with decent players.

I can''t really think of anyone other than Ashton that we have done this with in recent times.

I think not being bold enough to stump up the extra couple of hundred k for Taylor was a recent turning point, with him i think things could have been different with such a solid back.

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