Completely agree with this. I was enormously disappointed that Swansea equalised and the whole performance was by no means perfect, but it was an big improvement.
If people had talked about relegation after our 10 game unbeaten run we would have laughed at them but now we are in the form that teams get relegated with. But i think the issues started after the 5-0 against liverpool game, i think hughton decided that we needed to defend in greater numbers and deeper since this game and we have been picking up points so has been satified but now we are stuck with the negitivity way of playing and the players are finding it hard to shake that off and to actually attack the opposition. On saturday we saw both sides of norwich's season the scared negitive game for 50 minutes on saturday and for 40 minutes in the middle the team and the game play that gave us 11 leagues games unbeaten.
I can only speak for myself when I say you are correct Saturday, by and large, was better than it has been for the vast majority of 2013 (not this season - before we get a play on words from Welly ). I did think form the kick off that we were going to have a huge uphill struggle as we were very slow in getting going, but thankfully another gear was found and dare I say some suggestion of confidence in taking the game back to the Swans. Conceding the 2nd goal was as gut-wrenching as it could be not because we conceded but in the manner of it and it was so odd for the defense to imitate statues in such a way, albeit for a brief second or two but enough for the damage to be done. I don't want to take anything away from Swansea, they are a decent side and can be hard to knock off their stride once they get going so I do give a lot of credit to the team for eventually taking the lead, just a shame we could not hang on to it and in that respect I felt a certain inevitability about it coming, just as it did against Spurs a couple of months ago. Play in the same way for 80+ minutes against Reading and it ought to be a reasonably comfortable game and that is my only real concern - playing for the vast majority of the game.
Quite a few were dismissing such and idea just 5-6 weeks ago (maybe less) when we were regarded as being well clear of trouble, it was somehow impossible for us to get dragged in to it.
I am positive we will be safe but there is no doubt we are in trouble if results all go against us on saturday and we pick up nothing.
Reading and QPR are dead from our point of view. They both need to win four more games than us with six to play and that is not going to happen. Of the rest us, Wigan, Villa, Stoke and Sunderland have two games against members of the top 6 and a couple against the lesser sides. If we come out of our four easier fixtures with two draws and a win we should be OK. If we lose against Stoke, Villa and Reading then we have no place in this league anyway. We have WBA who will have nothing to play for and then Arsenal/Man City who we will do well to get anything out of. I think the table will look ugly for us if we can't get anything at Arsenal but then we have four reasonable fixtures before the trip to Manchester and even if these go horribly wrong we should still be in a position to have our fate in our own hands on the last day of the season although I hope that it won't come to that.
I did put on another post that I believe the players took hold of the game for a while Saturday and it was a momentum that carried on until half time. I put that I was washing up the lunch time dishes at half time and singing my head off because I felt we had grasped the nettle, the players had seized the day and we had finally got into gear as a sustained attacking force. That's just commenting on what you have seen at the time. But I did put that half time came at the wrong time and I'm sure the momentum was lost. I don't care who manages us and I don't care who plays for us. But I do want my team to play good, attacking football and I will never praise or defend (sorry), dire 7 man defensive football as a system. If we are pushed back like that then so be it. But I hate seeing us adopt that as our Plan A. And if that is the philosophy of CH, I don't care even if he does keep us up, I would like to see him replaced.
Sorry but that just doesn't make sense. Surely the question should be WHY did we go backwards at such an alarming rate? To answer your question and I have already said it, that performance was not good enough for a team that needed to win and were at home. To put out same team as the previous week when we put in such a abject performance beggars belief! The only way you could say it was better than previous games is that we scored twice!
The "only" way it was better? A little harsh - we at least got a point! That counts as better. And I think, arguably, the performances of certain individuals was a huge improvement and the whole manner of play between the 35th and 75th minutes was an enormous improvement. A long, long way from the finished article, but still you surely don't believe that two marks on the score board were the only improvements? I think you're right to question our deterioration in form. I thought it was a hard run of fixtures at first (which it partly was), but then Hughton didn't seem willing to seize the opportunities to arrest that decline in some of our easy matches (when we had a big cushion on the bottom three and the chance to throw caution to the wind). The lack of changes in the team, I totally agree "beggars belief", but in the end, actually paid off (substitutions aside).
Ignore it. You are both clearly not trolls in my book, because you both are pretty adamant that you believe what you are saying and are not just trying to get a rise out of others (I hope). There are trolls on here, Norwich fans included, but let's not try to score points with cheap accusations better directed at others, eh Beef? You've been the recipient too, so you've no need to descend.
Rob this is the basis of my complaint, we seem happy just to get a single point from our home games, when we should be going for all 3! There's about 5/6 games where we've given away points, we should be well and truely safe from any talk of relegation by now!!
I don't think we didn't go for all three? Certainly all the players were keen for it, in my view, as was Hughton. I certainly think all the fans were gunning for all three! I just think most fans accept that one point is better than the nil we got last week, the performance as a whole was an improvement, and at least we had the chance for all three (which we certainly didn't with no shots on target v. Wigan...) So I don't see how you can say it was the only improvement. I agree that we should be well and truly safe, but I really think that, with all due respect, you're picking the wrong game to blame. Particularly given that Swansea are far from easy pickings
That is total rubbish. After we equalised we kept pushing and got the second and wen we got that we kept going and nearly got a third. So how did we settle for a point? We've been wasteful in games and unlucky at times but you've got to be strong, not fall to pieces slating the team.
Sadly, what we 'should have done' is gone, history. No amount of bickering will bring it back. What we can do, however, is spot improvements in the latest performance and as fans, pick up on that determination shown by Benno, Snod and Johnson, in particular. We can't influence what's in the past, but we, the crowd and support, can make a huge difference in our future 6 matches
For me Saturday's performance was better than the Wigan game for a significant portion of the match. I bear in mind that we were playing home but also that we were playing a higher calibre of opposition. I still don't get why CH played the same XI who underperformed the previous week or why it took Swansea to equalise before putting some fresh legs on. I am disappointed that we did not go for a more attacking approach against a side on a poor run and who are not great away from home. I hope we will be more ambitious against Reading/Villa and WBA in the coming weeks.
Beef please read what I've written! I didn't say the team settled for a point, I said the fans and people on here seem happy with a point from our home games. I don't consider what I've written as being "rubbish" either. Also I am strong in my support for NCFC, it doesn't mean I can't complain when I feel things aren't going as I hope they should. Neither have I fallen to pieces, although at my age that is highly likely. Please don't go down the route of telling me what I should or shouldn't think just because I don't always agree with you! PS. I'm not a troll either, just a lifelong supporter who doesn't like what the team has become!
I would have been happier with 3 points if that's a statement I have to make. Seems rather obvious to me. The fight and heart the players showed along with the improved attacking intent THAT LEAD TO GOALS should be highlighted. Swansea were lucky to get a point, don't forget that.
Broadly agree, but only Bennet was an improvement, in my opinion Johnson, Snodgrass and Turner have been consistant. Johnson would be my POS. Bennet was getting slated on this forum last week and "should be sold as soon as possible". I've always liked his more direct style, it was just the final ball which let him down, sadly just about all our attackers could be guilty of that this season. Also agree that the fans can infulence the team, but that works both ways. I want the team to excite me as well, I think that's fair?
