Our best result under Lambert's stewardship. Its a pretty big statement to make, bearing in mind some of the stunning results we've had in the past couple of years, but Saturday's win at fortress Liberty Stadium, for me, was the best. Not just for the result, but for the performance which was outstanding. Once again, our magician of a manager got his tactics bang on - we dominated the hosts for long spells and anything but victory would have been a travesty. It was even better than our win at Leicester last season, which had been a stand out performance; better even than the derby-day demolition, which was helped by the appalling inability of our rivals on the day; better than the result at Anfield. This was an excellent, excellent result. It probably also shows how far our promotion buddies have come too that I can claim this to be the best win despite all the mega clubs in the top flight! Swansea have received many plaudits from pundits this season for their style and performances and quite rightly - to beat them, and far more convincingly than the final scoreline suggested, was no mean feat, especially when you consider how many injuries at the back we have! Drury, bless him, is coming to the end of his days but still performs admirably, Ward hadn't played since the end of last season, Martin again excelled out of position... it makes you wonder how well we will play when we can finally get our first team on the pitch! Which is why I'm writing this article. Do we have a first team? How many of us Norwich fans could pick the Swansea starting line up to face us on Saturday? Barring injuries, I'd say we could pretty much do so. Now try and name the City starting eleven... Nobody can do it!! This gives us a great edge. It keeps players on their toes, it keeps rival managers guessing, it gives our manager enormous options both before and during a game. And lets be honest, we aren't carrying any players here. Every single player that comes in does an equally good job to the player they replace. I can't have been the only one concerned that there would be four or five who may struggle at this level if called upon. I've been proven wrong. Naturally players will begin to drift out and be replaced over the next few months but every player at our club deserves credit for how they have applied themselves to our situation. I feel our squad depth is the main reason we have done so well this year. We have so many players that can perform different roles and play different styles. We are so adaptable to any situation - its an astonishing array of formations and game plans we can call upon. We are so difficult to read - and if a team does read what we are doing, Lambert just changes it and the players are able to carry it off! Remarkable. I've been saying for a while that we are a better side than Swansea. They make prettier patterns and are a pleasure to watch - not that we aren't capable ourselves of playing that way - but we are a different beast and a harder team to play against; a harder team to beat. Citeh and United are both exhilarating to watch, but they also know when to mix it up and its an important facet to any successful team to be able to change their style when necessary. We are as good as anyone in this league at doing this. Saturday was the most proud I've felt of my club since the days of Mike Walker. Perhaps it was seeing the club in 8th place, perhaps it was seeing us a mere 4 points away from Liverpool - a team, whose manager, having spent £100m more than us, mean they have spent £25m per point to be ahead of us, or perhaps it was seeing us effectively reach a points total which i doubt will be surpassed by any of the bottom 5 this term. It doesn't really matter what reason it was that made me feel so proud - it would literally be impossible to not be proud of our club at the moment. And I can see them getting better and better and better...
Brilliant post, it really is high time to be a Norwich City fan. I remember telling people that I supported NCFC a few years ago and getting laughed at for it, where are those people now? Thank you to Mr Mcnally & Mr Lambert for restoring pride to our great club OTBC
Superman, I think you eloquently speak for the entire county of Norfolk - and a tiny sliver of Weston-super-Mare It could be argued that we all wear 'canary tinted glasses' but the graft, endeavour, flair, finesse and togetherness that Lambert has instilled to get us this far is getting much more widely acknowledged - at long last. Even Hansen and Lineker had kind words on MOTD this week. That's how far we've come! It has indeed been an unbelievable three seasons - so much so that I'm terrified of waking up and finding it has all been a dream Happy days indeed, and many many more please! OTBC.
Totally agree Supers. NCFC have exceeded everybodys expectations this season. Although biased, I still feel that we are not getting the credit that this team deserves. When I say team, I mean ALL the team - Lambert, Culverhouse, Kharsa and all the coaching staff. It's the coaching staff that mould the players into the exceptional and flexible team that they are. They quite rightly fear no-one and whilst they won't beat everyone, they have more than enough to stay in this league. Staying in this league will mean that the squad will be strengthened even more and as long as we keep our coaching staff intact, who knows where we could end up.
our team is exceptionally difficult to beat, home and away. anybody that beats us, barring the odd off-day, has to play extremely well to beat us. we've lost the same number of league games as arsenal! last year we only lost 8 games all season, the year before was 6 (after lambert took over). we've only lost 14 away league games under lambert across three divisions - that is truly astonishing!! very difficult to beat and used to winning - a cracking combination!
It is a really proud time to be a city fan. Even more so if we progress next week to the FA cup quarters. The hint that excites me most is next season. This year it took us a while to get to grips with the league and dropped points we'd probably collect now (stoke, Wigan, WBA) given our recent epic rise are we on the verge of something awesome? Fairy tale football? Anything batter next season and we should sell the rights to Hollywood.
no doubt '2nd season syndrome' will be the phrase on many peoples lips next season! the thing which i mention in my article which kind of makes that phrase a little more redundant is that we can adapt our style for any match. the reason many teams struggle in their 2nd season is because they are 'found out' swansea may well suffer from the syndrome more than we do, i mean, lambert knows exactly how to beat them after last seasons matches! we can change personnel, change system, change style... we can't really be worked out and that is going to be a massive advantage, especially next season as i think it will become a tougher division. west ham will probably be back and with allardyce in charge they will have a good chance of survival. saints may join us after our two-year sabbatical - they will throw money at it i'm sure (no guarantee of course).
Would rather saints didn't get promoted as we can only be relegated with them. That's why we're safe this year, once their in the league there's a danger.
Superman. Spot on once again. Only thing I would add is that the sort of versatility our squad demonstrates requires real intelligence and an understanding of what positions other than their favoured position require. A great example was Bennett filling in at right back and Naughton at CB against Bolton. Fantastic. Posted from Cloud 9 (Select according to taste!)
excellent point robbie, totally agree. i mentioned it in the summer that lambert targets intelligent people. if you ever listen to the lads interviewed, they all speak with their brains and its great to see they all play with their brains too
It's amazing to think just how epic all of Paul Lambert's signings have been. If there's a manager who achieves better value for money anywhere in the entire world then I haven't heard of him.
Unlike some better known footballers. As I've been preaching on another thread, if your brains are in your feet, best keep your mouth shut and let your feet do the talking!
I know, buddy. I was foolishly hoping to find a way to Dave's heart/cocktail cabinet Epic fail, though
Hi all and Superman expressly bor, this indeed is a proud time to wear the green and yellow. Every game surpasses the previous one. Football is like Darwin said: Survival of the fittest, let's hope we continue evolving along the route of getting even more fitter each season. Thanks to those in charge of the club, we have climbed from the trough of League One to our present exalted position. Am looking forward to next season DV.
