Ricardo's report v Stoke

[ricardo 8,034]

It was a bit parky up at CR this afternoon but Ricardo always likes it when the clocks have gone back and the lights give it a proper atmosphere. To be honest it certainly needed a lift because for long periods in the first half there was a real dearth of any concerted action. It was a cagey start with City eventually coming forward and winning a couple of corners but got no closer to an opener than Tetty''s blocked shot. When Stoke finally got into range City made a rod for their own backs by consistently giving possession away. Bassong and Garrido being both uncharacteristically wasteful in this respect.The first real chance came on 23 minutes when the lively Wes found Pilks in space but the finish was woeful and much too close to Begovic. A couple of corners on the left followed but again Pilks delivery was not good enough to beat the first man. Stoke were their usual uncompromising selves and City were finding the physical stuff difficult to combat. Just before the break and with the first bit of real quality Wes slipped his marker and put Snoddy away on the right, Wilkinson brought him down and got a yellow for his pains but worse punishment followed. Snoddy''s perfectly flighted kick found Johno''s head and the ball sped past Bergovic for a handy halftime lead. Ricardo has to comment that after some dreadful crossing in the last game at Villa, Snoddy showed how it should be done on Wednesday and today. It might have got better in stoppage time but Snoddy was just unable to turn in Pilks only decent cross of the half.The second half began with a confident City pressing forward but despite a couple of corners they couldn''t capitalise. Stoke were now starting to go long and on 53 minutes almost caught the City rearguard napping when a flick on found Walters in space. Ruddy came to the rescue with a diving save to his left but it was a real let off for the Canaries. The Potters were bombing the ball in at every opportunity and 40 and 50 yard balls to crouch''s head were doing no good to Ricardo''s  ticker. Tetty and Johno who had been such an influence first half were being bypassed and consequently dropped deeper and deeper. Turner had to go off injured and Ryan Bennett came on. Soon after this Garrido was forced to depart and City had a real shuffle round to accommodate this makeshift defence. Barnett came on in the middle and Whittaker switched sides so that Bennett could play on the right.None of this was helpful to a rearguard that was now under total siege for the final quarter as Stoke searched for an equaliser. Kenwynne Jones should have leveled things up with just over 10 minutes left but his low shot skidded across the face of goal just missing the far post. It wasn''t pretty to watch but Stoke have the right players to make their long-ball style effective as time and again Crouch knocked balls back but it was always a yellow shirt that picked up the pieces. Wes went off to generous applause with only a few minutes left. Undoubtedly he was by far the best player on the park and an obvious MOM.Time ticked away very slowly and the 4 minutes added seemed like half an hour but finally a relieved roar greeted the final whistle. These sort of matches are not fun to watch but 3 points and a clean sheet will be happily toasted as Ricardo quaffs a few tonight.[:D]

[Mister Chops 7]

Good report as ever, thanks and enjoy the beer.Did Crouch get a decent reception?  I think we''re still quite fond of him, even if he is less "Bambi on ice" than when with us.

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Mister Chops"]Good report as ever, thanks and enjoy the beer.Did Crouch get a decent reception?  I think we''re still quite fond of him, even if he is less "Bambi on ice" than when with us.[/quote]Not really Chops. I think a lot of people have forgotten about his contribution to the 2004 promotion side.It was quiet at CR this afternoon, more people biting their fingernails than cheering.

[Bungay Canary 0]

today reminded me of worthys time here go one up then defend for the rest of the game .Not pretty but at the end of the day if we survive its 64 million in the coffers.

[ROBFLECK 134]

Cheers Ricardo...good read...not a game that will go down in history that''s for sure

[K Lo 246]

If we survive this season then that''ll be three consecutive Prem. seasons. Happy days!! Just like the good days of the late ''80s & early ''90s when we were comfortably in the top league.

[whoareyou? 0]

The rewards for staying up this year are obvious and for now, just staying up should be the priority even if it wont be pretty at times.Being debt free and with a £64 million pay packet next season we should be able to add some real quality to the squad.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Well described account, Ricardo but I saw a lot of positives.

PL rotated his squad for the opposition. Hughton keeps more consistent personnel and also, it seems, plays to a consistent pattern and format. What impresses me is that this system is successful against sides as diverse as Arsenal and Stoke.

What is even more encouraging is that Wednesday''s side and today''s looked equally as strong and this was exampled by the way an extensive re-vamp of the back four was ultimately coped with after an understandably uncertain transition. It was a source of annoyance to me that Wednesday''s side were arbitrarily labelled ''second string.''

I think a lot of our supporters are still getting used to our approach in games. We seek to match, compete and take our chances. This isn''t the hung no, excitement at both ends, of recent seasons, this is tactical to get results; it is poker football rather than roulette football. Look into it, it is competitive and measured.

Ask yourselves, really, how many saves, good saves has Ruddy had to make today and in the previous two league games. He is getting great protection.

Johnson looked a real enforcer, he has improved on last season. Tettey got forward more today,as I hoped. Tettey touched the ball constantly and drove forward brilliantly. This is an intelligent player with fantastic stamina and with Johnson they are giving up the upper hand consistently in the middle of the park.

Bassong is a rock and any other centre half looks better next to him. Turner has been very good of late and Bennet came on and showed some excellent reading of the game, especially when he whipped he ball away from Crouch who had chested it down to volley.

I thought other players struggled to make much impact although they stuck to the task. The exception was Wes who ran, fought, harried and showed the skill and vision, Trappatoni must have been impressed.

This was a great win and a fourth great result on the spin. The draw at Villa has been enhanced. Ten games, ten points and clean sheets that make the multi-goal games look out of character and dismissable. Teams can thrash sides having a poor day. Liverpool did this to us and deluded themselves. What is harder is to edge competitive games consistently so be in good heart Canaries. This was a thoroughly satisfying performance and result.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Apologies for the predictive text typos.

[Bill 1,788]

The ''£64 million pay packet'' is based on us finishing exactly as we did in 2011/12 (possible) and the overseas TV rights being the same amount (almost certainly will not), so

Last season we received £46.6m. This was made up of -

 

Domestic TV rights being divided up as

 

50% - £13m, equal share to all clubs

25% - £6.25m, amount of games shown

25% -£6.79m, based on league position

Worldwide TV rights being dived equally

£18.76m

 

In the 2013/14 - 2015/16 seasons the domestic TV rights are increased by around 71%, so presuming we finish as we did last season we would receive -

50% - £23.4m, equal share to all clubs

25% - £10.6m, amount of games shown

25% -£11.5m, based on league position

Worldwide TV rights being dived equally

£18.76m

that being the £64m being talked of - however there are a number of variables ie we could finish higher or lower, we could have more TV games and the most important one being, the overseas TV rights. It is almost certain that they will rise (still in negotiations). The suggested rise is anything from 30% - 100%, which would put that £18.76m figure up to somewhere between £24m -£19m

 

So the figures look to be about from £58m (lowest overseas rise and relegated) to £84m (highest rise and 10th spot)

 

That''s about as basic as I can put it, hope it helps 

 

 

[ricardo 8,034]

Yes Rude, I agree with most of that. We certainly look well capable of containing most teams and your point about an equally strong "second string" on Wednesday is well made.I hope Turner and Garrido are only short term casualties but its good to know that we have some very capable back ups.Tetty and Johno did look good first half and although the "long" game took away some of their effectiveness I thought both stuck to their tasks very well. My impression is that Tetty starts very well but fades a bit in the final quarter. I don''t know if thats fair or just that he needs a bit more experience to pace himself in this league. I also thought we offered a bit more with Snoddy on the right. His quality of crossing is markedly superior to both Bennett and Pilks and today he put in a good shift of defensive work as well.We are a point better of than where my predictor put us at this stage so I am feeling quietly confident that we can stay clear of the drop this season.

[AJ 1,359]

Thanks again Ricardo. Even after watching it myself, always enjoy a read of your report - how you don''t have a column in the Pinkun I''ll never know!

Sounds like a really close call between Wes and Tettey for man of the match today. Tettey''s passing was top class today, don''t recall him playing a single bad pass - would love to see the stats tbh! Kept the ball on the deck today too, which was lovely to see. I just wish Barnett would do the same, his distribution is awful! As was Whittikers in the first half

[York Canary 29]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]Well described account, Ricardo but I saw a lot of positives.

PL rotated his squad for the opposition. Hughton keeps more consistent personnel and also, it seems, plays to a consistent pattern and format. What impresses me is that this system is successful against sides as diverse as Arsenal and Stoke.

What is even more encouraging is that Wednesday''s side and today''s looked equally as strong and this was exampled by the way an extensive re-vamp of the back four was ultimately coped with after an understandably uncertain transition. It was a source of annoyance to me that Wednesday''s side were arbitrarily labelled ''second string.''

I think a lot of our supporters are still getting used to our approach in games. We seek to match, compete and take our chances. This isn''t the hung no, excitement at both ends, of recent seasons, this is tactical to get results; it is poker football rather than roulette football. Look into it, it is competitive and measured.

Ask yourselves, really, how many saves, good saves has Ruddy had to make today and in the previous two league games. He is getting great protection.

Johnson looked a real enforcer, he has improved on last season. Tettey got forward more today,as I hoped. Tettey touched the ball constantly and drove forward brilliantly. This is an intelligent player with fantastic stamina and with Johnson they are giving up the upper hand consistently in the middle of the park.

Bassong is a rock and any other centre half looks better next to him. Turner has been very good of late and Bennet came on and showed some excellent reading of the game, especially when he whipped he ball away from Crouch who had chested it down to volley.

I thought other players struggled to make much impact although they stuck to the task. The exception was Wes who ran, fought, harried and showed the skill and vision, Trappatoni must have been impressed.

This was a great win and a fourth great result on the spin. The draw at Villa has been enhanced. Ten games, ten points and clean sheets that make the multi-goal games look out of character and dismissable. Teams can thrash sides having a poor day. Liverpool did this to us and deluded themselves. What is harder is to edge competitive games consistently so be in good heart Canaries. This was a thoroughly satisfying performance and result.[/quote]Well said

[Canary Wundaboy 1,423]

[quote user="City1st"]

The ''£64 million pay packet'' is based on us finishing exactly as we did in 2011/12 (possible) and the overseas TV rights being the same amount (almost certainly will not), so

Last season we received £46.6m. This was made up of -

 

Domestic TV rights being divided up as

 

50% - £13m, equal share to all clubs

25% - £6.25m, amount of games shown

25% -£6.79m, based on league position

Worldwide TV rights being dived equally

£18.76m

 

In the 2013/14 - 2015/16 seasons the domestic TV rights are increased by around 71%, so presuming we finish as we did last season we would receive -

50% - £23.4m, equal share to all clubs

25% - £10.6m, amount of games shown

25% -£11.5m, based on league position

Worldwide TV rights being dived equally

£18.76m

that being the £64m being talked of - however there are a number of variables ie we could finish higher or lower, we could have more TV games and the most important one being, the overseas TV rights. It is almost certain that they will rise (still in negotiations). The suggested rise is anything from 30% - 100%, which would put that £18.76m figure up to somewhere between £24m -£19m

 

So the figures look to be about from £58m (lowest overseas rise and relegated) to £84m (highest rise and 10th spot)

 

That''s about as basic as I can put it, hope it helps 

 

 

[/quote]Hang on City1st I take issue with that, surely the highest finish would be 1st? [;)]