Are the fans bottling it?

[Evil Monkey 52]

Was out and about with the kids earlier today so missed the first half, but came home and tuned into Final Score just as second half kicked off to find us winning 2-1.Excellent, I thought to myself, another good result looming.  Stayed tuned into FS whilst laptop was occupied, regular reports from their reporter at Carrow Road stating that we were looking comfortable, all over Stockport and playing the game in their half.  All looking good.Then I get onto the laptop and load up the Live Text, courtesy of Mr Bailey, and the contrast couldn''t be more stark! Panicking fans talking about how Norwich were looking nervy and were looking like they were going to bottle it for the rest of the season.Overall, today''s game seemed rather comfortable and a bit of a formality, but you''d think we''d just spent the last 90 minutes on the back foot and were lucky to escape alive!  Judging by the more impartial BBC reporting, could it be that its us

fans who are bottling it, and not the players?How many times have you watched a footy game as a neutral, either live or in the pub, and found yourself bemused by the reaction of some of the almost hysterical fans when in your eyes its all rather run-of-the-mill and standard fare?Is this hysteria starting to grip our fans?Are we bottling it...?

[Canary Poirot 1]

The fans are not bottling it. The problem is most fans on the Live Text on the Pink Un were probably also listening to the commentry on the radio at the same time, and Chris Goreham was bigging up Stockport everytime they got into our half, or if they got a free kick or corner. That, and the fact we weren''t putting away the half chances we had created (we did hit the post twice!), and the fact we couldn''t sustian pressure for any length of time, all helped to create the tension. The form of the chasing pack, and the events at Prenton Park probably were also factors playing on the players'' minds.

[Ivana_rubyatitz 6]

It is the nature of football fans to be, regardless of common sense, form, logic or the evidence of their own eyes either:

a) wildly over confident of their sides ability

or

b) wildly pessimistic that their side will never win again

Its what makes being a supporter such fun!

[BroadstairsR 0]

I think the last minute goal for Swindon has some bearing on this apparent nervousness. Uptil then it was us getting the late break.

 

[Crafty Canary 495]

It''s a natural reaction that as the winning post is nearly within reach fans see all the ways we could do a Devon Lock. Even when we are winning comfortably in terms of poseession etc. if the lead is a single goal we all know that a lucky deflection, rubbish referee or lino decision could take the extra 2 points out of our hands. A win next Saturday, however fraught, will see us essentially there. Don''t forget that Millwall have still to play Swindon at home so that''s 2 points dropped for both or 3 points for either of them downthe drain. We''ll be playing Championship football next season no matter what happens in the last 6 games.OTBC!!!!

[Evil Monkey 52]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]I think the last minute goal for Swindon has some bearing on this apparent nervousness. Uptil then it was us getting the late break. [/quote]But we''ve had a late late winner against Leeds since then, and there was nothing ''last minute'' about the Tranmere game!I can understand that a little nervousness is starting to set in, but the frantic hysteria on display on the live feed was one for the sports psychologists... or perhaps Mr Bailey was being somewhat selective with which messages he chose to publish, since my own message imploring a bit of calm was ignored...

[Simon Lappin, King Of Spain 0]

I think it''s natural, we are so close it''s within touching distance and so both players and fans are likely to be a little nervous, today would have been a walkover if we hadn''t slipped up at Tranmere a couple of dodgy results has made things everso slightly less certain than they were before the swindon game a couple of weeks back. However three wins guarantee''s us promotion and we have three very winnable games to come particularly as there is a bit of a score to settle against the addicks. Having been at the Valley last season it will be all the sweeter to confirm our promotion there, looking forward to a proper party atmosphere in the away end that day. Today''s victory whilst not exactly convincing is still another three points in the bag, it goes some way to eradicating the memory of Tranmere and by all accounts should have been a couple more. Get another win on Saturday and i think we''ll win all of our remaining fixtures, our momentum from that point will make us unstoppable.

[Penfold 0]

We''re rubbish at leading games, we look much better fighting from behind.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

To be fair the atmosphere was edgy because the players simply didn''t look up for it.  I think after McNamee scored we just thought it would be a stroll in the park and stopped playing.  Of course it wasn''t and although we had chances to wrap it up we were never too convincing and all it would take was one mistake and we''ve chucked away two points.

[king canary 7,580]

[quote user="Graham Humphrey"]To be fair the atmosphere was edgy because the players simply didn''t look up for it.  I think after McNamee scored we just thought it would be a stroll in the park and stopped playing.  Of course it wasn''t and although we had chances to wrap it up we were never too convincing and all it would take was one mistake and we''ve chucked away two points.[/quote]Agreed, early goal and fans and players all seemed to think it was game over, we would win 3 or 4 nil.

[Evil Monkey 52]

I wondered about that - how long has it been since there wasn''t a single goal either way in the second half? Don''t think we''re used to spending so much of the game without a goal!

[Mello Yello 2,281]

The support was like a ''Cricket Crowd'' today (without a barmy army to boost the atmosphere)......I was apprehensive and on edge, because we didn''t take our chances, the post got the better of us and the squad looked fatigued.

But in an earlier post today, I did say that I would be satisfied with a 1-0 victory. I''m satisfied, (especially like many others after the final whistle) and we''re 9 points clear of Swindon.

Everyone bar Nelson (MOTM in my opinon) seemed a little out of sorts....

MK Dons on Saturday....we need to raise our game for that one.

[LinkNR9 0]

Are the fans bottling it? In short - no. We looked less than convincing against the worst side in the Division and it was only going to take one bit of luck on thier part to equalise. The players certainly looked nervy and the defence started getting deeper and deeper as the second half wore on.  

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="Mello Yello"]

The support was like a ''Cricket Crowd'' today (without a barmy army to boost the atmosphere)......I was apprehensive and on edge, because we didn''t take our chances, the post got the better of us and the squad looked fatigued.

But in an earlier post today, I did say that I would be satisfied with a 1-0 victory. I''m satisfied, (especially like many others after the final whistle) and we''re 9 points clear of Swindon.

Everyone bar Nelson (MOTM in my opinon) seemed a little out of sorts....

MK Dons on Saturday....we need to raise our game for that one.

[/quote]

 

Agree with all of that Mello. You could feel the tension, but it was exacerbated by our insipid first half and the general failure to really control midfield. That said, Stockport never looked like scoring in the second half, we could have had five and my day was made complete by the Admiral''s deft chipped pass down the line in the second half.

[ca 1]

I think there were a lot of nerves today which will continue until we''re home and dry. We didn''t play well today, never controlled the ball in midfield and Whitbread had a mere of a game plus with Millwall, Leeds and Swindon winning we needed the 3 points.

I''m sure that the MK Dons game will be the same because we''re so close now and want it so much that we''re scared that somehow it will all go wrong.

In Lambert we must continue to trust.

[AndyCanary 0]

Bottling it is a daft term to use.. but it was no doubt very very nervy in the last 10 minutes. We weren''t at our best and Stockport kept coming forward.. it wouldn''t have gone against the run of play in the last 10 minutes if they''d have scored.But todays score could have easily  been 4-1 without any comment on luck going our way.

[LQ 0]

[quote user="Mello Yello"]

The support was like a ''Cricket Crowd'' today (without a barmy army to boost the atmosphere)......I was apprehensive and on edge, because we didn''t take our chances, the post got the better of us and the squad looked fatigued.

But in an earlier post today, I did say that I would be satisfied with a 1-0 victory. I''m satisfied, (especially like many others after the final whistle) and we''re 9 points clear of Swindon.

Everyone bar Nelson (MOTM in my opinon) seemed a little out of sorts....

MK Dons on Saturday....we need to raise our game for that one.

[/quote]What he said ^...

[Evil Monkey 52]

[quote user="LQ"][quote user="Mello Yello"]

The support was like a ''Cricket Crowd'' today (without a barmy army to boost the atmosphere)......I was apprehensive and on edge, because we didn''t take our chances, the post got the better of us and the squad looked fatigued.

But in an earlier post today, I did say that I would be satisfied with a 1-0 victory. I''m satisfied, (especially like many others after the final whistle) and we''re 9 points clear of Swindon.

Everyone bar Nelson (MOTM in my opinon) seemed a little out of sorts....

MK Dons on Saturday....we need to raise our game for that one.

[/quote]What he said ^...

[/quote]Good grief, LQ on the Pinkun? I''m honoured you''ve torn yourself away from Twitter for my little thread... [;)]

[LQ 0]

Don''t be honoured - just be amazed that I remembered my log in!![:P]

[Evil Monkey 52]

Well I''m sure some of the usual crowd will be along shortly to welcome you back... [:P]

[Mello Yello 2,281]

I suppose today''s game and result wasn''t like Friday''s performance against Tranmere - which was akin to a ''premature ejaculation''......

In other words....''a bad day at the orifice''....

[Henry 0]

I''ll hold my hand up and admit i was nervous. It very rarely gets to me but it did yesterday. Must have been the realisation that if Nelsinho was the best Norwich player on the pitch ... everything was not going to plan [:S]

[ca 1]

Now you can see why some of us are nervous.

[Mister Chops 7]

[img]http://www.chinawinetours.com/press/Bottlers.jpg[/img]

[WeAreYellows49 0]

Oh dear, wonder who is real confident now? lol

[LinkNR9 0]

No. The players are doing a pretty good job for us.

[canaries 0]

Players r bottling it

[Trent Canary 0]

[quote user="WeAreYellows49"]Oh dear, wonder who is real confident now? lol[/quote]Yep, seven points clear with four games to go is still a big gap. Theres always a chance it could all go wrong, but its still a very small one.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

[quote user="Trent Canary"][quote user="WeAreYellows49"]Oh dear, wonder who is real confident now? lol[/quote]

Yep, seven points clear with four games to go is still a big gap. Theres always a chance it could all go wrong, but its still a very small one.


[/quote]

Yes there is a chance it could all go wrong, and with key players missing it''s gonna be tough on Saturday, real tough, we don''t do well there at the best of times.