What a change round

[Green and Yellow 0]

Since Phelan arrived. True professional who knows his job.

[Herman 11,135]

Just the sort of experienced bloke Neil needed beside him. Let''s hope it carries on in the same way.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Great to have a management team that clicks, good for City, well done.

[Dubai Mark 0]

What a shame we didnt have him at the start of the season, as had we, I believe we would be the clear leaders by now.

Could end up being our club''s best signing since Paul Lambert :-)

[canarycop 232]

Could be ! Xmas is always an interesting period so let''s see what happens. Won''t get too carried away yet but I really hope Mr Phelan is having an effect on Neil. He may be just the man to teach him that it''s not about all out attack but 90 minutes of controlled football. Man Utd didn''t win every game pretty but in their heyday they controlled games. I for one hope this is the start of a beautiful journey.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Yep, we had a great start and Neil lost his way a bit, but it''s back on track now.

[The Bristol Nest 597]

Indeed. We started well, dropped off and are now back on track. Not worth panicking too early is it? Phelan has added some much needed pragmatism. Great result.

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

It''s the start of a positive change - winning the next three games will confirm things...

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

Early days. I''d argue we''ve had good fortune in the last couple of games. Results different, but performances the same. Which indicates we probally havent had the rub of the green recently.

Wigan away, exactly the same performance as Forest away, but we held on. 1st half today, exactly the same as Brighton and Reading. But this time we took our chances.

[Len 74]

I wouldn''t get too excited just yet. We had some good results earlier in the season but rode our luck whilst playing poor quality football. Huddersfield caved in after getting a man sent off, we thumped them, but our football hasn''t substantially improved. Let''s see if we can play with more quality and avoid the traditional post new year slump before getting out the party poppers.

[chicken 0]

I''d argue that we''ve played better in a number of games this season and been on the other end of the scoreline.It''s swings and round-a-bouts. It always has been in the Championship. The last few games prior to this run, have been after a period where the team has lost confidence as a result of good play and failing to take chances or make the most of better possession.It got scrappy. As a result the team needed to become more solid to stop the points slipping and address the drop in form. It appears to have worked.Those long enough in the tooth will have seen all of this before, many, many times and will likely see it many, many times more.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

[quote user="lincoln canary"]Early days. I''d argue we''ve had good fortune in the last couple of games. Results different, but performances the same. Which indicates we probally havent had the rub of the green recently.

Wigan away, exactly the same performance as Forest away, but we held on. 1st half today, exactly the same as Brighton and Reading. But this time we took our chances.[/quote]

I agree with much of this post. In a lot of the other home games we dominated little things went against us at crucial times which we didn''t recover from. Today those things went for us at crucial times and we took full advantage.

 

I''m not one bit concerned about the first half and don''t know why the h/t booers bother going. The way this game panned out was very similar to a lot of the games in League One when we made our superiority count later in the game. In fact Huddersfield at home that season, also in December, was one such game where at half-time we had been second best and went in 0-0 but won the game emphatically 3-0 in the second half.

 

But if people want to take credit away from the manager and give it to one of his coaches that''s fine by me. They''ll look as daft as those who put every good thing down to Bowkett and McNally and every bad thing down to Smith & Jones. I guess if you''ve set your stall out forcibly looking stupid is preferable to climbing down.

 

 Great day for everyone at NCFC, especially Adams, Holt and Phelan.

 

Now where are those posters who were running this board trying to rub my nose in a defeat just a fortnight ago. As some one famously once said....

 

Where are you......WHERE ARE YOU...... LET''S BE ''AVIN'' YOU......

 

 

[Gainer the Gopher 0]

The game lasts 90 minutes, not 45. Adams made changes and it showed. Last season there were no changes until 80+ minutes, and some were so blinded by loyalty to a terrible manager, they actually claimed it was harder to play against 10 men.

With that kind of illogic, we should have gotten red cards against us in the first minute of every game.

[lake district canary 4,822]

[quote user="Gainer the Gopher"]The game lasts 90 minutes, not 45. Adams made changes and it showed. Last season there were no changes until 80+ minutes, and some were so blinded by loyalty to a terrible manager, they actually claimed it was harder to play against 10 men.

With that kind of illogic, we should have gotten red cards against us in the first minute of every game.[/quote]

A team going down to ten men can be harder to play against.  If a good team goes down to ten men they will more than likely compensate and reorganise to cope with it.  If a lesser team goes down to ten men, it can make it easier.  Ten or eleven,  Adams made changes at half time and they were good changes because they worked.   Whether we would have beaten a full strength Huddersfield so easily is unknowable, but whichever way you look at it, this one win does not make our season.  It gives us cause for hope, but that is all.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

I think it''s fair to say that a decent performance matched with a good result at one of the divisions top teams will go along way to repairing the damage.

Derby away is the perfect opportunity. One of the few games id actually be happy with Adams starting with BJ, O''neil, Tettey and Howson all together.

[Paul101 190]

The three most important things for me yesterday other than the 3 points

Clean sheet two in a row now and Ruddy back to form

Hooper setting up two goals so that''s 2 goals 3 assists in the last few games

Redmond Getting THAT goal about bloody time and he set one up again if anyone needed a goal it was him

[morty 0]

[quote user="Paul101"]The three most important things for me yesterday other than the 3 points

Clean sheet two in a row now and Ruddy back to form

Hooper setting up two goals so that''s 2 goals 3 assists in the last few games

Redmond Getting THAT goal about bloody time and he set one up again if anyone needed a goal it was him[/quote]And Grabban''s goal[Y]

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Wes regaining his fitness

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

It was a fantastic win ,, lots and lots of positives ,, all have been adequately highlighted .

That said , I don''t think we played that well for much of the game , and I don''t think Huddersfield were very good , 10 men or not !

After what we have seen recently in terms of quality , and luck , I am still only nervously optimistic . We have some games coming up which are more of a test , and it will be great if we can have a productive Xmas period , I don''t think we have had a good one since Lambert days ?

Finally ,, what was that ref on ? I counted around 6 clear handballs , which he ignored ,, culminating with the "catch " near the end , which he awarded them a corner !

Ok, I will watch the highlights this week 😃 OTBC

[Ray 111]

What I noticed yesterday, even in the first half, was that we appeared to be playing at a quicker tempo, insomuch there was more only 1 or 2 touch football, no-one appeared to be dallying on the ball. When Redmond came on I must admit I had my concerns, because in the past he tended to want the ball to his feet, which slowed the game down, but yesterday he appeared to be prepared to accept the ball in space, which of course meant he was running onto it at pace and then going to the byline (something else he had done far too little of IMO). The result of this change was evident, as far as I''m concerned I don''t care if he never cuts inside again, as long as he sticks to the touchline, accepts the ball in space and crosses from the byline. If he does that then we will score 5 or more a few more times this season. I wonder if this was Phelan being instrumental in his ommission last week, to give him a kick up the backside and to work on his game throughout the week. BTW, I thought Redmond spoke very well in the Gunn Club and sort of admitted his failings and how he was learning all the time.

I also thought our CB''s did a superb job on Holty, he really didn''t get much of a look in and I think that was testament to RM and CC, who are looking like a strong CB partnership to me, it remains to be seen whether RB will slot in and if so who will make way?

All round I was pleased with what I saw, OK we won 5 - 0 so who wouldn''t be pleased, but I''m refering to the manner/style of play, IMO we are moving very quickly into serious contenders again.

[CiderkiddCanary 0]

[quote user="Ray"]What I noticed yesterday, even in the first half, was that we appeared to be playing at a quicker tempo, insomuch there was more only 1 or 2 touch football, no-one appeared to be dallying on the ball. When Redmond came on I must admit I had my concerns, because in the past he tended to want the ball to his feet, which slowed the game down, but yesterday he appeared to be prepared to accept the ball in space, which of course meant he was running onto it at pace and then going to the byline (something else he had done far too little of IMO). The result of this change was evident, as far as I''m concerned I don''t care if he never cuts inside again, as long as he sticks to the touchline, accepts the ball in space and crosses from the byline. If he does that then we will score 5 or more a few more times this season. I wonder if this was Phelan being instrumental in his ommission last week, to give him a kick up the backside and to work on his game throughout the week. BTW, I thought Redmond spoke very well in the Gunn Club and sort of admitted his failings and how he was learning all the time.

I also thought our CB''s did a superb job on Holty, he really didn''t get much of a look in and I think that was testament to RM and CC, who are looking like a strong CB partnership to me, it remains to be seen whether RB will slot in and if so who will make way?

All round I was pleased with what I saw, OK we won 5 - 0 so who wouldn''t be pleased, but I''m refering to the manner/style of play, IMO we are moving very quickly into serious contenders again.[/quote]I think the most obvious choice would be to move Martin to RB and have a CB partnership of R. Bennett and Cuéllar. This would mean Whittaker dropping out of the team, which I don''t think would be considered an all-too unpopular move by many fans...

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="Gainer the Gopher"]The game lasts 90 minutes, not 45. Adams made changes and it showed. Last season there were no changes until 80+ minutes, and some were so blinded by loyalty to a terrible manager, they actually claimed it was harder to play against 10 men.

With that kind of illogic, we should have gotten red cards against us in the first minute of every game.[/quote]Failing to recognise that at Hull we were already 1-0 down when they went down to 10 men, meaning they just take a striker off and sit everybody behind the ball and don''t make any attempt to attack, which makes it a lot harder for a team to break them down. Yesterday we grabbed the first goal so Huddersfield had to attack us, giving us more space and width to open them up.