Just back from watching Norwich v QPR.
QPR must be wondering how they managed to lose this one. They were quicker, more skilful and only lacked a decent striker.
Norwich on the other hand were slow, predictable and short on ideas.
We must now have the oldest team in the league and it shows.
I can’t understand why Barnes is a big fans favourite. When he’s not arguing with the ref he’s fouling people and well off the pace.
This is the worst Norwich performance I’ve seen since the days of Roeder.
I don’t envy the job of our new Sports Director.
Have you not just won two in a row for the first time since August?
You have to see Norwich to believe them. QPR had 60% possession and they were the away team.
Norwich looked clueless and were only saved by the fact QPR didn’t have a decent goal scorer in their team.
There is no movement and possession is continually lost which is the sure sign of a poor team.
The build up from the back is so slow it’s difficult to watch and I’ve found myself almost dropping off to sleep.
I don’t know what’s happened to Norwich but they’ve gone to pieces.
There have been back to back wins but both were against the run of play.
1 Like
From the PinkUn forum you are by no means alone in your view of the match.
It is 6 points from 6 but there is little to no evidence of any sustainable improvement & the only achievement this season may just be avoiding becoming involved in a relagation struggle.
1 Like
Possession is a funny one. I’ve never been convinced it tells you anything worth knowing. Against Accrington last week they had most of the possession and won the game without us having more than one real shot on goal in 100 minutes. This week Morecambe had even more possession than Accrington but lost 6-0.
The difference clearly wasn’t possession then. Last week we couldn’t get the ball down and wanted two touches for every attempt at possession based football. This week we were playing like it was one touch beach football.
1 Like
I think possession is something that happens naturally with good teams such as Manchester City.
With lesser gifted teams it’s a good measure of the quality of your team if it has more than 50% possession.
Strangely in recent times at Norwich I’ve noticed we seem to have achieved better results with less possession. This fact together with what I see on the pitch indicates to me the team is not as good as it’s been in recent times.
I’ve an astute friend who coaches in league one. Not at any club mentioned here thus far. They note that with elite players a small number of teams can make possession mean something but outside of that what it most usually means is that the team with the ball is losing.
1 Like
Taken a while to digest yesterday. Fantastic win for Bolton and by all accounts they played some scintillating stuff. I’m a big fan of Ian Evatt and whilst it’s very close at the top of league one I’d be surprised if Bolton weren’t right up there at the end. Nothing going for Exeter at the minute. A defeat for my mates team Cambridge but also another great win for Critchley against the previously unbeaten at home Portsmouth. I’m keeping a close eye on our mate Pearson in temporary charge at Grimsby; our man Mangan at Brizzle Rovers and the ever excellent and under-rated Maxy in goal for Huddersfield.
Downstairs in league two we had absolutely the perfect day. Mansfield lost the last unbeaten record in the EFL. Stockport satisfyingly fell short of Luon’s consecutive wins record. Notts County’s bizarre high line was caught out again and their refusal to spend money in a period of multiplying injuries looks increasingly bewildering. Only Barrow and Crewe pick up points. We just needed to pick ourselves up after abject defeat at Accrington and get a win.
What we actually got was astonishing. Only the extended highlights come close to doing it justice.
Yes, Morecambe lost their manager. Yes, they’ve a young team. They also carry a real threat up top from at least three players and play excellent counter attacking football. Even minus a manager they were a long long way from the worst team I’ve seen this season. Indeed with the right appointment they’ll be in with a good shot at the play offs.
Worries for us? Elliot Lee playing like a man hoping to avoid a booking and a suspension just so he can get to the imminent point when cards reset and are wiped. No defensive midfielder once again. Yes I know that’s what Evans is supposed to be. It’s not what he’s doing though.
Thing is, if you’re a counter attacking team you have to score the first goal. Conceding two in the first seven minutes is a death sentence. So it proved. On the highlights neither look pretty. One an own goal. One through the keeper after a deflection. The extended highlights showed that both came after ten pass moves. Mendy back off international duty; thrust in on the wrong side again and clearly full of confidence before going solo after his Gambian debut and smashing the ball into the top of the net. What else to say? Mullin got three. Could easily have had six. The final/sixth goal looks neat on ITV 4. A pass, a flick, a pass inside and Jonah passing it into the top corner of the net. What was missed again was that this was a thirteen pass move from our half. Utterly sublime.
An afternoon of great comedy too. The steam from the steam train at General which rose in a line above the space the Kop used to be. The eerie whistle in the darkening sky which accompanied it. Whole place burst out laughing.
Then there was their keeper being booked for time wasting at 3-0 down. Hard to imagine a stupider booking. Mullin on the way now. Will be surprised if he’s not leading scorer by seasons end.
All this from a team doing well to recognise each other given the awful moustaches being grown for Movember.
Oh, and the programme cover was a seasons beer too 
If there is one thing worse than watching Norwich at the ground it’s watching them on tv. They look even more vulnerable!
Tonight is typical of their lack lustre performances this year.
I don’t think Wagner’s substitutions are likely to improve matters.
Since Skipp went back to Spurs we’ve no holding midfielder and its costing us dearly.
2 Likes
After throwing away yet another lead, ‘lack lustre’ seems rather charitable.
1 Like
Feel your pain. Pretty much my experience tonight. Sat on the bed with the boy and watched the stream. Even at 0-2 up the outcome was predictable. We continue to play with an attacking midfielder in defence and zero defensive mids. Great of you have possession but awful if you don’t. Luckily other results fell our way.
2 Likes
Wrexham were so disappointing in the second half. We could have had a sack full in the first half and if Davies’ shot had gone in rather than smacking into the bar I think we would have won comfortably.
Worried about Onkonkwo, he had a lot of blood coming out of his mouth before he went off. Really hope it is a cut mouth rather than a broken jaw or similar!
It wasn’t quite as cold as I expected it to be. Wearing 2 coats helped 
Only two? The pneumonia has me up to six or seven layers at present.
1 Like
Well, I had two of everything else on too.
1 Like
No matter what system you play the inclusion of a decent CDM is essential.
For some reason, known only to himself, Wagner thinks it’s not essential.
There is a story on the Southampton local paper’s website about the possible return from injury of Saints defender Jack Stephens.
One of the comments beneath the story:
The Cornish Maldini
:-))))
The amazing thing last night was at 2-0 up one of our two strikers is injured and instead of bringing on a midfielder to close down the space Wagner brings on a 34 year old striker, just back from injury, who he stated before the game couldn’t play two games in three days!
It has never ceased to surprise me when a manager fails to see what’s obvious to thousands of supporters.
I have often felt that if the management team spent a couple of games sitting high up in the stands their teams failings would quickly become far more obvious.
My regular seat at CR in the early 80’s was in the old South stand, on the centre line 3 or 4 rows back. I liked the closeness to the players & the atmosphere created. However, when I saw the same game on MTOD later from the normal camera positions it was often hard to believe that it was the same game that I had watched a few hours earlier.
I believe that the TV view gave a much better overall view of how the teams were playing & would have been of greater value to the management than the similar view they got to me.
1 Like
The Mighty Whites regain some of their Mojo tonight with a 3-1 victory over Swansea at Elland Road.
Back up into third place, and slowly closing in on the top two.
M.O.T.
1 Like