Not at Carrow Road Last Tuesday...

[Canarydan82 0]

in fact I was at St Marys watching Southampton verses Bristol Rovers.

I was gutted that I could not see the 4-0 beating of Orient but I did have the text alerts on my phone and I indeed got some strange looks when I jumped up in celebration when we broke the deadlock after 74 mins.

I was staying in Southampton for work and thought that instead of staying in my hotel room I would watch our opponents play and see what they were like.£22.00 was a bit pricy in my opinion but thats why there was only 18000 in a 32000 beautiful stadium.

But my post this morning is about our opponents.

1. To start I think this will be a good game between us 2 teams
2. They were second best for long periods in the game due to a lack luster midfield
3. They tend to play counter attcking football.
4. There midfield was a bit lightweight but tend to get it to the wide players
5. We need to watch out for Hughes (tricky winger) and the lad Williams who scored in the 95th minute with a cracking effort.
6. I thought there goalkeeper looked a bit nervous and his kicking was a bit suspect under pressure
7. The striker Chris Dickson did well, but reminded me a bit of Dave Strihavka, Tall, fairly good in the air but not 2 good with ball at his feet
8. The other striker Jo Kuffor is small and fast and definatley a goal poacher, but apart from that he was pretty vacant in the game
9. Defensively they were not 2 bad with 2 big lads in the middle and 2 small full backs but they did hoof the ball a lot and into the channels.
10. Overall they conceded 2 easy goals but had a lot of determination especially in the 2nd half. They did not deserve to win but Southampton let them back in the game to easy. They always look for the big lad up front or smash it in to the channels for the little lad Kuffor to run onto. There manager was positive and they sensed that they could get something out of the game. But they did crumble when southampton passed it and bossed the game.
11. Lastly Southampton, What the hell has happened to you!

I think in summary our full backs will be busy on Saturday but if we can dominate midifeld then they will hopefully be on the back foot. Its a game we can definatley win, but it is going to be the hardest game we have played all season in my opinion.

Hope this is informative for everybody

OTBC

[B-ru 0]

Thanks Canarycan82

A good report, and it looks though you have looked into their tactics fairly well.

Did Saints cotton on to this at all and how did they counter it if at all? Surely Pardew would have tried to cancel out the counter by not palying too high up the pitch? having the full backs not fly forward too much? Tall, physical men inthe middle? What are the pirates CBs like? Will a Hoolahan and Holt combination brea them down easily?

[Canarydan82 0]

[quote user="B-ru"]

Thanks Canarycan82

A good report, and it looks though you have looked into their tactics fairly well.

Did Saints cotton on to this at all and how did they counter it if at all? Surely Pardew would have tried to cancel out the counter by not palying too high up the pitch? having the full backs not fly forward too much? Tall, physical men inthe middle? What are the pirates CBs like? Will a Hoolahan and Holt combination brea them down easily?

[/quote]

[Canarydan82 0]

sorry my laptop is now being launched through the window

[gazzathegreat 0]

Thanks for this CanaryDan, good on you spending £22 to watch the opposition. Sounds as if we play our passing game we can get something out of our game tomorrow. Will be watching out for the players you mention.

Wonder if any other exiled fans can do reports like this for future fixtures? Hope you are going to see a Norwich win soon CanaryDan.