Did anybody else get the feeling,

[BroadstairsR 2,137]

as I did at one point in the game yesterday that we are actually here to stay?

 

Not before our first goal, but around the time of the penalty refusal for handball, that we had arrived and were here to stay.

 

We were playing the ball around nicely and dominating against  top-qualityopposition. Newcastle are a side who do not live in fear of relegation this season and we were proving to be the better outfit overall.

 

When they were good, they were very very good, eg. the goals they scored. Apart from that we were always on top and able to exploit their weaknesses with ease. These weaknesses may have been caused by injuries but all sides get those and, as Lambert pointed out, we have been missing 3/4 central defenders for most of the season as well.

 

From now on I am not going to think only of survival. I will refuse to even consult the admirable "Mini survival league," that is published on here, because I am convinced we have made it.

 

Premature? Maybe, but just look at some of the teams at the bottom end of the table and watch them on MoD. We have much more to offer.

 

No longer "little ol'' Norwich. Not "big ol'' Norwich," admittedly, but "spank bang in the middle of the Premiership  Norwich." Exactly where we deserve to be.

 

I''ll settle for that and for my glass being currently half full.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

This was the marquee win I had wished for. We have games in hand before half way and have approximately half the points we need. The confidence this game will breed will be massive.

[First Wizard 0]

I''ve never doubted our survival, not even for one nano second...but you all knew that.

[I am a Banana 0]

But they didn''t have their top 3 choice CB''s...listen to pardew! [;)]

[pete_norw 0]

26.861, 27000 total  get them extra seats in quick, lift the roof.

[BroadstairsR 2,137]

Follow up:

 

(Not post pumping, just read this.)

 

From the Sunday Times report ( John Aizelwood.)

 

"Such as the effervescence of the Norwich City performance that they are beginning to look like permanent residents of the Premier League mansion rather than lodgers."

 

http://epaper.thetimes.co.uk/epaper/viewer.aspx

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

as I did at one point in the game yesterday that we are actually here to stay?

 

Not before our first goal, but around the time of the penalty refusal for handball, that we had arrived and were here to stay.

 

We were playing the ball around nicely and dominating against  top-qualityopposition. Newcastle are a side who do not live in fear of relegation this season and we were proving to be the better outfit overall.

 

When they were good, they were very very good, eg. the goals they scored. Apart from that we were always on top and able to exploit their weaknesses with ease. These weaknesses may have been caused by injuries but all sides get those and, as Lambert pointed out, we have been missing 3/4 central defenders for most of the season as well.

 

From now on I am not going to think only of survival. I will refuse to even consult the admirable "Mini survival league," that is published on here, because I am convinced we have made it.

 

Premature? Maybe, but just look at some of the teams at the bottom end of the table and watch them on MoD. We have much more to offer.

 

No longer "little ol'' Norwich. Not "big ol'' Norwich," admittedly, but "spank bang in the middle of the Premiership  Norwich." Exactly where we deserve to be.

 

I''ll settle for that and for my glass being currently half full.

[/quote]

 

Aaaarrrggghhh!!! Go and stand in the corner, Broadstairs. Have you never heard of hubris and counting your Canaries?! I remember watching us beat Newcastle 2-1 on New Year''s Eve 1994 and driving back to London thinking that had ensured us pretty much enough points for survival. We won one more game and got relegated.

 

Seriously I don''t think that will happen this time. From a distance a change seems to have come over the Premier League in recent seasons. Which is this. As the top three or four clubs have hoovered up the talent to create massive squads, so the quality of the middle-ranking teams has diminished. Good players who ought, say, to be starting for Aston Villa or Newcastle, are bench-warming for the elite. As a result the gap between those coming up from the Championship and the top few has probably widened, but the gap between the likes of us and the rest of the Premier League has narrowed.

[N&P uppers 0]

I agree.On December 13th 2010 Blackpool were in 10th place with 22 points from 16 games. Enough said.

[canary_bird 0]

But they had Ian Holloway and we''ve got PAUL LAMBERT.

[The Fish Seller 0]

[quote user="NP uppers"]I agree.On December 13th 2010 Blackpool were in 10th place with 22 points from 16 games. Enough said.[/quote]Well if you genuinely think we''re the new Blackpool........You are a crap BBC pundit or a lazy hack for one of the redtops and I claim my £5

[ZLF 271]

I dont think anyone suggests we are the new blackpool - but they had a good start to the year and were feted by the media too and still got relegated.

Less than half the season gone, its been excellent so far, but is merely a platform to build upon

[Robert N. LiM 4,226]

Didn''t see the game, but certainly had that feeling when I saw the score.

Most importantly, the players must surely now feel they belong.

I don''t think we''re the new Blackpool, but I do think our second half of the season is more difficult than the first. I''m sure we''ll have some patches where we slip down the table, and people will need to keep their heads then.

But I now expect us to stay up, rather than hope.

There, I said it.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

Follow up:

 

(Not post pumping, just read this.)

 

From the Sunday Times report ( John Aizelwood.)

 

"Such as the effervescence of the Norwich City performance that they are beginning to look like permanent residents of the Premier League mansion rather than lodgers."

 

http://epaper.thetimes.co.uk/epaper/viewer.aspx

[/quote]

 

Not only that but, perhaps more impressively, Mr A Hansen (yes, you DID read that correctly) uttered the same sort of sentiment on this week''s MOTD.

 

There is little doubt that, year on year, the top teams pull further away from the rest, quality-wise, and there really is very little to choose between the remaining dozen or so sides.

 

From the start , back in 04-05, I was never fully convinced that there were 3 worse teams than Norwich in the Prem. And that was how it panned out. This time round, I''m equally as convinced that there are at the very least 5 or 6 teams worse than us (or certainly no better). So, in response to the OP,  yes I do get the feeling that it''ll be different this time. The only thing that could conceivably upset the apple cart would be long term injuries to Holt, Morison, Wes, Tierney etc. Because, love ''em as you might, I just do not see replacements like Lappin, Wilbraham, Drury or Ward stepping up to the plate in the same way.