Match Day Thread Lilywhites V Canaries

Yes carrow, I think our next real test is going to be away to Brighton at the end of this month, though we have to get back to winning ways on Saturday to keep up the pressure on Newcastle. Newcastle appear to have a run of fairly easy games, but in this league, you can't take anything for granted.

 

Apart from last Christmas.

 

Well Huddersfield lost 3-1 to Preston tonight so they can't even beat a team in the lower half! That's them finished then.

 

Who have we got next ?

 

I don't think you have ever pretended that everything is fantastic, that is for sure ! Clearly not an admirer of Alex Neil, even if we go on to win the league , you will no doubt be one of perhaps a few, who will be arguing that we should appoint a new manager with more experience to keep us up. . In my humble opinion, this obsession of yours with league positions means diddly squat , especially this early in the season. You are supporter with a clear agenda and you will look at every conceivable negative to prove a point.
There have only been 2 games where we have dropped points when in a commanding position ( Newcastle + Fulham) No doubting that the way we defended against Newcastle was hugely disappointing, but Fulham had luck with their first goal which got them back into the game , and then C Martin scored a decent equaliser . However, we did not capitulate and could well have ended up grabbing the winner. So sorry, but 2 games does not make us a team of bottlers. I do agree that it is disappointing we appear to find it difficult to kill off games when in a commanding position, but there has only been these 2 occasions when we have actually dropped points

 

How quickly you forget all the games last year when we bottled it last season or the games this year when we had the chance to put some very poor teams to the sword only to just about hang on to our lead or for the draw. As for AN I have in the past been very supportive of him, I was even happy to give him a chance this season, despite his poor performance in the second half of last season. I was very much on the fence as to whether or not we continue with him, up until the Birmingham game. But you are right in one thing, I do see him very much as a lower to mid table championship manager rather than a PL one. The 'this early in the season line is starting to wear a bit thin, we are well over a quarter of a way through.

My obsession with league positions, plenty of people on here patting themselves on the back because we're currently second and ignoring the details of how we got there and the issues that persist with the team.

 

That did occur to me OCF, especially as Preston are unbeaten in their last 5 games. They were at home though and will play us at CR, which should make a difference as we're unbeaten in 6 games at home. Huddersfield dominated the game, with 60% possession and 13 shots to 8 but failed to defend effectively against dead ball situations which I'm sure AN will be aware of. If we do lose to Preston though, I agree that it could be time to start worrying. I just don't think we will.

As for cannario's stats, there could be a cause for concern except that our 2 losses were away against top 6 sides. Birmingham was, IMO, our only really poor performance in 13 matches and Newcastle was a good performance until the final 2 minutes. We'll play both of them at home in the second half of the season. The same goes for Brighton who we play away next week. That will be a test but we won't really have much of an idea until after 23 games have been played.

 

No but for most of last season and this season, we have defended poorly, particularly when Klose has not played. So AN has had plenty of time to coach the players we have and 2 transfer windows to purchase improvements, so the issues with the defence is very much his responsibility. Maybe if we spent a bit less on buying quality midfielders that we don't or hardley ever use and a bit more on defenders we might have a better all round team.

 

"ignoring the details of how we got there and the issues that persist with the team"

I think you will find that we are in 2nd because we have been winning most of our games. And I believe most supporters are aware of our deficiencies( inadequate cover for Klose and Jerome) but , in the main, happy that we are currently in the top 2 .
And I had not forgotten about last season, but how very interesting that you should feel it necessary to bring it up ( in an attempt to strengthen your "bottling"argument no doubt). I think most would agree that If Tim Klose had not got injured, we might well have stayed up. And furthermore, I hope most would agree that it was due to Alex Neil's arrival at Carrow Road the season before last that we ended up back in the Premiership last season. I certainly do not think he is the finished article, but I do believe he is starting to show signs that he is learning.
So from being on the fence at the start of the season as far as AN is concerned to now rating him as a mid to lower Championship manager, he must have really gone down in your estimation !
And what is wearing thin is your continual league position analysis in an attempt to prove that we are not doing as well as everybody thinks we are . So all you back patters, please pay heed !

 

We're there because we deserve to be, simple as that really. Bringing up league positions is just nit picking and meaningless.

Most of us know it's blatantly not perfect, our defending worries me every game, but we're in a good position and picking up points.

 

100% spot on. Can't argue with a single word of this.
£16+m on Naisith and Pritchard despite Wessi being in the form of his life...WTF?

 

Starting with last year, IMO we were relegated because we lost two vital defensive players in Tettey and Klose. The club did (finally) get a quality CB in January when Klose joined which made all the difference until his injury. I'd argue that we now have a far better defence than we ever had under Lambert or Hughton. As for Naismith, we needed more firepower as well and he was a proven PL player. He didn't settle quickly, but his 3 goals in 6 games this season indicates to me that he has the potential to be a key player either out wide or in the hole this season. Pritchard is the natural eventual replacement for Wes and offers another option we vitally need. Maddison has great potential, but at 19 he's not ready to take over from Wes just yet which is why he's out on loan.

I don't agree that most of this season we have defended poorly. We've lost 2 games out of 13, both when Klose was missing. We defended poorly in those, and we've made things difficult in other games, but we still got the results which have us in 2nd place averaging over 2 points a game. Yes we need another CB in January, but the situation isn't dire by any means.

 

Have you not read the posts from mike 555, RiverendRick and WOODBINE?

Seems like you're only happy when you're moaning and nitpicking!

 

If you don't like the analysis, don't read it. Not sure how you can dispute it though as all it is is mainly a list of facts.

 

You make huge assumptions that you can have no idea of unless you are on the board of NCFC. Do you know how hard we tried to sign a striker or a defender?

Of course not, let's just blame the manager eh?

 

This whole "we have played mostly teams in the lower half of the division " is utter crap. They are in their position because we beat them. Had the results been reversed they would be 3 points better off and we the same worse of for each game. I am aiming this response at you Canario. You do seem to have a stat based agenda with which to attack the manager. WE ARE SECOND IN THE EFFING LEAGUE. Something must be going right.

 

I like the analysis cannario and hope you continue it throughout the season as it is useful, but I think your conclusions so far don't pay enough attention to which games are home or away. Like I said above, it will be much more revealing when we've played 23 games.

 

Why is he not ready?, from what I've seen and heard from his time at Coventry & Edinburgh he's at least as deserving of a chance as either of the Murphy twins were at the start of the season. I think the main thing keeping him out is the number of senior players that we have in his favoured position. I think the Edinburgh loan was a good move, but would like to see him come back in January. With Hoolahan's consistent form (he's always been goo on his day) and Pritchard's undoubted talent. I think we can afford to let Naismith go and in January and put any money towards a decent CB.

 

Thank you, I will try and factor in home & away games going forward.

 

The Murphy twins are 21 and have far more experience than Maddison, who has only been in the squad since the summer. His chance will come and I look forward to that immensely, but at the moment he's far better off getting first team experience with Aberdeen. I'm hoping we begin to build up a sufficient lead in the league so he can come back in January and get some game time in the Championship. In the mean time, we need to see what Pritchard can do at number 10.