Some Positives.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

The midfield and defence, one shocker aside, looked more comfortable this week, as they did last week, than at any stage last season.

 

Villa couldnt get going against us and, again as last week, on reflection Ruddy had not a lot to do.

 

Basson underlined his quality, Turner will have boosted his confidence with a goal, Johnson looked strong and Tetty was everywhere whilst always being available to receive.

 

Wes gave us invention but beyond that we had no cutting edge and were wasteful as usual.

 

This was a good follow up to the Arsenal game and gives us more to build on going into the Stoke match.

 

If I was a Villa supporter though, I would be very worried and three games on they might begin to feel adrift.

 

Let''s be positive about things though and go up against Stoke with confidence because confidence is the elixir of football.

[Aggy 766]

Turning it around, you''d argue that Villa defended very well when down to 10 men and had we shown some of that sort of determination in our defending throughout the whole season, then I''m not sure we''d have let in quite as many as we have done!

The thing is, all the positives get qualified. Yeah we looked the better side even in the first half, BUT despite doing that we were still 1-0 down. And that''s a pattern that has happened a few too many times this season - we''ve created the chances, looked decent, but not come away with the points.

We need to start converting decent performances into maximum points.

[kellybrook 0]

A win against Arsenal and a good point against a Villa side who shut up shop for 40 minutes of the game.  Attacked all game, Tettey allowed Wes to roam, we created a ton of chances that on another day we would have converted.Reality check over, back to the normal whingefest.

[Aggy 766]

One of the worst sides in the division, make shift defence with a young central midfielder playing at centre half, down to 10 men for 35 minutes. Just got a point. Yeah, really good point :/

[rock bus 854]

[quote user="kellybrook"]A win against Arsenal and a good point against a Villa side who shut up shop for 40 minutes of the game.  Attacked all game, Tettey allowed Wes to roam, we created a ton of chances that on another day we would have converted.Reality check over, back to the normal whingefest.[/quote]

Great post.

Are people forgetting we lost this game last season and then we had the MESSIAH Lambert and apparently all those defenders who never made a mistake unlike Turner

[Guest]

Seriously cannot believe the over-the-top negative comments on here.

Aside from a lack of quality in finishing, and a host of fine saves from Guzan, we dominated the match. I could understand these sorts of comments if they were from Villa supporters, but I am surprised to see them from some people on here.

A point away from home is a decent result in any division, especially this one.

[Aggy 766]

Rock bus - who cares about the result last season? A different Villa side with a different manager against a different Norwich side with a different manager. Last season''s result means absolutely naff all.

IS - how many times are we going to say "if we had put our chances away we would have won/come away with a draw instead of losing?" It''s happened a fair few times this season already and the more it keeps happening the more negative it will become. Who cares how many chances we create if we can''t finish any of them?

[macdougalls perm 0]

[quote user="I.S."]Seriously cannot believe the over-the-top negative comments on here.

Aside from a lack of quality in finishing, and a host of fine saves from Guzan, we dominated the match. I could understand these sorts of comments if they were from Villa supporters, but I am surprised to see them from some people on here.

A point away from home is a decent result in any division, especially this one.[/quote]

^^^^^ This. I seriously can''t believe some of the posters on this forum sometimes. We could have had all 3 points and obviously I''m disappointed that we didn''t but it''s blindingly obvious that we dominated the game and that''s not easy away to any team in this division.

[Phillip J Fry 0]

[quote user="I.S."]Seriously cannot believe the over-the-top negative comments on here.

Aside from a lack of quality in finishing, and a host of fine saves from Guzan, we dominated the match. I could understand these sorts of comments if they were from Villa supporters, but I am surprised to see them from some people on here.

A point away from home is a decent result in any division, especially this one.[/quote]

Quoted for truth.

[nutty nigel 7,641]

[quote user="Aggy"]One of the worst sides in the division, make shift defence with a young central midfielder playing at centre half, down to 10 men for 35 minutes. Just got a point. Yeah, really good point :/[/quote]

 

Surely every point is a good point Aggy? And the fact that we looked a far superior side to them is positive not a negative. People were saying we would get relegated because there aren''t 3 worse sides than us! Well there''s one for them.

 

 

[Clever Farke 65]

We were the keeper''s toenail away from a convincing and stylish win. Viler were just horrible, outplayed all day long. Lambert has at least instilled his never say die attitude but they were by far the worst team we''ve played so far and the vile fans will be very worried now.

Turner''s movement and conviction for his goal was superb, bonus for my fantasy team too.

[Guest]

Aggy - I care. If we were not generating chances then I would be seriously worried. As it is, the finishing is v. poor which is really disappointing (especially today) but not fatal.

I firmly believe that we will start converting a higher ratio of chances sooner rather than later, and I can''t personally understand what people think being highly negative about things will help to achieve. We''ve just beaten Arsenal and held an established Prem club away from home, so forgive me if I can''t see too much to be downbeat about at the moment.

[PurpleCanary 5,585]

[quote user="I.S."]Seriously cannot believe the over-the-top negative comments on here. Aside from a lack of quality in finishing, and a host of fine saves from Guzan, we dominated the match. I could understand these sorts of comments if they were from Villa supporters, but I am surprised to see them from some people on here. A point away from home is a decent result in any division, especially this one.[/quote]

 

I didn''t see the game, but you can''t put finishing on one side, as if it some kind of bonus. Finishing is just as much a part of what a team does (or should do) as everything else. We have scored seven goals in nine games. Build-up play is a factor, but so is a lack of striking quality.

[smooth 114]

This business and league is about one one thing.... Results

I agree we were good on the day made a terrible villa show how poor they are. We missed chances that a good prem striker would have scored and need to work on our delivery.

It was another poor team in this league that were down to 10 men for 30 mins.

I have faith, but looking forward to improvement we have some good players who need to prove their prem worth

[Aggy 766]

But that''s exactly it Nutty. We need 3 sides to be worse than us. "That''s one of them" - yet they had a makeshift defence and 10 men and still we only managed to draw against them! So are they actually worse than us?!

Yes we dominated, but looking better than 3 other teams won''t keep us up. Getting more points than 3 other teams will. I''m more than happy to say we looked far better than Villa today (didn''t take much as they were atrocious!), but I''m very worried that we can''t beat teams that bad when they''ve only got 10 men for 35 minutes and started the game with a young lad playing centre half who has never played there before.

[Aggy 766]

IS - as purple says, finishing isn''t a separate part of the game. We would have beaten West Ham had we scored one of about three absolute sitters. We would have put 4 past Villa had we scored 4 of about 7 absolute sitters. We had chances to beat Spurs but missed a few absolute sitters. And on. If we don''t put the ball in the net, it doesn''t matter how good we look in the rest of the pitch, we won''t be scoring goals. And when we seem to make at least one silly defensive mistake a game that costs us, then that''s a recipe for trouble.

[Thecanaryfan 0]

[quote user="Aggy"]Rock bus - who cares about the result last season? A different Villa side with a different manager against a different Norwich side with a different manager. Last season''s result means absolutely naff all. IS - how many times are we going to say "if we had put our chances away we would have won/come away with a draw instead of losing?" It''s happened a fair few times this season already and the more it keeps happening the more negative it will become. Who cares how many chances we create if we can''t finish any of them?[/quote]

Houghton will be delighted with the overall performance today. Look at previous posts. If it wasnt for Lamberts tact after the red - defensive subs and pushing the midfielders up - it would have been there for the taking. Lambert made the right changes and pushed his players up inviting the long ball. Its not easy to score againsy 10 men if they shut up shop and push forward.

[Aggy 766]

There for the taking?! Weren''t we losing 1-0 before the red card?! How do you get to the conclusion that we were suddenly going to "take" the game from 1-0 down?

And I assume that, had they kept 11 players on the pitch, lambert wouldn''t have made any defensive changes? Presumably he would have pushed on another three strikers to try and win 2-0 instead of defending the 1-0 lead? Obviously he would only ever have made defensive tactical changes if they had a red card??!?!

Craziness.

[nutty nigel 7,641]

[quote user="Aggy"]But that''s exactly it Nutty. We need 3 sides to be worse than us. "That''s one of them" - yet they had a makeshift defence and 10 men and still we only managed to draw against them! So are they actually worse than us?! Yes we dominated, but looking better than 3 other teams won''t keep us up. Getting more points than 3 other teams will. I''m more than happy to say we looked far better than Villa today (didn''t take much as they were atrocious!), but I''m very worried that we can''t beat teams that bad when they''ve only got 10 men for 35 minutes and started the game with a young lad playing centre half who has never played there before.[/quote]

 

I''m not saying it''s not disappopinting but to turn it around Villa couldn''t beat a side who you now reckon are nailed on for the drop. Every single game in this league is a new event. Are you saying that young lad at centrehalf isn''t good enough? Surely a side who have had premier league income since it began and a rich foreign investor on top wouldn''t be in such a position? Every point is a point gained. We started today with 6 and now have 7. It''s dissapointing because we played well enough to win comfortably. We didn''t deserve to win because we missed chances. Positives? The biggest positive for me was that once again Hughton has proved that Wes can play in a system that isn''t always the diamond.

 

 

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]

The midfield and defence, one shocker aside, looked more comfortable this week, as they did last week, than at any stage last season.

 

Villa couldnt get going against us and, again as last week, on reflection Ruddy had not a lot to do.

 

Basson underlined his quality, Turner will have boosted his confidence with a goal, Johnson looked strong and Tetty was everywhere whilst always being available to receive.

 

Wes gave us invention but beyond that we had no cutting edge and were wasteful as usual.

 

This was a good follow up to the Arsenal game and gives us more to build on going into the Stoke match.

 

If I was a Villa supporter though, I would be very worried and three games on they might begin to feel adrift.

 

Let''s be positive about things though and go up against Stoke with confidence because confidence is the elixir of football.

[/quote]

 

Well said Mr PH Hucker![Y]

[unique 439]

Let fans not forget that the first-half of today''s match produced football of such a low quality, that it would probably have been more entertaining watching Stoke City v Stoke City Reserves.

The game started at 0-0, so we had in effect a point already chalked up. The fact that we couldn''t beat a woeful Villa side, compounded to the fact that we couldn''t beat a woeful Villa side reduced to ten men for almost half the match, is not only disappointing, but potentially status changing.

Villa, on this showing, will be involved in the relegation battle. They stand one point behind us. It was a golden opportunity to put them four points behind us.

I hope this doesn''t come back to bite us on the backside.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

As things stand we''re down to 16th, but Villa are in the regulation zone![:D][Y]

[Aggy 766]

Nutty - I don''t reckon we''re nailed on for the drop at all. I think it''s far, far too early to tell for certain. However, at the moment, we''re playing like a team who are going to struggle to avoid it.

A young lad at centre half is not a problem, however this one was a midfielder by trade and had never played at centre half before in a premiership game. Surely you''d expect a seasoned old pro like Holt to have his pants down?

Every point is a point gained, but then again that goes for Villa too - if you think these are one of the 3 sides who are worse than us, they''ve also just picked up a point against us, so they''ll be arguing that they are no worse than us by that logic.

Their money and income and history mean nothing to me, I don''t care. Someone else compared today with the result at Villa park last season - I don''t care about that either. They''re a different side with a different manager, we''re a different side with a different manager and all that matters for both clubs is how well they''re performing this season.

Didn''t deserve to win because we missed chances - agreed. And that''s essentially the main point of my worry. However good we looked, we didn''t take our chances. We''ve said that in probably 5 or 6 of the 9 games now (and in the other games it''s been the other end of the pitch we needed to worry about when conceding 4 goals +). We can''t keep saying it and still think we''re going to be alright.

But yes, as you say, Hoolahan looked good and if he can continue to help create the chances hopefully we will start to convert a few more. and hopefully we can cut out the silly defensive errors so that we pick up a few more 1-0 wins, as I can''t see us putting 2 or more past very many sides at the moment!

[nutty nigel 7,641]

We missed our chances so didn''t deserve to win. But that''s it. Two poor sides? Not a bit of it! We were the away side and we bossed the game. The difference in class wasn''t even marginal. We certainly played well enough to win, were easily the far better team but won only a point. However that point is also a positive. I see no negatives Aggy. Not from today. The only negatives will be through the point being less than expected or through disappointment that it was only a point.

 

 

[Bill 1,788]

Positives for me

 

we looked wee capable of winning and played as such

 

the absolute joy on turners face and the reaction fron the rest of the teams demonstrated how up for it they are

 

we are looking more and more a ''settled side''

 

of course we need to be putting away the chances, but as said elsewhere we are creating those chances - they will come as the team become more used to playing together, and to this formation

 

after the previous hammerings against Chelsea and Liverpool had we have held Arsenal and then gone to Villa and won I''m sure there would be absolute euphoria on here (rather than this ''unnecessary'' sniping) - if there were not areas that we could improve upon then we would be top of the table

 

the question is do we look like we have the capability to improve - after today, most certainly

 

 

[Darren 0]

Jesus I really.cant comprehend what goes through some people''s head. A point away in the premier league is always a point earned. And I think we should take credit for our performance even if it was " just a point".

Given the option who''s shoes would you rather be in villas or Norwich. While we play like that we look capable of surviving, what can villa pull out of that game. If we had one you would have still had some moron on here moaning we conceded