So what did we all think? Positives: Ruddy was strong and did everything asked of him, including making some solid saves. Tierney looked solid at left back. Morison impressed up front holding the ball up well and set up the goal, skinning their defender before whipping in an excellent cross which Al Habsi fumbled Generally when we zipped it about we looked capable of eeking out chances. The shape we held made it hard for Wigan to break us down in a pretty open game. Concerns We looked quite slow in comparison to some of their players. For example, Russel Martin held off from every player that attacked them a good 5 yards which against other teams giving them that kind of space will be suicide! Was it me or did we pump it long a LOT first half? Dont get me wrong it may have been a ploy to turn the Wigan defence but we looked a lot better team we we got it down and played. Wes found it hard to find space and personally I felt he was struggling up until his goal, as was Holt. First day nerves perhaps! I've got no doubt they will come good though - just a blip for sure. That's just my first impressions but others may have seen it very differently from me - what do you all think?
I felt the ref was a spoiler! Foxy's yellow after 30 seconds when he made contact with the ball made for some nervous tackling, then the penalty given for nothing at all made it a whole lot worse! He's definitely a ref that wishes to be seen!
I thought we played extremely well apart from the last ten minutes when Wigan put us under a bit of pressure. Well deserved point which I would have definitely taken before the game. I was watching in the internet, some South American channel it was, when Hoolahoops scored commentator had me in stitches. "Goaaaal, Norweetch Ceety, Canarios !" Also, I could have sworn I saw Danial Ayala watching from the stands, anyone else notice ? OTBC ... CTI ... ILWT
I was watching on that south american channel up until 60 mins when it stopped coz it got banned and then found a sky sports link to watch it on - I told the missus that commentator was like me except a hundred times worse and he was making me nervous every time Moses got the ball!!! I had to endure 23 nerve wracking games watching live last year - this year it will be 38 live games!!! I dont know if the ticker can take it much more!!!
I had to turn off Radio Norfolk as they were a good 15 to 20 seconds ahead of the match on the internet and it was making it painful to watch. *You have to feel sorry for those poor fans who broke down on the M62. Does anybody know if they got to the game at all?
I am VERY encouraged by this. Like Lambert says "If you can't win, make sure you don't lose" If we had lost the pressure would be on for Stoke. We looked nervous to begin with. Expected, coped well and didn't panic. Once we get the ball down and play our confident football we'll be great. Most encouraging thing for me is the last few minutes. We defended excellently under the cosh. DeLaet recovered well from a penalty I can only describe as being VERY soft. However, it's the premier League and its full of pansy arsed idiot foreigners that like to fall on their arses. Lots more to come. Can't wait!
I think a draw was a fair result but at times we looked distinctly Championship. I think many of our players were nervous and i agree the ref was a complete tosser. We all have our opinion on who was good and bad but overall not a bad team performance. We made some bad mistakes in defence early on but got into the game later. I am sure we will improve and let's be positive, 1 point in the bag, can't wait till next week. For anyone who does'nt know ''Firstrowsports'' is the link many of us use you get to choose which language you want. Well I watched it in Spanish because the link was better than in English. Oh yes and to top it all the binners lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got to love Lambo - Will in no way undermine his players (in the case of DeLeats error) and you can see they totally and utterly respect the 'Gaffer' because he focuses on the positives for example mentioning him on how well he blocked some of their efforts late in the game. Agree Beefy - So many of our previous teams would have capitulated under that spell of sustained Wigan pressure in the last ten minutes but not under Lambo.
We did well, against a threatening, if slightly disjointed, counter-attacking side. Having watched the game on the comp (whilst listening to Radio Norfolk's coverage) it seemed quite clear it could have been won by either side, but i'd suggest the general play was in our favour. Funny thing is we looked like the home side, and really asserted ourselves throughout the game. We dominated the centre of the park, and had better and were better in possession, and we certainly sounded like it (kudos to the fans on that one), whereas Wigan looked very sporadic (much like their fans), in bursts and errors across the park. The former was to their benefit on the counter, that they relied on and executed clinically, well and often. They were frightening in the final third, for they were usually attacking with pace when many of our players and full backs were stationed in their half; whereas we were often (rather than going for goal) trying to find our way through 11 Wigan players, especially after Wigan had scored. It was Wes' goal that released that congestion in the Wigan half. It was after the goal that we were quite prone to 'pumping it long', more in frustration and urgency than anything else, and had Hoolahan not of scored, we'd of probably been trying to boot the ball through a wall of Wigan players all afternoon to no avail. Wigan's penalty clearly shouldn't of been, but credit to De Laet, for without him we would have unjustly lost, thanks to a couple of heroic blocks. We looked very solid in summary, never more so than after the equaliser, and once we find our rhythm we'll become a more 'fuller' side in both a defensive and attacking sense (much like last season). And much like the beginning of last season, when Holt kicks into form, that is when i reckon we'll raise it several gears. As for our man of the match, it's rather counter-intuitive for one obvious reason, but for me it was De Laet. Seemed determined to repent for the unfortunate penalty, and was fast, strong, putting in good tackles, and nulled many of the attacks Wigan tried to put past him afterwards. Whether it was Diame, Moses or Di Santo, i think Tierney and Martin were given a hard time, and did well in defence just as often as they misjudged their positioning.
First game away in the PL and we got ourselves a point, that's not a terrible start by any means. At times we played some outstanding football, other times it was sloppy. It's fine to play it out from the back but Whitbread and De Laet were a bit too casual for me - against a better side we would have been severely punished. Holty didn't look too good today, it seems to take a while for him to get going and get match fitness / sharpness back. He did it in League One, The Championship and now the PL - give him 4 / 5 games and we should have the old Holty back....let's hope that's not too long. Still think Ward is our best option at CB - everyone seems to disagree but he's assured and better overall than the others, imho. Plenty of positives there and the penalty was a bit dubious to me, very little contact but De Laet should not mess about with the ball when he's that deep - schoolboy error. Sure he will learn and I was happy with our performance overall.
Some good positives I think we kept it together defended well, we moved the ball really well in the first half. We need to be more clinical around the box, there was lots of scrappy moments and fumbling about at times. At times especially in the second half we let them have too much possession I didn't like it one bit, it felt a bit like I was a cup match when a team defends it out for lead or a replay. My last criticism which has been highlighted before is the nerves.
Overall satisfied with an away point but as I mentioned on the other thread was often worried about the difference in pace between some of there players and ours! Thankfully N'Zogbia has buggered off, had he been playing I think we would have come away with nothing today. In short, a lot of hard work to do. A hell of a lot of defending coming our way but hopefully we can cope more often than not. PL has now had a chance to see what he is likely to be faced with this season and all being well will organize the team accordingly. It's going to be a hard season but at least we didn't get humped 4-0 at home
I thought the whole defence were a bit like rabbits in the headlights every time Moses and then Rodallega got on the ball. Against better teams, that could be costly. But a point on the road at a new, higher level will do just fine I also thought Morison was outstanding but definitely an off day for Holt.
morisons was excellent for us I think alot of players were nervous, most of them have never played in the premier league
