I thought today was possibly our best 90-minute performance of the season. There have been a lot of better short spells of 15 or 20 minutes, but these tended to be sandwiched inside much longer poor spells. Apart from his mistake, Sara looked impressive, and you could see what Hayden can offer the side in terms of breaking up the opposition's play. Aarons looked back to something close to his best, too. I also think Gibson has performed well over the last few games.
Totally agree with all of that and would add that we also maintained our commitment throughout and weren't daunted when they scored. Ramsey had another good game and scored the winner as well. I doubt we'd have him if Smith wasn't in charge.
I agree ball at feet that was the best performance so far. But there is definitely still something going wrong defensively. And we cannot overlook that Rotherham’s weaker performance and also their bad luck with injuries, meaning they had to play 442 which suited us.
I honestly could not decide - they were all pretty average, though I suppose McLean probably made fewer errors and did get a goal
I felt like Hayden was the biggest presence in the game and edged it for me. But it’s fair to say there were a good number of decent performances
Sorry to disagree but that's just not true. The build up work to get us in to a great position was by Aarons & Sara. Great individual skill by Sara and some really good interplay between him and Aarons to create a goal scoring opportunity. Sara lost the ball when challenged and it fell to Pukki who had a shot, which took a massive deflection, which resulted in McLean heading the ball in, because he was in the right place at the right time. Whilst Pukki was in a good position to accept a cut back from Sara, if it had happened, he did nothing purposeful to make the goal. If anything the opportunity to score the second goal, I would say was made by Sergeant's shot from the edge of the penalty area. The keeper did really well to make the save, but it fell in a dangerous area, where it was contested for by Pukki and a Rotherham defender. At the time I thought Pukki had touch the ball to Ramsey to score, however looking back at the highlights it may well have come off the Rotherham defender (watched it back several times and still not sure). Whilst Pukki was involved in both goals and may have been the last Norwich player to touch the ball before the goal scorer I really don't see how it could be said that he made either goal.
Credit where it’s due to Smith, I do like his post-match comedy “they must have a green house here because every new substitute was bigger than the last one”
Pukki recently gets into positions where a few seasons ago would have resulted in a goal but now he appears to take an extra touch and on most occasions loses the ball. Age has caught up with him and perhaps he's already thinking about one last move to the knackers yard aka America
Have to disagree about Pukki. I think his movement is better than ever and while he isn’t scoring as lethally as he has in the past, he’s absolutely essential to the way we play - partly because we are struggling to create much. For example, his anticipation of the deflection for the second goal, excellent angled shot for the first goal - they weren’t critical in scoring but without him those goals wouldn’t have come about. He’s not perfect, but then he never has been. He’s always missed loads of opportunities, as part of his game, because he creates loads. If he was any more ruthless frankly I don’t think he’d have been with us - his skill level on the ball is better than any striker we have had that I can recall.
I'm still not convinced with Smith but the last 3 games have been more entertaining and shown signs of improvement . I actually enjoyed watching yesterday and he can't be blamed for Sara , who was excellent yesterday passing sideways assisting their goal . Most of our daft sloppy goals have come from lack of concentration rather than brilliant play
Agree with this. No striker is perfect, but they need to contribute to goals being scored as well as other aspects of play. That's what both Pukki and Sargent did yesterday. They didn't score the goals this time but they created the pressure which made those goals happen. Teemu's deflected shot made the first goal happen just as Josh's fierce shot created the opportunity for the second, which was further aided by Pukki tangling with the CB to set up Ramsay's goal. To me the success of yesterday was the improved quality of play produced by the diamond formation, giving us two strikers up front supported by Ramsey and a 3 man midfield which did well on both sides of the ball. Sara thrived in his role and McLean balanced attack and defence, but the biggest difference was Hayden's ability to screen the defence from a deeper position. Yesterday was the first time he has really looked the part and but for Sara's careless pass we would have had a clean sheet. Had the stonewall handball penalty been given, we would have had an even more fitting scoreline. Every player looked to be a round peg in a round hole yesterday and that made all the difference.
Cantwell has producer a grand total of zero goals and assists for us and Bournemouth in the last year. Seems a busted flush at the moment, looks pretty on the ball but all to no effect I am afraid. Time to bring the curtain down on his Canary career if we can get a bit of money for him in January.
Cantwell does best in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation. Last night he came on as we switched from the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond to a 4-3-3 to see the game out. We'll probably go on switching those formations according to the opposition and the game situation. I like Smith's flexible use of formations as it makes us harder to play against and we have players well suited to all of those formations. Todd still has a role to play, but it will depend on whether he signs a new contract and/or a suitable offer for him. He and Onel and Kieran all have different strengths and Smith will have to make a decision before January.
I'm not bothered if Cantwell doesn't score or assist. He's a live-wire and tries to make things happen. As long as he keeps his head, hustles on defense, and keeps trying to get the ball forward, I'm very happy with him. We've had 13 different scorers this season. his turn will come.
Cantwell looks to the eye like he's developed the defensive side of his game too. I'm not basing this on any stats and I'm sure i'll be shown one but, when he has been playing he's looked lively and gets back to help out when the ball's lost. No complaints about the line up v Rotherham by the way. Something right must be happening in training if Cantwell and Nunez are being kept out.
Teemu Pukki has contributed more to the success of this club that any other player I can remember. And I have been watching Norwich since the days of Ron Saunders. We are in a completely different era from the times when success could come almost by chance, by a team just gelling. Unless you can afford to so spend £100 million on players you don't have a great chance of staying in the top flight. Forest are proving that. Pukki' contribution has been immense. The fact that he came on a free transfer makes that contribution all the more remarkable. He seems to be a good person as well as a great player for Norwich. Getting into double figures when playing fir the bottom team in The Premiership is a fine achievement . In our last season he matched Watkins, Mount,Saka,and Mahrez. Players commanding £50 million transfer fees.
