First of all, I'd like to apologise to all Norwich City fans. I have visited Craven Cottage on two occasions as a fan and my record reads: P2 L2 F0 A11. You have my word that I shall never go to that place ever again Ok, now to the positives from yesterday: Right, that's them out of the way. Now to the negatives: The full backs, both of them were all over the place. Admittedly, we could make a case that they are our reserve full backs this season, but still, both were culpable for four of the five goals. Next up, the centre backs. Turner had a nightmare and Bennett wasn't much better, though without him the score would have been even worse. I'm going to put it down to a very bad day at the office. I've seen enough of both players to know they are good enough for this league and they certainly weren't helped by the constant mistakes by Martin and Tierney. Next up Ruddy - even Mr Reliable had a shaky game and his early mistake, at a time when we looked marginally the more controlled side gave the hosts a lift. Hardly to blame though he could have done better with the first goal. Who's next? Lets go for the central midfielders. Howson... did he play? Not sure. Johnson was ok to be fair and the only one to pester their creative players but his passing was awful. Our wide men played practically as full backs - our whole midfield was way too deep and at one point there was at least a 50 yard gap between our second furthest forward player and poor Grant Holt, who stood literally no chance yesterday and can't really be blamed for anything. *HOLDING MIDFIELDER KLAXON* I know I keep banging on about it and I'm beginning to bore myself, but its crucial we sign one or at the very least get Fox fit and stick him as the deepest midfielder. We have such a rigid shape to our side - its setup to be rigid for a reason - to stop the goals going in at the other end. We were too flat, too rigid, no flexibility at all and everyone was so deep. Simple balls over the top were enough to cause havoc. I have no problem with our new manager attempting to right the wrongs of last season but I don't think we have the players here to be setup that way. We have too many players who want to go forward. I'm a keen fan of 'playing to your strengths', something our former manager always did. We DO need to tighten up at the back but this should not be at the detriment of our strengths. One up front DOES work, but it doesn't work in the system we used yesterday. There was no depth, no vision, no creativity, no spark, no fight... these are all alarming issues to have but thankfully it is opening day and not March. We have time to re-assess and get things right. Hughton is a good manager - I think the result yesterday came as a shock to him - I don't think many of us felt we would win the game, Fulham, as proved yesterday are an excellent side and one which we should look to emulate. They don't pay big money but they have a young and vibrant squad, one defensively sound but creative going forward. I really liked the balance they had and they only played one up front - just proves it works if used correctly. Certainly no need for panic stations at this stage but a very disappointing result. Had we lost 2-0 it may not have had the same effect - for that we maybe should be thankful in a weird kind of way! Nobody was under any illusion that this year was going to be tough and this has only enhanced that. We have a chance to bounce back immediately next weekend and it will be very important to see how our players react to such a hiding. One thing I won't put up with is a lack of effort and one or two were definitely lacking in that area at Craven Cottage. But here is my bold prediction - both sides who lost their opening day game 5-0 will stay up. First day results are not a great barometer of where a team will finish, and we should know that better than most! Keep the faith. OTBC
I don't think your the only Norwich fan with that bad a run. We never get anything out of the bastard place lol. You've made a fair assessment, I don't think holty did anything particularly wrong because he never stood a chance up front by himself. Midfield had some individual performances, snoddy made some good tackle, but they simply didn't work as a unit. Defence went missing and made very simple mistakes, hope ward is back soon lol for all his knockers he does the simple things well, which is what we needed yesterday. I'd have forgiven him some **** balls from the back. Ruddy was just dumbfounded by the end, he's had a bit of a week. All in all, tweaking SHOULD solve it (****ing hopefully)
I can't see the turnaround being quick, I would imagine getting a defence organised is one of the hardest things for a manager to do. It's probably going to be a slow progress until it clicks if Hughton is going to stick with the rigidity. Personally I think rigidity and steadfast rules takes the thinking and responsibility away from the players. Its pretty much the antithesis of how Lambert worked.
It's early days lads and technically you're not bottom Ive just been checking the receipts we got for some of our WCT (Woeful Crap Talent) and it says in the small print that if we try to play 5 low rent wannabe Messi's in the same game we will get stuffed Hopefully big lessons learnt yesterday for both teams. I was wrong though, next week is he big early season 6 pointer
I dread to think Thai. Our form at CR is shocking and why we went 4-5-1 at home yesterday plating every creative player yet no DM or holding players is beyond me It was almost keenganesque 'we'll score more than you' stuff I think we have more to worry about than you do, rob green is a nervous wreck already
We went nearly the same 4-4-1-1 with Holt alone up front - whoops, big mistake. A little surprised about Rob Green, I thought he still had what it takes to be a top level keeper, having said that he has been known to make some horrific mistakes from time to time and Swans first goal was a good example. I still anticipate a home win purely based on our home form against you over the years but in reality anything could happen from an unlikely 0-0 to a ridiculous 5-5 if both defenses are as bad as they were yesterday
We played park hoilett mackie taraabt and diakite across the middle all of whom love going forward yet don't track back or tackle. Madness really. We missed Barton. How bad is that!?! No idea on next weeks result other than I can't see us getting anything unfortunately plus I'm actually in Cromer next week so I'll feel even worse if we bloody well lose
Hope this isn't taken the wrong way- but you shouldn't read too much into yesterday. Our midfield won it- if we can keep Dembele then our central partnership is as good as any in the league really (in my opinion). Quick passing and strong dribbling meant we could bypass your midfield quite easily and play in in behind the right back for a winger to come onto. If we'd been more clinical in the second half then we had a few chances coming in from the left- Kaca shanked one pretty badly. I didn't really see much from Norwich but it would be unfair to make a judgement on that match- the weather was a factor in demoralising the players second half- I was surprised Hoolahan didn't start, presumed he must be carrying an injury. Good luck for the season.
Holding midfielder is a must I thought Bradley Johnson's passing was awful we cannot have that at this level. With the fullback situation if Hughton apparently watched all our games he would of worked out by now that Russell Martin is better utilised as a central defender then a right back. I know this Whittaker can play as a fullback but the RB position has been ignored if I'm to be honest I'm a bit pissed off about it.
We actually lined up 4-5-1 and totally isolated Holt. If that was meant to be 4-4-1-1 I'd like to know who the 1 behind Holty was supposed to be because neither Surman nor Howson gave the big man any support apart from the one time they linked up after a superb pass from Ryan Bennett. I was just astonished by the lack of movement in our midfield, particularly for the first game of the season. The game was screaming out for Wes to get things going and I thought he'd be on at half-time for sure. Too late by the time he did come and has been said. Pilks and Snodgrass never got themselves into the positions Duff and the other guy who's name escapes me (sorry). Yes, it was an absolutely roasting hot day down by the river, and I was expecting us to wilt in he second half with the Fulham players - many far more used to playing in the hotter climes - to take advantage in the second half, as what happened, but I didn't expect us to be walking and standing around from he third minute on! Totally agree with Supers in that I'm glad we got stuffed 5-0 rather than 2-0, that would have masked an absolute shocker and hopefully it will act as the early wake-up call we need. Arses in gear chaps, we've got a big game we could do with winning next week!
didn't your lot get battered by 7 in league 1 a few years back and then go on to win the league? Don't worry about yesterday - think it was a fluke result.
Ill be there next week at CR more in hope than expectation. How can one be confident with 2 pts on the road since last November and yesterday we were awful. Hoolihan Holt and Morrison in the Norwich team and once again we will leave CR with 0 pts. Congrats Norwich fans i say now you will be up and running next week with 3pts.
The way I saw it, we effectively had a flat 5 midfield camped inside out own half which just gave Fulham the licence to attack. We lack pace, with Naughton gone we have no pace at all at the back. Fulham exploited that. God knows how they found THAT ball so often when we had so many back. We didn't look fit, we looked overweight and lethargic. To sum it up, we looked lost. I have faith we can change that, but the hard work starts in earnest now. And it could be worse, we could be QPR who are now spending more wages than they can possibly afford and got that same result...at home.
EXACTLY THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apart from my Stats which are 13 against 1 for! ILD OTBC
