Afternoon fellow Canaries! Just thought I'd share a quick observation with you... After looking at all our remaining fixtures I have noticed that only Man Utd, Spurs, Man City, Arsenal and Villa can do the 'double' over us this season! I think this is a remarkable feat and really signifies just how hard we are to beat home or away! Our 'bouncebackability' is also sensational. What do you put this down to? Brilliant management? Our rotation system? Determined players? World class players that have been underrated up to this point of their career? Luck? Our squad strength and depth? The close knit family squad that would fight endlessly for their teammates on and off the field? The list goes on.... I would be interested to know your thoughts. Of the above teams I really believe we will not lose all those games, in fact Villa at home is certainly more than winnable and I would be disappointed if we didn't take 3 points off one of the big clubs! Nevertheless I wouldn't exactly be suicidal if we lost them all, it would just be a 'cherry on top' of our already amazing season!! OTBC. ILWT. WFLGH!!!!
I think it has to mostly be down to Lambert. His ability to build a squad and then get the absolute best out of them is astonishing.
All of the above ok, maybe not world class players but certainly players far better then the average L1/Championship level.
Staying up takes priority over beating one of the top clubs Don't forget we beat beat the toon and they are sixth in the league!
The stats so far (as if you need reminding) are P24, W8, D8, L8 Pts32. A team that wins or draws 2 out of every 3 matches is certainly hard to beat. Can we get to P36 with the same symmetry of results, i.e. W12, D12, L12? May be a tall order but if we do we will have 48 points with 2 games still to play.
Robbie bb: That's an interesting point. So interesting that I checked back at our results so far. After 6 games we were 2,2,2; after 9 we were 3,3,3 and after 21 we were 7,7,7. In between we slipped a bit, but have never been more than one game away from this symmetry. That is amazingly consistent, and shows incredible resolve. So yes, it's perfectly feasible that we be at 12,12,12 after 3 games; we'll certainly not be far off.
No matter the formations, tactics or inspirational speeches, ultimately, the results and achievements are down to the players. And I know PL gives them all the credit.
Lambert's a motivator I think as a manager he excels with man management skills, he gives each player a specific task and expects them to do their job, when they don't he speaks to them behind closed doors and doesn't slag them down to the media they respect him in return. He simplifies peoples roles because depending where people are on the pitch they have a specific function to perform some managers make it too complex for their players, when we kept our first clean sheet in the game against Chelsea even though it was a bit more I could here him screaming at Ayala and Whitbread don't let them f**king beat you and hold your line. My cousin heard when he uses the younger players in friendlies he plays them out of position to get them used to total football in a way you can see this with likes of Bennett etc.
On the subject of Lambert excelling with man-management skills, read the first post on this Pink'un forum No wonder the t**t in the City stand kept quiet afterwards http://services.pinkun.com/forums/pinkun/cs/forums/2675199/ShowPost.aspx
I just love the way PL can get players to play in different positions/formations and as has been said, it must be his amazing 'man management' skills. What has been achieved under his leadership is nothing short of sensational and in the few years that I've held a season ticket, I can't remember the expectant buzz around Carrow Road that is evident these days. This was completely evident by the fans' response to the 0-0 when Chelsea came to our fine city - the way in which the fans celebrated was only just eclipsed by the tumultous celebrations of Jackson's winner against Derby!!!!
\ Class , there was some right knobs at the game yesterday I was told by some old bag with a face like a bag of nails to get a grip when I couldn't find my seat I laughed in her face, then my cousin had an argument with some prick in River End who was slagging off the players.
I think if you replace the world class bit with 'incredible self-belief' you pretty much have our winning recipe in that list. Surman's self belief yesterday was unbelievable. Missed a sitter by striking a great chance as hard as he could into the cross bar. Ball falls to him in the 2nd half but a bit more awkwardly. As the ball is dropping there is plenty of time for thoughts of self-doubt to creep in. A sensible man would take a bit of pace off the strike and make sure he at least hits the target. What does he do? Hit it a little bit harder than last time and we're 1-0 up!
robbiebb love your way of thinking that would be amazing, I think it is down to the belief Lambo has instilled into the guys that they got themselves up there and not matter what the plonker pundits say they are therefore good enough to compete at the same level as the overpaid " super teams" I think we we will survive and what a massive return on investment that will be for the city board all our guys will be PL players of more than one season and all other than Vaughan picked from lower divisions , .......incredible result
I really love the symetry there of our results! Let's aim for 10-10-10 - the magical 40 points beckons