F.A. Cup 5th round - Norwich vs Leicester

Norwich City

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vs.

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Leicester City
Saturday 18th February 2012 - F.A 5th Round - Carrow Road - Predicted attendance 26424 (2400 Leicester)​

Leicester City's High Risk army will be travelling to Norfolk to witness this F.A. Cup 5th round clash that promises to be a 'good 'un'. The two league games between these two sides produced a total of 12 goals last season. ​

Norwich's last 5;
Norwich 0-0 Chelsea
West Brom 1-2 Norwich
Sunderland 3-0 Norwich
Norwich 2-0 Bolton
Swansea 2-3 Norwich​

Leicester's last 5;
Leicester 2-0 Swindon
Leicester 2-2 Middlesborough
Brighton 1-0 Leicester
Leicester 2-1 Cardiff
Watford 3-2 Leicester​

Norwich danger man;
Norwich are renowned for being a 'team' rather than a bunch of individuals and this has seen them rise to the dizzy heights of 8th in the Premier League, very much reminicent of Leicester's 'glory days' under Martin O'Neill. However one man has been their talisman and has recently brought a few more goals to the Norwich side. That man is of course Grant Holt. He scored 23 goals last season as the Canaries achieved a remarkable double promotion and Leicester's back four will need to be on their game to keep the man under control.

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Leicester's danger man;
Leicester's fox in the box when it comes to F.A. cup fixtures is Jermaine Beckford. He's scored 5 in the cup already this season and has scored a total of 16 goals in 14 appearances in the competition. He's looked a lot sharper recently and this may be to do with his match fitness having and, having missed a pre season with Leicester, he's looking settled into the side under the watchful eye of Nigel Pearson. He's got a eye for goal and pace to burn so it'll be a test for Norwich's back four.

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Predicted starting 11's

Canaries;​

Ruddy
Naughton Drury Ward Martin
Surman Fox Bennett Pilkington
Holt Jackson​

Foxes;​

Schmeichel
Peltier Bamba Morgan Koncheskey
Marshall Danns Wellens Dyer
Beckford Nugent



Overall it should be a good game, both sides who will want to win the game and they play football in the right way. Lambert will see this as an opportunity to get a very good cup run going with his side whereas Pearson will see it as a distraction from Leicester's poor league form.

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At least Norwich being a really good team (that's team Leicester players) will mean that we put up a fight and not roll over like some submitting dog!

I also can't see NP dropping Mills and Dyer, I can only assume they've got some dirt on him!

 

Very good thread AKCJ's

On paper we have the better side but Norwich have a very good squad and work for each other. It will be a very difficult game but winnable for both sides.

 

looking forward to it, mind you the missus supports Leicester so whoever comes out on top will have to take care over their victory celebrations!

 

better side on paper ? come again ? Norwich 8th in the EPL and where are Leicester exactly ? Is that Andrex ?

 

better side on paper? is that a joke????

i can't think of a single leicester player that would get in our team!

 

......... Supers

 

Better side on paper! Dear o dear

I expect a toughie, but hopefully we progress..

OTBC

 

As individuals i only rate Naughton, Surman and Holt out of the Norwich team. Russell Martin couldnt even get in the Peterborough team, Elliot Ward wasnt he that useless defender from Cov. Never heard of Fox and Bennett and Pilkington are from League 1.

Im not saying they bad players because obviously there not but man for man on paper we have the better squad. That doesnt mean we have a better team though

 

dear oh dear! what an idiot!!!! your lack of knowledge of our team is frankly astonishing!!!!!!!

you've never heard of the players who currently ply their trade in the premier league and are possibly on the verge of european football? that says everything we need to know about you then!

you blatantly have no knowledge of football

 

Sorry i dont have brilliant knowledge on every single premier league club. To be honest i could care less about clubs in the prem. Because i have never heard of someone called Fox that means i know nothing about football

The only Fox i had heard of plays for Southampton

Put it this way i could put up our whole team and you would have heard of them all

 

only cos i know my football. how many more people are so naive that they believe football is played on paper

 

Not being funny, but why should he know about your team?

 

didn't we totally tear through your team last season with those very players? we are 8th in the premier league for a reason - we have very good players!

none of this takes away from the fact i think this will be a tough game, especially as we have so many injuries at the back - i'm not even sure if we will bother with a defence to be honest!

 

No, our whole squad is completely new, only Wellens, King, Dyer, Bamba and Gallagher really remain from last season

We have 5 centre halfs. We can lend you John Pantsil and Tunchev if you like

 

I never said it was played on paper. Your players play as a team and thats why you do so well. Ours play too much as individuals and thats why were struggling.

Under Martin O'Neill when we was doing so well we didnt have the best team on paper but we had people working hard for the team just like you are doing now.

Having loads of great players doenst work

 

thanks for the offer but we'll stick with our rather bizarre solution of playing wingers and full backs throughout the defence. it seems to have worked so far!! god knows how...

i didn't really want to have an argument on here - it was just laughable some of the comments about leicester having a better squad and i reacted. leicester are a half decent team - filled with famous championship names. however, as we have proved, famous names does not necessarily relate to quality players. players like konchesky and beckford are not as good as their reputations may suggest. we know this from experience! at least you've got a better manager now...

 

Are you serious?

You accuse Proud of not knowing about Norwich yet you don't know the difference between having a good set of players and having a good team.

Liverpool are one place and two points above you (I think). Are you saying your players are of equal quality to those of Reina, Suarez, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Bellamy, Downing and Enrique? No they're not. But what you can say is that your team is equal to theirs with them having similar seasons.

Do you see the difference?

Quality is a key concept in squad building but effort, commitment and desire is a lot more valuable. Which is proven in the way that Norwich (who were playing sides like Exeter, Gillingham and Southend two seasons ago are now playing Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. Not by having spectaularly good players who could walk into any other side in the division (granted a couple could) but by having players who were well drilled by a fantastic coach and by working extremely hard.

 

well actually, i would say that many of the players liverpool have, they would happily swap with some of ours! downing wouldn't have a prayer of getting in our team; nor henderson; nor carroll; nor adam; nor spearing; nor a few others i'm sure. you are of course right that our key strength is that we play as a team but the argument here was that leicester have better players than norwich - this is simply ridiculous

 

Right put it this way, on paper Darius Vassell looks a decent player. He has scored 6 goals in 22 games for England which isnt that bad of a record.

But he is ****. Gelson Fernandes would walk into half the prem teams sides but he couldnt get in ours. He was part of the Switzerland side that beat Spain in the World cup. He even scored the winning goal, but he could get into our side. Not because he was a bad player as he was the best midfielder we had but his attitude wasnt right.

And saying some of the Liverpool players wouldnt get in your team that is a joke

Henderson and Carroll are crap but Charlie Adam would get in your team. Didnt you see he nearly kept Blackpool in the league almost single handedly last season. Suarez is an arsehole but he is still a quality player. Steven Gerrard arguably the best midfielder in prem history, Reina is one of the best keepers around.

Look at Fernando Torres, we all know how good he can be and we have all seen what he can do. He didnt get the 50M price tag by chance. He got it because he is a world class player. But for one reason or another he is playing like a donkey. If football was played on paper arguably only Spain and Holland have a better team then England but in the real world we dont even get in the top 10.