I am reminded of your (many) requests to @JohnF to look on the positive side!
I felt much as you are feeling before our game against Ipswich on Saturday. Look how that turned out…
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Half full with lots of opportunities 
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As good as empty!
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His usual ‘woe is me’ approach seems in vain; they were 2 up last time I looked 
No doubt it will still all go wrong.
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It has. From walking it to struggling.
We can’t keep playing with ten men by picking Barnes.
For the second game in succession, teams elsewhere have presented The Mighty Whites with the chance to go top of the league, and tonight it was in the shape of Millwall beating Leicester, but again, we failed to capitalise.
The ref was abysmal, with two clear penalties not given, but it’s a poor show if you’re going to rely on the man in black to win your matches for you, and zero shots on target says it all really.
We’ve definitely gone off the boil over the last three games, and something has to change to get the free flowing footy magic back once more.
Mateo Joseph should be starting games, rather than Paddy, who is quite simply wasting far too many scoring opportunities lately.
Leicester and Ipswich each have a game in hand over us. and the playoffs beckon, I fear.
M.O.T.
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I was referring to @mikehughescq rather than you/us.
At least after tonight, Mike may begin to see why we are a little pessimistic at times.
At least Coventry did us a favour tonight so not all bad!
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Saint did try to donate the match to Coventy in the second half, with the usual amount of p1$$ing about at the back, which ultimately gave the Sky Blues their goal.
We held out for the three points, but also have to thank the slippery turf around the Chapel End penalty spot!
Well played, that groundsman! 
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I think chasing down Foxes and Ipswich after giving them a 17 point start or whatever it was has eventually caught up with us. We look jaded which I think is inevitable given the relentless nature of the chase. That said we have some significant weaknesses on the field and I think in the dug out. Makems have defended us to a standstill twice now which for me is down to a lack of power/goals through midfield and a lack of imagination from the manager. The side is a long way short of EPL class but 23/4 has been a great ride & it’s still not over although the flame is looking a tad weak just now.
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Struck by the parallels in last Sunday’s Old Firm game and Man C vs Real Madrid. Both ending 3-3 , goals in the early minutes, deflections, stunners.
But what a difference in refereeing standards, competency in Spain vs. the weekly gong show in Scotland.
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I’m still in mourning, as I’m sure you already knew.
Most amusing headline….Brendan Rodgers cedes Glasgow tactical supremacy. Nor quite super Caley, ballistic or atrocious, but !
When I’m going to a game these days I’m armed with so much eye-related stuff that I only carry my phone not my iPadPro. Somehow I’m logged out of the forum on my phone and I can’t remember the specific password so I don’t look at the forum until now, when I’ve just got home post match. So, apologies for not responding sooner. Over the years I’ve come to think of this as an advantage and come to the conclusion football forums in particular should be shut down until the day after a match to allow for slightly more mature reflection than you get post match.
I think there’s likely a world of difference between myself and @JohnF seeing nothing at all to be positive about as your team rose from 17th to an increasingly likely play off place and veering between an unintentionally funny list of contradictory views
- we need a more experience manager. Now we’ve got one we need a younger one.
- we need less inexperienced players. Now we’ve got one he does nothing. We need younger players.
- everything is the owners fault including those decisions they absent themselves from. A new investor/owner is needed.
- hurrah we’ve a new investor. He’s really good and he’ll sort it all out. Why hasn’t he sorted it all out?
Very different to my game by game approach, which recognises where we have issues and where we don’t. Last night should have been far more difficult.
A back 3 that hasn’t been settled all season was once again disrupted. We again lacked a left wing back and there’s no ball winner in midfield. We leave a left wing back on the bench and put McClean, who has been superb when placed in central midfield as a ball winner, in as left wing back. Indeed, on lots of levels what we did last night was extraordinarily thick. We have a fast and superb right wing back with a great cross. In 45 minutes we gave him the ball once… and scored. Despite this we gave him the ball only twice more in 102 minutes and scored from 1 of those. The rest of the time we gave the ball to McClean. He plays it back to Lee. Lee needs a touch and a shimmy. Gets closed down and plays it back to O’Connor at left back. He’s a lovely pass when playing as an attacking mid but as a defender he’s too slow and resorts to endlessly vague hoofs down the line. We lose the ball.
Crawley attack ferociously; try to grab early goals on the counter against keen teams attacking at home and then pick you off as you press for an equaliser. After what they did to Mansfield, Newport and Stockport despite the opposition having more shots there was much to be concerned about pre match.
Kudos then for a Phil Parkinson tactical masterclass.
We literally sat back; let them have the ball and played with magnificent discipline to allow them next to no passes between the lines. We then hit them on the counter with a magnificently silly opening goal where Lee mishits and balloons a cross to the far post where Barney, the right wing back, scores his first goal for us by somehow managing to knee the ball into his own face and into the net. We’d barely recovered from the shock when we scored an absolutely superb goal on the counter 2 minutes later. Almost as good as the Grimsby goal from Cannon. Started just outside our box. By the time it got to Barney we were expecting a cross to Mullin and Palmer but Cannon came steaming past him at an extraordinary pace; took the beautifully weighted pass and slid the ball across to give Mullin an easy tap in. Well worth a look on YouTube or ITV4.
Crawley then had no idea what to do and what ought to have been the tensest game of the season had the atmosphere of a training game by the middle of the 2nd half. They played really nice passing football. We picked ‘em off.
Just need Mansfield to beat MK Dons (an absolutely unpredictable game) and us to beat FGR 1-0 and we’ll have back to back promotions for the first time in our history on Saturday. Equally it’s so ludicrously close we could still slip into the play offs and it goes to the last game of the season. What a wonderful sport.
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Really interesting to read others negativity about their teams. The reality is that at this point of the season we all know our teams weaknesses and they could be exploited in one game and be a strength in the next. It’s easy to underestimate just how much of this is tension, tiredness and managing pressure at this point.
Anyone who had seen us at Accrington for example would have laughed at the idea we were in the mix for promotion. I’m sure the home fans must have felt we were the worst side they’d seen all season. Anyone who saw us last night would have said we had the air of champions.
Hard for me to choose between Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich or Southampton. Realistically all have turned around their fortunes this season. Leicester have taken a core of players most recently tainted by relegation; changed the way they play and been unexpectedly compelling. Leeds look mostly like a Farke team. Again, he’s retained a core. Ipswich were great coming up but surely can’t have expected to compete at the top end so soon. I honestly didn’t think Martin would turn Southampton around other than in style. At this point it’s easy for us to see every shock defeat or points dropped as a portent of terrible things but really this is just how all seasons end. It’s great.
Shrewdly noted that we had 33% possession last night but 20% of that was in Crawley’s net 
That’s not what I said at all!
I supported Farke as manager and never asked for a more experienced manager than him. I have stated that people who failed to perform should be replaced which is a common occurrence in most walks of life.
I wanted us to go for players who had premiership experience not the usual inexperienced unknowns we had been buying.
I did not support the club in going for players with premiership experience who are well past the thirty years of age mark as they have difficulty keeping up with the pace in the top leagues and is probably the reason they are free transfers.
I am glad we have the prospect of a new owner as Delia has shown through our gentle demise that she is not the one to carry the club forward.
It’s not my contradictions but your difficulty in interpreting what I’m saying.
Canary fan and others can see that many of my remarks are very tongue in cheek and others in keeping with the gallows humour necessary when supporting a club like Norwich. They take them as general football banter and I suggest you take a more relaxed approach.
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Change “Norwich” to “Southampton”, and I can relate to that……for sure, after the second half at St. Mary’s yesterday evening. You gotta have a sense of humour!
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