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Canary02 IV

The Paintball Analogy

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I''ve been struggling to think of a way to explain the way I''m feeling as a Norwich fan at the moment when this analogy struck me.

Imagine a National Paintball Championship. It''s the biggest sport in the country, heavily televised on pay-per-view, and it''s an honour to have your team competing.

The rules are that each team scores points when they hit people and has points taken away when they get hit. The team with most points at the end wins. There are 20 teams and at the end of the Championship the 17 teams with the best records are invited back for the next Championship.

Now it''s clear that some teams have a far greater advantage. They bring in the best sharpshooters in the world, and have guns that fire 300 paintballs a minute to everyone else''s 50 etc. But when the game begins, everyone starts shooting and doing the best they can. They pick off easy targets but also take on difficult shots, and they get involved and play the game and it''s exciting and fun and you can see why everyone loves the game.

All except for one team. That team, as soon as the game begins, runs to the farthest corner of the woods they can find. They dig down into the undergrowth, and for the duration of the game they say nothing. They never fire a shot or make a sound. Some of them are obviously frustrated. They''re decent paintballers and they want to compete. They want to try and win, even if the odds are against them. But they are loyal to their team leader who insists it has to be this way.

When the end of the game is called and the points totalled up, the team that never fired a shot finishes in the top 17. 3 of the teams that did play the game came out with negative points totals and so, by default, the hiding team qualify for the next years Championship. The team leader can say he''s done his bit and qualified. But who wants to play for that team next year? Who wants to pay to watch that again next year? Is it right to say that you played paintball just because you have the kit and turn up if you don''t have the will to actually take part?

I don''t hate Chris Hughton and I don''t want him out. This is a hugely important year to stay up financially and needs must. I thought the decision to revert to one up front at Old Trafford was correct, albeit I didn''t expect us to play anywhere near as deep. We have to be pragmatic away from home against the big teams. And if, as his defenders suggest, we get through this season, add quality signings, and compete properly next year, then this season will have been a step backwards to eventually move forwards and we can chalk it up as a learning experience. But if we get to next season and nothing changes and we play every game looking like Rochdale facing up to a tricky cup tie at The Emirates that we''re desperately hoping we can scrape a replay from, then I don''t think I''ll be looking forward to Saturdays any more, which after 30 years as a season ticket holder will be a sad day.

I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?

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"But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance"

 

That''s a very good point and one that is often overlooked when people start talking about home games against Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton even Sunderland and Stoke

 

It was that same deference that cost us so dear at Swansea

 

What about a go-cart analogy next, just in case some of the simpler minded didn''t fully get the paintball one ?

 

 

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The OP doesn''t seem to realise birds are supposed to be shot at without returning fire. However, when the poorer shooters have used up all their ammo and find themselves frozen like statues at the bottom of the pack then the birds will happily s**t all over you.

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[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]How does the scenario change if they were all armed with semi-automatic rifles? Which team wins then?[/quote]I would like some of the area to be mined, and perhaps there could be some hand to hand combat weapons for when people run out of bullets.Oh hang on, it''s the Hunger Games.

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[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t hate Chris Hughton and I don''t want him out. This is a hugely

important year to stay up financially and needs must. I thought the

decision to revert to one up front at Old Trafford was correct, albeit I

didn''t expect us to play anywhere near as deep. We have to be pragmatic

away from home against the big teams. And if, as his defenders suggest,

we get through this season, add quality signings, and compete properly

next year, then this season will have been a step backwards to

eventually move forwards and we can chalk it up as a learning

experience. But if we get to next season and nothing changes and we play

every game looking like Rochdale facing up to a tricky cup tie at The

Emirates that we''re desperately hoping we can scrape a replay from, then

I don''t think I''ll be looking forward to Saturdays any more, which

after 30 years as a season ticket holder will be a sad day.

[/quote]I would agree with you if, next season, we carry on with this ultra-cautious approach away from home.  We are not, after all, San Marino.  But I expect Hughton to change things up in the summer and for him to build a squad he has more faith in.[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. [/quote]I thought this was an over-reaction - we don''t show deference to every team.  I expect the next few games to be toe to toe affairs.

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Well as regards the original post i enjoyed it and im guessing we are a similar age and are used to seeing better football in years gone by.

In the short term i suppose im willing to accept this negative dire football to keep us up, But and this is a big but, season after season were this to continue im afraid you can count me out......

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I think we are of a similar mindset Tim. Grin and bare the remainder of this season and hope that next year,when Hughton has a whole summer and money to get his team fully together,we will start playing to our full potential.

But if it does carry on in the same vein then there will be a lot more complainants.

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[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?[/quote]

 

Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

 

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?[/quote]

 

Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

 

 

[/quote]

 

Tactically Hughton is a coward Nutty...........nice bloke and all that but a coward with tactics.

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[quote user="Wiz"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?[/quote]

 

Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

 

 

[/quote]

 

Tactically Hughton is a coward Nutty...........nice bloke and all that but a coward with tactics.

[/quote]

 

How do you know he''s a nice bloke?

 

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Is this the same cowardly manager that brought on two attacking subs against Man U?

Three technically but...

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[quote user="Herman "]Is this the same cowardly manager that brought on two attacking subs against Man U? Three technically but...[/quote]

 

Not until we''d already lost the game!

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No we hadn''t. We were only one down and Hughton went for it to try and salvage something. Sadly it didn''t work. So stop making things up.

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[quote user="Wiz"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?[/quote]

 

Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

 

 

[/quote]

 

Tactically Hughton is a coward Nutty...........nice bloke and all that but a coward with tactics.

[/quote]

Tempted to agree with the Wizardly one, his tactics have been a bit damn unadventurous at times, worried about what public opinion will be of him if he tries something interesting...

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Somebody needs to form a new forum for Norwich fans, without poor moderating (no offense or anything Lord Pete) and trolls like wiz running rampant.

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[quote user="Thunderbirds are go"][quote user="Wiz"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I don''t expect us to play dazzling attacking football or even good football to get our results. But when we show such overwhelming deference to every team we play, regardless of circumstance, we drift away from pragmatism and into cowardice. That''s the line that CH crosses that I can''t support. It''s a game. You have to try and win to make it fun, otherwise why are we all wasting our time on it?[/quote]

 

Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

 

 

[/quote]

 

Tactically Hughton is a coward Nutty...........nice bloke and all that but a coward with tactics.

[/quote] Tempted to agree with the Wizardly one, his tactics have been a bit damn unadventurous at times, worried about what public opinion will be of him if he tries something interesting...[/quote]

 

So how do you know he''s a nice bloke? Most cowards I''ve met are absolute bladdy rotters!

 

 

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nutty nigel wrote: Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?

Be interesting to see Hughton''s reaction in the first half. Whether or not he was calling for his troops to push up, or if he was satisfied with all 11 players in our third of the pitch.  At one point in the first half yesterday united had 6 players in our penalty area from open play...

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[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]

nutty nigel wrote: Is this for real? Cowardice? Seriously?


Be interesting to see Hughton''s reaction in the first half. Whether or not he was calling for his troops to push up, or if he was satisfied with all 11 players in our third of the pitch.  At one point in the first half yesterday united had 6 players in our penalty area from open play...

[/quote]

 

Why would that be interesting? It''s only interesting because you want to be wise after the event. What about if he''d started with the eleven he finished with and gone for it from the start? Would we have been 4-0 down at half time? Of course we don''t know that would have happened but I could make a better case for it in hindsight than you could to say it would have had a positive outcome.

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[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I''ve been struggling to think of a way to explain the way I''m feeling as a Norwich fan at the moment when this analogy struck me.

Imagine a National Paintball Championship. It''s the biggest sport in the country, heavily televised on pay-per-view, and it''s an honour to have your team competing. [/quote]I too have been struggling with this. The following analogy struck me.Imagine a football "league" with the best teams in England competing.  It''s the biggest sport in the

country, heavily televised on pay-per-view, and it''s an honour to have

your team competing.

The rules are that each team scores points when they win or draw

games, and you win games by scoring goals.  The team with most points

at the

end wins. There are 20 teams and at the end of the Championship the 17

teams with the best records are invited back for the next Championship.

Now it''s clear that some teams have a far greater advantage.

They bring

in the best players and coaches in the world. But when the game begins,

everyone does the best they can. They play differently at home and away

from home, and differently against lower table sides and top of the

league sides.  It''s exciting and fun and you can see why everyone

loves the game.

All except for one group of one team''s supporters.  The team are mid-table and will be one of the 17 invited back next season by virtue of having won more games than other clubs.  This is despite difficult financial constraints relative to other clubs in terms of wages and transfer fees, both of which are key to signing new players.However, this group of supporters are never happy. 

Last season they had free flowing attacking football but wanted more

clean sheets and defensive organisation, and this season they have more

clean sheets and defensive organisation but want free flowing attacking

football.  Parallel to this "league", there is something else called the "internet" which is where people can say whatever they like without fear of consequence.  This makes a number of people behave like arseholes.One supporter comes

up with a tenuous paintball analogy which suggests the club in

question don''t ever try to win any games and we show deference to every team we play.  This is obvious nonsense as evidenced by the league table and last weekend''s win over Everton.  But some people in this group of supporters believe the Everton win was pure luck and we should have lost.  Some people in this group of supporters want the club to lose and fail so they can say "I told you so".  Some people in this group of supporters want certain players to fail so they can say "I told you so".  Some people in this group of supporters want the club''s owners to step aside, the manager to leave, the coaching staff to leave.  They cannot say why, or who they would replace them with, or what they would do differently.  They just continuously bleat like a herd of flatulent sheep. "Oh why oh why oh why are our smallish, cash-poor club mid table in our country''s highest football league?" they moan.  "Oh why did we lose away to Manchester United, champions elect?  Why did we sign a loan player from America?  Why did we only beat Everton with two late goals?"Baaah, baaah, baaaah.  On and on it goes, like a dentist''s drill or nails down a blackboard.

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Why would that be interesting? It''s only interesting because you want to be wise after the event. What about if he''d started with the eleven he finished with and gone for it from the start? Would we have been 4-0 down at half time? Of course we don''t know that would have happened but I could make a better case for it in hindsight than you could to say it would have had a positive outcome.

[/quote]It is one thing to play a defensive game.  It is another to set out like the alamo and just sit while United pushed up so far they were almost camped in our penalty area.  Southampton managed 21 efforts on goal in their 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.  We managed one shot, the lowest of any team visiting old trafford this season.Steve Mcmanaman called it from the start, and annoyingly repeated it ad nauseum.  The only teams that have given United a game at old trafford were the ones who actually attacked them. All the teams which came to defend like us got soundly beat as United inevitably scored.We actually gave united a game for 15-20 minutes of the 2nd half. Forced to attack as we were losing.  We could easily have scored. When United did score their second it was all over and the last two can be put own to a demoralised and knackered side having already given up.

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[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Why would that be interesting? It''s only interesting because you want to be wise after the event. What about if he''d started with the eleven he finished with and gone for it from the start? Would we have been 4-0 down at half time? Of course we don''t know that would have happened but I could make a better case for it in hindsight than you could to say it would have had a positive outcome.

[/quote]

It is one thing to play a defensive game.  It is another to set out like the alamo and just sit while United pushed up so far they were almost camped in our penalty area.  Southampton managed 21 efforts on goal in their 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.  We managed one shot, the lowest of any team visiting old trafford this season.

Steve Mcmanaman called it from the start, and annoyingly repeated it ad nauseum.  The only teams that have given United a game at old trafford were the ones who actually attacked them. All the teams which came to defend like us got soundly beat as United inevitably scored.

We actually gave united a game for 15-20 minutes of the 2nd half. Forced to attack as we were losing.  We could easily have scored. When United did score their second it was all over and the last two can be put own to a demoralised and knackered side having already given up.
[/quote]

 

OK. Manchester United''s home record over the past five seasons is W78 D6 L6 F234 A71. As far as I''m aware the only bottom half side to win there throughout that time is Blackburn. Don''t you think it''s a tad unrealistic to use your hindsight to measure our performances against that one game out of 90.

 

 

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Excellent post Mr. C.

I bet you feel like the only sane man here sometimes, trying to keep the forces of unreason at bay.

But:more power to your elbow, keep ''em coming & Nil Desperandum!

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Superb riposte Mister Chops, but the ''herd'' of flatulent sheep is in fact a ''flock''.  [:D]I would''nt want some idiot to dismiss your comprehensive dismantling of the original post because of a minute error.P.S. Are our tactics, perceived as negative or otherwise, mainly due to the fact that we don''t possess a strike-force worth a light and it would''nt matter whether we played one up front or six - none of them have any idea where the goal is.Manure also played one up front yesterday!

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"Imagine a National Paintball Championship. It''s the biggest sport in the country, heavily televised on pay-per-view, and it''s an honour to have your team competing"

So are we being asked to imagine that paintball is the biggest sport in the country? It fails at this point for me, a bit like saying "Imagine Wimbledon was a table tennis tournament and Tiger Woods had just won his fifth ping pong major in a final against Michael Schumacher".

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People need to think of next year as a completely different task to this year. It definitely won''t be the same.

Take our system, but stick Van Persie up front. He''d easily score more goals than our entire team has amassed this year. Just the sheer presence of Kamara changed the Everton game - being able to buy better players in the summer to improve the squad will change things.

That said, Hughton''s task this year when he took the job was to stay up - he''s doing that and we''re 1 point of 10th place with 10 games to go. You cannot argue with that prospect! Another run of games and we could be more comfortable than last year.

The difference is last year we played like a side fighting for their lives. this year, we''re playing like a solid bottom-half premier league toeam

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"All except for one group of one team''s supporters"

Errrm.... if you go to other teams message boards, you wouldn''t find any which are happy places full of optimism. Stoke, Fulham, West Ham, Newcastle, and Sunderland fans are also bored crapless, with West Ham and Fulham fans being as doom laden as us.

Perhaps mid-table is the most boring and unexciting place to be. At least QPR fans have real things to worry about, like possible Portsmouth-esque extinction. I''m pretty sure Stoke fans have it worse than us, they have been bored for 5 years. We''ve only been bored for 7 months.

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