NCFC vs Manc City - Observations from Afar

[Oz Canary 0]

Hey everyone, best of the season to you all.

Just wanted to throw out some observations from the game today to see what you guys (some of you would have actually been there) thought:

1. After reading a few threads on how bad the atmosphere is at Carrow Rd, I thought the atmosphere was great today and it certainly felt and sounded that our fans were up for it.

2. I know Russell Martin got our MOTM today however I thought Brad Johnson was awesome again today.

3. I would sit Tettey down for a couple of games as I think he is struggling a bit. Looks a bit fatigued and has lost that bit of bite to his game. Howson was fantastic when he entered the game making some great tackles and distributing the ball effectively and was unlucky with his shot from outside the box.

4.  Mark Bunn is not what we need as a deputy to Ruddy. I believe that we are still some 12 weeks away (March) from seeing Ruddy back and can''t help but think we need some cover. Not sure what anybodies views are on whether Rudd is ready to step up but I certainly dont think that Bunn is the answer. His positional play is poor and has been highlighted over & over since Ruddy''s injury.

5. I bullishly predicted that we would earn 10 from 12 points this festive season. Whilst this is now well off, I can''t help but think that we have been really unlucky against WBA, Chelsea and Mac City and could have really won all three if the footballing gods were smiling on us. IMO, this is highlighting the most obvious of problems for CH, that being if Holty is not in the team we really struggle to put our chances away. I really hope that we add a couple of quality strikers to the squad this Jan transfer window. If we would have taken half the opportunities we have created we surely would have at least another 6 to 9 points.

6. After the poor start to the season, I was one of the many posters that questioned CH and his tactics and capacity to win this group over( never wanted him sacked though). Today, I think we have a great manager better than the one that we had and I think that Delia & the board have done a great job getting CH in. If we look at Villa at the moment, it looks to me like Lambert may have lost the dressing room. They are showing no desire or drive to compete. The most energy expelled by the Villa team is Lambert jumping around the touchline imploring his team on. Thank god for CH I say.

7. The flashpoint just before half time between Bass & Nasri. I read the report in the Daily Mail & The Sun with Mancini  losing his rag with the referee over the send off. Maybe I am wrong but isn''t it usually the player who instigates or leads with the head is automatically sent off. How Mancini thinks that Bass should have been sent off also just makes no sense. Firstly, I thought Bass was unlucky to be booked, it was a great tackle, took the ball first and it really was a text book defenders tackle, strong but fair. But then to see that petulent little French d!ck jump to his feet and go at Bass was ridiculous. I hope Nasri gets his 3 match ban, Mancini gets sanctioned for slagging of the officials again (2nd match running) and Bass gets his yellow card rescinded.

8. I thought Kompany''s tackle on Johnno that created the second goal was a foul as he went in studs up. I would even go as far as too say that he should have been red carded. I thought studs up was an automatic send off.

9. I love the so-called "big teams" going to play the not so fancied and getting pushed around. We may have lost the game but I thought after the first 10 minutes we were great. We really bossed them at times and I love seeing that from us and how the big boys don''t like it when things do go there way (Cue Mancini''s rant about Nasri''s send off)

10. For all the above, geez Manc City play some really nice one touch football in confinded spaces.

11. Finally, we had Tony Jones and Tony Gale commentating on the coverage we received this morning here in Australia. I don''t remember much about Tony Gale but he couldn''t say one good thing about us all day. Very frustrating to listen too. Who is he? I know he was an ex-player but don''t recall whether he was any good?

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Bladdy hell mate, you must get a good picture down there. That''s all spot on.

 

Tony Gale? A defender, mostly London based. I had to Wiki to recall him myself. Seems like another one who only has eyes for the big six clubs. They infect the media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Gale

 

[crabbycanary 2]

Tony Gale did say that both teams had played well and contributed to an excellent game Oz. Gale is old school , and started off by saying that he couldn''t see anything wrong with Kompany''s tackle, but as the game wore on, his opinion watered down, to saying that players get sent off for those sort of challenges these days.

I also thought Bradley was comfortably MoM (I know RM was given it for his 2 goals, but I counted at least 3 throw ins and 3 passes that he gave straight to the opposition, although he wasn''t the only one to give away possession cheaply) and Tettey was off form yesterday.

[gorlestongirl 0]

Great OP; I would just take issue with a couple of points. I think scoring 3 against Man City reaches an acceptable level of ''putting our chances away''. I would also support Martin as MOTM. He was team captain in the place of Holt, and was everywhere on the pitch, urging the team on, and scoring twice. Some of his, (and others'') passes going astray seemed to me to be the incredible speed of reaction of the Man City players; against most opposition teams they would have been successful. It was an amazing game, which as your commentator said, we played a full part in.

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

1.      Atmosphere was great at times. Still to re-active rather than pro-active though – the team need more belief from the fans at the tough points in the game. It’s a reciprocal thing isn’t it? One feeds off the other. Last game Chelsea sarcastically sang ‘It’s like a library” and they were right.

 

 

2.      Russell Martin was good value for MOTM. BJ was right there too, but defender Martin scored two-thirds of our goals so probably edged it.

 

 

3.      Tettey has slightly gone off the boil. Great player but Howson showed he can do well (even tackle) today. David Fox is also there should we need top distribution.  

 

 

4.      4. Bunn does seem to position himself rather close to his line – when a sweeping cross-shot with power comes, he struggles to reach them. We’ve seen this more than once and any opposition coach will advise their strikers to do exactly what Matu did for Chelsea to beat us 0-1.

 

 

5.      We have performed well for Norwich, losing to Chelsea & Man City by only one goal is no disgrace but it doesn’t put points on the board. With Holt injured (hamstring), Morison injured (thigh) thank goodness Harry Kane showed glimpses of quality. Jackson looked a bit lost – needs a run of game that he’s unlikely to ever get here now? So yes, we do need one – preferably two new strikers.

 

 

6.      Like you, I was despondent at CH’s early efforts to select a Norwich team to win games. Thank goodness he has picked up some points, but let’s not ever think the job is done – it’s not. Looking at PL at Villa, even my partner and her friends are saying how tired he is looking these days – and wondering why, when he was treated like a god did he decide to leave?

 

 

7.      Regarding Mancini’s post-match rant (imagine what he’d have been like had they not picked up the 3 points!) he claims both players (Bassong & Nasri) should have been sent off even though the TV shows only Nasri making an aggressive forward movement. He also claims the Assistant Referee was BEHIND the players and therefore not best placed to make a judgement. Well that’s untrue. I sit in the Barclay Upper tier and I could see the incident from high up there. I also noted the Assistant Ref was well-positioned only feet away with an unobstructed view of the whole thing. When the home crowd started singing ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ to the Ref (as he yellow carded Bassong) I said to my son; “he’s not checked with his Assistant yet – it could well be a red for Nasri” which of course it was.

I thought it’d be nice had the crowd begun singing “You DO know what you’re doing!” at that point!

 

 

8.      Kompany''s tackle would have been OK when Tony Gale was playing, but these days studs up and not in control usually means a red card. He could/should have gone;  Kompany was awesome at the back and at that point we would have had a totally different game wouldn’t we?

 

 

9.      Thanks to CH’s defensive understanding, Norwich no longer get pushed over by big teams. We’ve beaten Arsenal and Man Utd. We’ve lost to Chelsea & Man City by one goal. Compare that to the volume of goals conceded last year under PL. In fact, during the last 3 games Villa have conceded the same number of goals at they have scored all season – 15 of them!

 

 

10.   The ‘one-touch’ football from Man City is a joy to watch; so quick and devastating to defend against. Just watching the first touch of all their players – from front-to-back they have incredible control. It was wet yesterday too, but that made no difference to their standard of play did it?

 

 

11.   Tony Gale is ex-Fulham, West Ham, Blackburn, Palace and Maidenhead. He seems to have a very limited view of the world which you seem to have picked up on!

 

All we need is 3 points from West Ham, another 3 from Newcastle, a couple of new players and things will look even better!

[drurys testamonials V 15 0]

Always good to get another view on the game. Have to agree with you gorlestongirl over the goals scored. Short of playing the game again with Holt in the side, you can''t say we''d have scored more with him in the team. Equally we might have scored less. We can''t tell as it won''t happen.

 

Man City are a quality side despite the time-wasting amongst other faults and not many teams get to put 3 past them this season. Real, Villa, Man Utd and Ajax the only other teams to have done so during 2012-13.