SAF Says playing Norwich is mundane.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

Good old red face Link

Speaking today ahead of Saturday''s match, Ferguson recognised the

significance of the Norwich game, with a victory pushing United 15

points clear of Manchester City who do not play until Monday.

However, Ferguson may have risked offending Chris Hughton and his team, referring to the Premier League fixture as "mundane".

"Tomorrow

is an important one because Tuesday will look after itself," he said.

"It''s an occasion on Tuesday whereas tomorrow is the mundane practical

situation in that we need to win."

[Not Nigel 0]

He doesn''t like us because we''ve beaten them twice out of our last three Premier League fixtures at Carrow Road, and showed them up in our 2-0 away defeat last year. All of the pundits and papers said that we were the best team that day.

Hopefully we can ''f'' him off again this week.

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

Well to most Man Utd fans, playing Norwich is always going to be a straightforward affair. I used to live up there and still have many friends who support Man Utd.  Many focus on the second half of the league season because that''s when all the European action kicks in. Compared to Champions League, playing a league match against Norwich probably does seem quite mundane! I doubt Sir Alex will allow any complacency though. They want their ''Champions'' label back and everything is going to plan...

 

I spoke to a great friend this morning who is a ST holder at the Theatre of Dreams & he thinks a draw is fairly likely tomorrow; let''s hope Kei Kamara gets his opportunity because he is one player who might just want to write his own headlines in that part of the world!...

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

Isn''t he really saying that as a manager, he doesn''t have to worry about motivating the players for Real Madrid so actually the RM game "takes care of itself" in that sense.  Whereas the game against us is one their players could easily take for granted, for them "mundane" is realistic compared to RM, so he''s pointing out that his job, as manager, is to make sure that they don''t take us for granted.

 

Which is correct, really, and not helpful for us.  But then SAF is always good at getting his sides motivated, nevertheless Man U are fallible and we can still get a result with a bit of luck.

[Splendid Rush 8]

I noticed that. To be fair in the same interview he did also call it a ''very important game''. Hopefully we won''t let it be mundane for them.

[Aggy 944]

It''s not really an insult aimed at us though. He''s just saying that occasions like Real Madrid in the Champions League don''t take much motivation whereas playing a low-mid-table side in the prem when you''re already so far clear at the top of the table is slightly less exciting. Can''t disagree with him there.

And singupcarrowroad, I don''t think he does dislike us does he? I seem to remember him being quite complimentary about our performance when we beat them last time. Far more so than most of the managers in the division who like to have a little dig whenever they lose.

[Bobert 0]

Certainly if I was in my native North/West and a Man U supporter I would not bother going to watch the teams in the bottom half of the Premier League. There needs to be a challenge to enjoy watching and the bottom half cannot provide it. There is a lot to be said for reducing the Premiership to a dozen teams. Rugby League have done it very successfully and have added a French/Spanish team for a bit of spice (now fourth in the standings). In England we have Swansea to supply that need of course.

From the Norwich point of view we would have better weekends being first of second in Pemiership II than we do at the moment struggling to survive.

[E.L.F. 0]

Even by reducing the league to 12 teams, it''s still only a three horse race.  Why not make only 6 teams? Maybe it''s better if the ''haves'' move into their super-league so that we can go back to watching proper football again.

[Six Pack 105]

[quote user="Bobert"]

Certainly if I was in my native North/West and a Man U supporter I would not bother going to watch the teams in the bottom half of the Premier League. There needs to be a challenge to enjoy watching and the bottom half cannot provide it. There is a lot to be said for reducing the Premiership to a dozen teams. Rugby League have done it very successfully and have added a French/Spanish team for a bit of spice (now fourth in the standings). In England we have Swansea to supply that need of course.

From the Norwich point of view we would have better weekends being first of second in Pemiership II than we do at the moment struggling to survive.

[/quote]

We & other clubs have fought hard & long for the right to play Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs in the top league and now you''d rather we were in the second tier ???

Man - you blown me out of the water with this one !!!

[Bobert 0]

Six Pack

I wonder if you ever go to a game on a Saturday or mid week. If you sit on a cold seat trying to make out the players at the far end with nothing more to amuse you than the guy four rows down making disgusting gestures at the visiting fans. I am a happy man when we put up a decent show and come away with a win against reasonable opposition but to be beaten 5-0 is not on especially if it is the visitors second team and our best. You have to compete on a level playing field to stand a chance and the PL is not that these days. Lets face it all we seem to have been playing for this last eighteen months is the money. Because our majority shareholders do not have a deep enough pocket we have to watch our boys grind out a draw and its deadly stuff.

Paul Lambert gave us the answer. He did not play for the money. He played for honour and glory. Played for a WIN!. We, the crowd, loved it. Cheered the boys, sang about Paul. Open top bus tours, civic dinners we lapped it up. I don''t care a monkey''s uncle about Man U, Man City and the rest. I care about Norwich City, about wining the game and about having fun. Stuff your "rights".

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="Bobert"]

Six Pack

I wonder if you ever go to a game on a Saturday or mid week. If you sit on a cold seat trying to make out the players at the far end with nothing more to amuse you than the guy four rows down making disgusting gestures at the visiting fans. I am a happy man when we put up a decent show and come away with a win against reasonable opposition but to be beaten 5-0 is not on especially if it is the visitors second team and our best. You have to compete on a level playing field to stand a chance and the PL is not that these days. Lets face it all we seem to have been playing for this last eighteen months is the money. Because our majority shareholders do not have a deep enough pocket we have to watch our boys grind out a draw and its deadly stuff.

Paul Lambert gave us the answer. He did not play for the money. He played for honour and glory. Played for a WIN!. We, the crowd, loved it. Cheered the boys, sang about Paul. Open top bus tours, civic dinners we lapped it up. I don''t care a monkey''s uncle about Man U, Man City and the rest. I care about Norwich City, about wining the game and about having fun. Stuff your "rights".

[/quote]

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="Bobert"]

Six Pack

I wonder if you ever go to a game on a Saturday or mid week. If you sit on a cold seat trying to make out the players at the far end with nothing more to amuse you than the guy four rows down making disgusting gestures at the visiting fans. I am a happy man when we put up a decent show and come away with a win against reasonable opposition but to be beaten 5-0 is not on especially if it is the visitors second team and our best. You have to compete on a level playing field to stand a chance and the PL is not that these days. Lets face it all we seem to have been playing for this last eighteen months is the money. Because our majority shareholders do not have a deep enough pocket we have to watch our boys grind out a draw and its deadly stuff.

Paul Lambert gave us the answer. He did not play for the money. He played for honour and glory. Played for a WIN!. We, the crowd, loved it. Cheered the boys, sang about Paul. Open top bus tours, civic dinners we lapped it up. I don''t care a monkey''s uncle about Man U, Man City and the rest. I care about Norwich City, about wining the game and about having fun. Stuff your "rights".

[/quote]As for his honourable and glorious exit....Nobody would say the Fulham or Newcastle games were anything but dull, but Everton? Man Utd? Arsenal? Swansea away? Spurs away?  Pretty good games as I recall.As for our majority shareholders not having a "deep enough pocket" - what would you have them do? They could live beyond the club''s means a la Leeds/Portsmouth, or we could hawk the club to some Malaysians who would change the badge, kit, and now possibly the name of the club... or worse, end up a basket case like QPR.  Or we could carry on being run sensibly and pragmatically, accepting we''ll never be a Chelsea or Man City but none the worse for that.

[Morisons Prozac 0]

Bobert that is an awful post

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

I can understand Bobert’s point of view; our current play is a bit boring in comparison to the Paul Lambert ‘up and at ‘em’ style that thrilled so many of us. However, we are a work in progress and stabilising our position in the Prem is a pre-requisite if we are to see the bigger picture of overall club development.

 

I too would rather see us truly playing for a win (as opposed to trying not to lose). Against Everton Hughton admitted he would have taken a draw and his words when we scored the late winner were (quote) “…but the players had other ideas”…

 

Right now, maybe the tail needs to wag the dog to secure 3 points?

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

True. It was noticeable against Everton that Basso was pushing on for a winner and had stayed up when we kept the ball after the corner, when RM put in the cross for the winner. He could easily have headed back down the pitch Leaders like him out there among the players are crucial.

[Making Plans 957]

Mundane = common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.He was right