It's About To Get A Whole Lot Tougher

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

We have had an excellent start to the season but things are about to get a whole lot tougher and this is why.

Promoted sides have an initial euphoria and a newness established sides sometimes fail to cope with; that doesn''t last forever and this was the feeling underlying the last two games.

The season has been stop-start, matches have been few, but from Saturday week until January the games will come thick and fast. This benefits the bigger squads and if a side gets on a bad run the games can run away from them.

We have had five ideal sides come to Carrow Road so far and we have, in an historically un-Norwich like way, dealt with them well: West Brom aside. The harder home games are about to come and home form is going to be much harder to maintain; this can be difficult for supporters to cope with and crowd tension can be corrosive.

Conversely, most of our away games have been at grounds where nothing was expected. We emerged with credit and got points from our ''peer'' sides but we will need to continue to take points from sides around us as we go to their grounds.

There are very few points seperating 8th and 20th and any side can rise or fall alarmingly.

The next game up is, of course, Arsenal. Points will be difficult to come by (shame we didn''t play them a month ago) and if they lose our players will go into the QPR game feeling the pressure and needing to deal with collating one point over a month. It has been pointed out before that resilience is key in this league and players have to deal with adversity which can come in waves. They are about to be tested.

We need to get to 20 points at least by the New Year because our season builds in difficulty towards the end and the second half of the season will be far more challenging than the first. This means we need 7 + points and looking at the fixtures these will be hard to come by - after QPR it''s Man City away.

Our squad is thin. There really isn''t much quality outside the first team and three of the subs. Further injuries and suspensions will be particularly detrimental and this goes back to the intensity of games in December.

So, it looks like I''m all doom and gloom and just see Norwich City falling off in the way described by the arrogantly annoying David Gold on Five Live tonight. But, there is another way to look at it.

We are about to start the season proper. Gone is the unseasonal warm weather and the long days. It''s going to be cold, gloomy, floodlit and atmospheric. It''s about to feel like proper football again and this Norwich team don''t mind adverse conditions. I expect the crowd to respond too and for atmospheres to get bigger as the games feel bigger, more important and with more of an edge. QPR home for example is going to be a cauldron.

We create chances and have goals in us so always have a chance. We haven''t been thrashed but haven''t kept a clean sheet and the latter is vital to where we play next season. We have to believe PL will improve our system defensively.

We must not write the Arsenal game off and we mustn''t believe a negative result defines our season. Despite our comfortable looking position and good start the upcoming games are individually vital because there isn''t much leeway.

It''s no good getting plaudits for attitude after losing or leaking goals while having a go - that''s Blackpool. There is a thin line between keeping forward momentum and slipping into the bottom three and unless we get some results the next 8 games could put us on a slippery slope familiar to many including ourselves.

So, Norwich supporters, you have no real choice but to back what you have got and help them to continue to overacheive. There is no time to coast, no throwaway games and little margin.

It is about to get a whole lot tougher; are you up for it?

[nutty nigel 7,533]

Good post.

 

The winter period is a trial for all teams but especially those with a soft centre. We shall find out more about ourselves but also, and more importantly, we shall find out more about our rivals. I''m confident we don''t have a soft centre and that clubs won''t relish playing us on cold wet afternoons and evenings. I also haven''t written the Arsenal game off!

 

 

[BroadstairsR 0]

A lot of what the O/P says is fact, and nobody expected it to be a piece of cake. 

 

Personally, I''ve seen enough to think we can scrape it. I am not just referring to our play but also to the standard of those teams already at the bottom.

 

Wigan seem destined to go down at last, unless they improve rapidly. WBA and Blackburn can have no more confidence than us and Fulham are beginning to look average, to say nothing of Wolves.

 

However, QPR were very good against Manchester City and were superb enough to deserve a point. We must not take this up and coming game as sorted! Arsenal? we should lose, so a point would be a bonus.

 

I am unsure of the Winter thing except to say that in the last two seasons our form and results have improved in the second half of the season, especially last year. Conditions or fitness or desire, something must bring this about.

 

Also we are to have imputs during the next window and this makes it impossible to assertain prospects yet.  

[ZLF 274]

Agreed - its a 38 game season, not 10. How we do with the winter ball (ie Nov to Feb) is the crucial core nitty gritty of the season.

It all starts here - time to build on our excellent start.

[Houston Canary 0]

There were not a lot of euphoria-based good results early on last time we were in the Prem.

[Oz Canary 0]

Great post RH.

I agree with everything you have said and apart from the last two years the Christmas/New Year period has historically been unkind to NCFC. We have traditionally gone on holidays during this stretch of the season.

We need to continue to support from near and afar and trust that PL will be strengthening the squad at some stage.

I think the 20 points is a bit of a stretch for our thin squad however let''s hope the boys can get it done.

I also haven''t given up on the game this weekend. I am quitely confident we might pinch it but I would settle for a point.

[Skittles16 0]

Good post, very well balanced.

I think what we City fans can really take heart from is the fact that despite our squad being made up of so called ''championship players'', we have rarely looked out of place in the premier league (opening minutes at Anfield excluded).

As far as I am concerned a clean sheet is a bonus, it sounds obvious but as long as we can out score teams we win games.

I think if we continue to play as we are doing at the moment there are definitely 3 teams who will finish off worse than us come the end of the season - especially considered we are bound to get some more astute Lambert signings in January.

OTBC!

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

The experiences of Hull and Blackpool over the last few seasons  are testament to what Rudolf is saying in his excellent post. They stared well but fell off after Dec.It''s during the next 4 months that the size and quality of our squad will (or won''t) be exposed . I ,for one, am happy to credit Lambert with the nous to add to the squad in the Jan window, but we will need reinforcements, particularly in defence. As has been proven before, you do not need to spend megabucks to get players who are up for the relegation dogfight.

 

As Skittles alludes to above, last time in the Prem I was never convinced that there were 3 teams worse than us, and that''s how it panned out in the finish. This time, I''m a lot more confident. I''m sure that there are at least 5 teams less well equipped than us. Certainly Wigan Blackburn Wolves and Fulham are. You could arguably add Bolton and Swansea to that list.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Thanks for the replies.

Houston is correct about our poor start last time out compared to this season but that shows too how easy it is to suddenly find yourself in a rut.

As for the sides listed as worse than us I would caution that Blackburn came with some really talented players recently and IMO were our best opponents at FCR so far. The rest know what it takes to survive relegation battles and will be greatly assisted by that.

I want Norwich supporters to lose all traces of the blaise attitude creeping in since we won two on the bounce - it will do us no good. Rest assured we are now right up against it but with a side we know can create chances, score and fight so we have a chance.

Norfolk people do ''dogged'' better than most. It used to be said that Scots Regiments were sent in to take ground and the Norfolk Regiment to hold it because they would quietly sit and take attrition. Perhaps this is why our crowds have held up in lean times when usually they would be expected to fall.

Arsenal for starters need to come here and feel 24,000 people set firmly against them and for their own. Paul Lambert speaks about keeping his players humble and uses the underdog spirit as a constant theme. This was the attitude that almost kept us up last time and one we need to foster from now on.

Thankfully, the sense of unfairness that permeated our first five games has gone and hopefully gone for good so it is just 11 vs 11.

The only way to beat Arsenal is through work-rate and passion; closing them down and denying them space, for that we will need an exceptional support to constantly raise the players and set the tone and not the atmosphere for the first 70 minutes of the Blackburn game which was bourne of complacency and an attitude that we are better than we are.

[Tumbleweed 106]

There''s two keys to gettings omething out of the Arse game. Tierney needs to get to grips with Walcott and not charge forward too much, and Johnson or Crofts need to shadow Van Persie and not let him get space agianst our CBs. other than that we should have enough to keep them quiet, let them have possession  where it can''t hurt us but hit them down the flanks with Morro giving Mertesacker a tough time. I think a point is within reach.

Generally, we must sort the defence asap,  no clean sheets against some of the teams we have played is poor and we have given away lots of soft goals and penalties. I''d also like more central midfield support- sometimes I worry about how much posession we do give away and if any one of Johnson, Crofts or Fox are injured we don''t have much to come in. I can''t see Surman or Lappin or Smith as anything other than short term cover for a minor injury. In the winter months with the run of games, tiredness and muddy pitches and the continued pressure to grab a point or three here and there its a lot tougher. Still, we are in a much better position than last time and then it all went down to the last game. Don''t rule out a shock or two and some unexpected points- maybe even on saturday week! I think Swansea and QPR will both be OK from what I have seen so far.