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Ricardo's report v Swansea

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Ricardo was hoping that a bit of warm sunshine would brighten the mood of Canary followers after what had been a worrying week. The BBC Predictor had been on overtime as post after post on this forum had predicted disaster. Personally speaking I had this game down as a draw long ago so only a defeat would have been cause for concern.City with Bunn back in goal were otherwise unchanged from last week. There was little to remark on in the early exchanges though it was the Canaries that exhibited a certain nervousness with badly placed passes all over the pitch. Swansea by contrast looked assured in possession and consequently early chances began to fall to them. They had the ball in the net on 10 minutes after being gifted the ball by Wes and Johnny Howson in quick succession. I didn''t notice the whistle and was half into full cursing mood before I realised the whistle had thankfully blown. The Swans began to totally dominate and a goal for the visitors seemed inevitable as the City midfield couldn''t find a yellow shirt for love nor money. T o make matters worse Bunn went down for no apparent reason and had to be replaced by Lee Camp.A free kick on the righthand corner of the box on 20 minutes finally gave City and opening. Snoddy''s kick was charged down but he picked up the rebound and drove into the area before finding Turner 8 yards out. Unfortunately the big defender couldn''t get the power behind his effort and Vorm palmed his stubbed shot away. The crowd were desperately trying to get the team forward but lack of possession meant chances were rarer than hens teeth. On 35 minutes the seemingly inevitable happened as some clever Swansea passing found Michu in space to slot home. It looked a long way back from here but to their credit City stuck at it and got back in the game quickly. Bennett broke down the right and Snoddy was well placed at the far post to head back into the opposite corner. It was a sorely needed goal and against the run of play but it was more than a relief to go in at halftime all square.Surely the second half couldn''t be worse we thought but it was one way traffic for 10 minutes and Camp did brilliantly to block a close range effort when it looked odds on a Swansea goal. Snoddy Wes and Johno were working extremely hard and at last got some pressure on the Swans rearguard. A freekick on the right was floated in by Bennett and Turner was on hand to poke City ahead. The crowd urged the boys on for a third to settle the nerves and in a rare period of domination it almost came. Kamara headed over and then was agonisingly close to forcing in Snoddys cross before Swansea defenders combined to smuggle the ball away.I looked for a while that we might hang on but on 75 minutes that hope was dashed as Moore poked in an equaliser after a long cross was headed back across goal. Holt and Tetty came on for Wes and Howson who at least had improved after a dire first half. We hoped for something special but the closest we came was Kamara being dragged down and Snoddy unable to work any freekick magic. Indeed Michu might have snatched it late on but missed a good chance from 6 yards. All that remained was for Michael Oliver to flash unnecessary yellow cards as the game petered out to a stalemate.On balance I felt it was a point earned rather than two lost for in truth City were generally second best in all departments. The first half in particular harked back to the age of Roeder and Grant but at least it''s another point and with six games left every one is going to be precious. Snoddy, Bassong and Johno gave their all but too many were not at the races today.

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Pretty fair report to my eyes, though I was watching on an internet stream and kept being offered the chance for "no-strings sex with single Norwich women", which did distract me from the run of play somewhat.I think we''ll look back on the Lambert era (if we aren''t already) as an atpically joyous and thrilling period in our history.  In filling those shoes, Hughton''s job was always going to be almost impossible.

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[quote user="ricardo"]Ricardo was hoping that a bit of warm sunshine would brighten the mood of Canary followers after what had been a worrying week. The BBC Predictor had been on overtime as post after post on this forum had predicted disaster. Personally speaking I had this game down as a draw long ago so only a defeat would have been cause for concern.City with Bunn back in goal were otherwise unchanged from last week. There was little to remark on in the early exchanges though it was the Canaries that exhibited a certain nervousness with badly placed passes all over the pitch. Swansea by contrast looked assured in possession and consequently early chances began to fall to them. They had the ball in the net on 10 minutes after being gifted the ball by Wes and Johnny Howson in quick succession. I didn''t notice the whistle and was half into full cursing mood before I realised the whistle had thankfully blown. The Swans began to totally dominate and a goal for the visitors seemed inevitable as the City midfield couldn''t find a yellow shirt for love nor money. T o make matters worse Bunn went down for no apparent reason and had to be replaced by Lee Camp.A free kick on the righthand corner of the box on 20 minutes finally gave City and opening. Snoddy''s kick was charged down but he picked up the rebound and drove into the area before finding Turner 8 yards out. Unfortunately the big defender couldn''t get the power behind his effort and Vorm palmed his stubbed shot away. The crowd were desperately trying to get the team forward but lack of possession meant chances were rarer than hens teeth. On 35 minutes the seemingly inevitable happened as some clever Swansea passing found Michu in space to slot home. It looked a long way back from here but to their credit City stuck at it and got back in the game quickly. Bennett broke down the right and Snoddy was well placed at the far post to head back into the opposite corner. It was a sorely needed goal and against the run of play but it was more than a relief to go in at halftime all square.Surely the second half couldn''t be worse we thought but it was one way traffic for 10 minutes and Camp did brilliantly to block a close range effort when it looked odds on a Swansea goal. Snoddy Wes and Johno were working extremely hard and at last got some pressure on the Swans rearguard. A freekick on the right was floated in by Bennett and Turner was on hand to poke City ahead. The crowd urged the boys on for a third to settle the nerves and in a rare period of domination it almost came. Kamara headed over and then was agonisingly close to forcing in Snoddys cross before Swansea defenders combined to smuggle the ball away.I looked for a while that we might hang on but on 75 minutes that hope was dashed as Moore poked in an equaliser after a long cross was headed back across goal. Holt and Tetty came on for Wes and Howson who at least had improved after a dire first half. We hoped for something special but the closest we came was Kamara being dragged down and Snoddy unable to work any freekick magic. Indeed Michu might have snatched it late on but missed a good chance from 6 yards. All that remained was for Michael Oliver to flash unnecessary yellow cards as the game petered out to a stalemate.On balance I felt it was a point earned rather than two lost for in truth City were generally second best in all departments. The first half in particular harked back to the age of Roeder and Grant but at least it''s another point and with six games left every one is going to be precious. Snoddy, Bassong and Johno gave their all but too many were not at the races today. [/quote]Well we all know how that ended up. Hughton out. Sharpish.

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Of course Lambert is a hard act to follow, nobody expects another Lambert, but the fans can expect performances with passion, a desire to score goals, and management team with sufficient tactical nouse to be able to analyse what is going on on the pitch and has the courage to use the players available to change things. That''s not actually a lot to ask for as a fan!

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Esp as on paper this is a lot stronger squad compared to last season. Just hope Pilks is back and raring to go soon.

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[quote user="Vanwink"]Of course Lambert is a hard act to follow, nobody expects another Lambert, but the fans can expect performances with passion, a desire to score goals, and management team with sufficient tactical nouse to be able to analyse what is going on on the pitch and has the courage to use the players available to change things. That''s not actually a lot to ask for as a fan![/quote]I am a bit sick of people saying "no passion no pride" rah rah rah, largely because it''s impossible to evidence.  It''s just a cheap way of knocking a manager that people don''t like.Help me out.  Tell me what a "passionate" performance looks like so I know how to spot it in future.

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Hughton''s lack of imagination in deploying his squad beggars belief. Stuck in the defensive mind set with no other options has quickly been sussed by other teams.

Lots of huff and puff but no quality, no invention and quiite simply no idea.

Taxi for Hughton !

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Swansea looked better than us but that''s because they are better than us with a style of play they''ve been able to continue with a change of manager - their style was and is sustainable and they''ve topped it off with a real quality player in Michu.

We''re probably a season behind them now, as we''ve rather radically altered our style of play. As Chops has said, using passion as a reason to bash the manager is ridiculous because in my personal opinion i saw lots of effort and thought Johnson was fantastic at doing the defensive job of two midfielders (what the hell does Howson do off the ball?!).

Everyone will yell Hughton Out but we created enough chances at home today to win a game, but conceded a couple of poor goals. Had we won 3-2 it''d have been a different story.

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Putting my tin hat on here but I thought the second half performance was superb, we had them pinned in their own half for 20-25 minutes and should have scored the third while we were on top. First half the passing was awful, particularly in midfield and against a team like Swansea you''re gonna be chasing shadows trying to win it back. We certainly looked more of a threat in the final third than recent games and created numerous chances to score. A draw was probably a fair result but feels like two dropped for me. Five home games since the turn of the year and only seven points, four home games against teams around us yielding only four points. This could prove to be costly come the end. Reading is a must win.

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Well balanced report as usual, thanks Ric. From what I saw online it was pretty shocking stuff in the 1st half and pretty nervy, it really seems a confidence thing to me, when they got it 2nd half then they looked like the city we love to see.... 5 more points will come from the reading game and a couple more draws v stoke and WBA. Hobbling over the line....

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[quote user="BankontheBarclay"]Hughton''s lack of imagination in deploying his squad beggars belief. Stuck in the defensive mind set with no other options has quickly been sussed by other teams.

Lots of huff and puff but no quality, no invention and quiite simply no idea.

Taxi for Hughton ![/quote]Had we gone with 2 up front today I think we would have been beaten. Swansea were by far the better team on the day so a point was a good result.Next week also looks like a game not to go for it in. I have us to lose 2-0 but who knows, the unexpected happened last year and could again.

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[quote user="Helsinki canary"]Well balanced report as usual, thanks Ric. From what I saw online it was pretty shocking stuff in the 1st half and pretty nervy, it really seems a confidence thing to me, when they got it 2nd half then they looked like the city we love to see.... 5 more points will come from the reading game and a couple more draws v stoke and WBA. Hobbling over the line....[/quote]Some people though differently after our good run but that was always going to be self delusion. We are exactly where I expected us to be after 32 games so nothing to be worried about yet.

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[quote user="hogesar"]Swansea looked better than us but that''s because they are better than us with a style of play they''ve been able to continue with a change of manager - their style was and is sustainable and they''ve topped it off with a real quality player in Michu.

We''re probably a season behind them now, as we''ve rather radically altered our style of play. As Chops has said, using passion as a reason to bash the manager is ridiculous because in my personal opinion i saw lots of effort and thought Johnson was fantastic at doing the defensive job of two midfielders (what the hell does Howson do off the ball?!).

Everyone will yell Hughton Out but we created enough chances at home today to win a game, but conceded a couple of poor goals. Had we won 3-2 it''d have been a different story.[/quote]

I agree with this to a certain extent. Last season I felt they struggled a bit going forward, they created the opportunities but looked like they didn''t have the player up front.

You can''t underestimate the role Mich plays in that team now, everything seems to involve him, the players around him constantly looked for him. He is a pivotal player to them.

People say that he is a real find, but the truth is Laudrup already knew of him, he wasn''t a find, he was a steal. Sod knows why he cost only £2million, that''s peanuts.

Upon reflection you can''t help but feel that in a way that is exactly what we miss, and that perhaps RVW can be that player, perhaps if it had been him and not Kei today we would have seen one or two more of those chances go in?

It goes to show what one player of that quality can do for a team. It''s the difference between a team being involved on the fringes of a relegation scrap and a team that was chasing the coattails of a European spot for most of this season.

Just goes to show those fine margins.

But when you look at our two results against them this season I would have taken them at the start of the season. 4pts from the two Swansea fixtures either way around is good by me. Put yourself in their shoes. They will have been gutted to have been beaten by us at their place and will be bitter that they couldn''t make their chances count today for a win.

They have scrimped a measly point off us, one of the teams they would identify as ''beatable'' at the start of the season.

I''m happy with that.

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[quote user="chicken"][quote user="hogesar"]Swansea looked better than us but that''s because they are better than us with a style of play they''ve been able to continue with a change of manager - their style was and is sustainable and they''ve topped it off with a real quality player in Michu.

We''re probably a season behind them now, as we''ve rather radically altered our style of play. As Chops has said, using passion as a reason to bash the manager is ridiculous because in my personal opinion i saw lots of effort and thought Johnson was fantastic at doing the defensive job of two midfielders (what the hell does Howson do off the ball?!).

Everyone will yell Hughton Out but we created enough chances at home today to win a game, but conceded a couple of poor goals. Had we won 3-2 it''d have been a different story.[/quote]

I agree with this to a certain extent. Last season I felt they struggled a bit going forward, they created the opportunities but looked like they didn''t have the player up front.

You can''t underestimate the role Mich plays in that team now, everything seems to involve him, the players around him constantly looked for him. He is a pivotal player to them.

People say that he is a real find, but the truth is Laudrup already knew of him, he wasn''t a find, he was a steal. Sod knows why he cost only £2million, that''s peanuts.

Upon reflection you can''t help but feel that in a way that is exactly what we miss, and that perhaps RVW can be that player, perhaps if it had been him and not Kei today we would have seen one or two more of those chances go in?

It goes to show what one player of that quality can do for a team. It''s the difference between a team being involved on the fringes of a relegation scrap and a team that was chasing the coattails of a European spot for most of this season.

Just goes to show those fine margins.

But when you look at our two results against them this season I would have taken them at the start of the season. 4pts from the two Swansea fixtures either way around is good by me. Put yourself in their shoes. They will have been gutted to have been beaten by us at their place and will be bitter that they couldn''t make their chances count today for a win.

They have scrimped a measly point off us, one of the teams they would identify as ''beatable'' at the start of the season.

I''m happy with that.
[/quote]Too true

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I have a couple of comments re your report Ricardo, you missed the pass from Kamara to Bennett, sublime, and beautifully weighted, Turner did not "poke" the ball in, it was a well taken effort hit with some venom, we had a spell where Swansea were rocking on their heels, Snodgrass served up a chance for Kamara on a plate to make it 3-1, unfortunately he did not take, otherwise a fair summary.....

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[quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]

I have a couple of comments re your report Ricardo, you missed the pass from Kamara to Bennett, sublime, and beautifully weighted, Turner did not "poke" the ball in, it was a well taken effort hit with some venom, we had a spell where Swansea were rocking on their heels, Snodgrass served up a chance for Kamara on a plate to make it 3-1, unfortunately he did not take, otherwise a fair summary.....

[/quote]Being up the other end all I saw was the net bulge and had to ask who had scored..Re the Kamara chance, I was up in the air thinking it had gone in so unsure of exactly how close he got to it. Then I saw the Swansea defenders get it clear. My son seemed to think one Swansea player played it off the other. Too far away to see the incident clearly though.

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[quote user="chicken"][quote user="hogesar"]Swansea looked better than us but that''s because they are better than us with a style of play they''ve been able to continue with a change of manager - their style was and is sustainable and they''ve topped it off with a real quality player in Michu.

We''re probably a season behind them now, as we''ve rather radically altered our style of play. As Chops has said, using passion as a reason to bash the manager is ridiculous because in my personal opinion i saw lots of effort and thought Johnson was fantastic at doing the defensive job of two midfielders (what the hell does Howson do off the ball?!).

Everyone will yell Hughton Out but we created enough chances at home today to win a game, but conceded a couple of poor goals. Had we won 3-2 it''d have been a different story.[/quote]

I agree with this to a certain extent. Last season I felt they struggled a bit going forward, they created the opportunities but looked like they didn''t have the player up front.

You can''t underestimate the role Mich plays in that team now, everything seems to involve him, the players around him constantly looked for him. He is a pivotal player to them.

People say that he is a real find, but the truth is Laudrup already knew of him, he wasn''t a find, he was a steal. Sod knows why he cost only £2million, that''s peanuts.

Upon reflection you can''t help but feel that in a way that is exactly what we miss, and that perhaps RVW can be that player, perhaps if it had been him and not Kei today we would have seen one or two more of those chances go in?

It goes to show what one player of that quality can do for a team. It''s the difference between a team being involved on the fringes of a relegation scrap and a team that was chasing the coattails of a European spot for most of this season.

Just goes to show those fine margins.

But when you look at our two results against them this season I would have taken them at the start of the season. 4pts from the two Swansea fixtures either way around is good by me. Put yourself in their shoes. They will have been gutted to have been beaten by us at their place and will be bitter that they couldn''t make their chances count today for a win.

They have scrimped a measly point off us, one of the teams they would identify as ''beatable'' at the start of the season.

I''m happy with that.[/quote]

Benteke is Aston Villa''s Michu. Swansea would be fighting to avoid the drop too if it wasn''t for Michu and Villa without Benteke would be relegated by now. Two inspired signings.

The key difference for me today was that Swansea played without fear because of course there is no pressure on them either way now whilst the Norwich players understandably looked tense and nervous until somehow we managed to score.

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watching Kei chance again today all I can think is he expected the ball earlier - he held back and accelerated towards the 6 yard box and then had to stop, to avoid being offside and because the cross had not been made. While slowing the cross came and that seems to have left him flat footed and waiting for the ball as his weight momentum balance etc was on the wrong foot allowing the swansea defender to clear.

a move to the front post instead of straight to goal may have rescued it - but thats football - ifs and buts

Its the same with the swansea chances - not bassong or turners best games for each goal and a couple of other moves, as Seb at least had the honesty to admit to last night.

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Agree Ricardo a point gained.
Swansea are a good team when attacking lets make no mistake about it. They are all comfortable on the ball, provide each other with plenty of options for passes and they play with precision. Even when they put the ball in the air it goes to its target not a punt hoping that somebody would get on the end of it. Michu sat between our two banks of 4 where he found plenty of space to dictate play and was always seemed to be available to the player with the ball. He is excellent at timing his runs into the box making him difficult to pick up. Fortunately his finishing was not at its best. To me he had enough very good chances to have bagged a hat trick.
Fortunately they are vulnerable at the back and City did a reasonable job of exploiting it, particularly in the second half period when managed to press up on their back 4.
An entertaining game that could have had any of the three results. So a draw is probably fair and a point gained not two lost.
But we have got to get a three point haul soon........!
OTBC

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[quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]you missed the pass from Kamara to Bennett, sublime, and beautifully weighted[/quote]Wonderful ball that created the goal yet it won''t go down as a ''goal'' or an ''assist'' on his stats.........[quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]Turner did not "poke" the

ball in, it was a well taken effort hit with some venom
[/quote]Stunning volley that Rooney would have been proud of.......[quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]Snodgrass served up a chance

for Kamara on a plate to make it 3-1, unfortunately he did not take,

otherwise a fair summary.....
[/quote]Looked like a glaring miss yesterday but having seen it again on TV, I''m not so sure the defender didn''t get a touch on it. Highlight of the game for me was when Wes dumped those bright orange boots while Bunn was being treated. [:D]

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It drove me potty throughout the game that we were playing too deep, when Swansea were playing their passing game our back four were on the edge of our box, we needed to push up, again with the second goal we were too deep in the box.Full marks to Hughton though, we needed an extra man to hold Swansea''s midfield and when it was 2-2 he made changes to win the match.

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I agree - the nervousness you mention may have resulted from a mixture of fear and anxiety to do well. They were just not relaxed, until they went into the lead and really began to play a little.

 

The fact that Benno generally had the beating of the full back, who almost had him in a neck grip at one point, meant that there was good service down the right. Benno thrives on confidence, which he has not been able to establish easily because he has played so little.

 

Swansea have a good squad, and a good manager. They have succeeded in beating some good teams this, and had slipped recently, so the match was an important one. I doubted whether we would even achieve a draw, so I was relieved at the finish, even if a little disappointed that we could not hold on to our lead.

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