Don't understand how a player going off disrupts us so much. It's happened often before where we suddenly seem tentative for no good reason. Hope Nathan will be fine because it looked nasty and rough on him after a superbly taken goal. Anyone else wondering how the referee managed to see that as a Norwich free kick? Our usual failing let in Hooper for his great strike. Where was the cover? He was in acres of space. Up until then we looked comfortable enough with Norwich only offering hoofballs into the box looking for a bit of "maybe". The game could go either way but we have to get back and start dominating the ball. We are putting in a reasonable shift in terms of effort but, as I feared, Norwich are showing just that much more zip and energy when they get possession. They have a poor defence so we've got to start getting the ball into the box and I'd like to see Bony in there roughing up their big centre backs to create chances.
Some really good football played by the lads with a few things i would like to see happen. 1) Cut out the back passing when there is no need of it as we have already passed the ball more than 10 times and its dangerous football as we can see if we finally lose the ball. 2) We look really dangerous ourselves when we actually go forward and i would like to see less unnecessary passing then and put the ball into the box more.3) there have been a few occasions where they could have tested the keeper with long range shots and we played pass the ball too many times that eventually fizzles out and chance of shooting gone. Overall a better performance from the guys but they still need to work on a number of issues...Shelvey looking good and rangel looking rusty which i expected with him being out for some time...Anyone's game but we have the more possession and we need to capitalize on that..
Thank God we haven't got a EL game this week. Some of the players look like they are running on empty here.
Frustrating for me. We look good going forward - up to a point, then no end product. Norwich looked sharper in the box, mainly because their balls in aerially were very good. But it's an away point and probably a fair result.
Another game where we never made our possession count and norwich deserved a draw for our lack of activity and wasted chances in front of goal. Its better than losing but what a chance we have missed in getting all 3 points...
Agree completely with walking the ball into the net, Bony was given a superb goal scoring pass, and blew it, didn't even have the quick thinking to lay it off to Shelvey, who was totally unmarked? we could have taken all 3 points in the dying minutes of the game, if Bony hadn't been such a slugger bug, he's got to start earning his keep second half of the season. Still a very good point, from a battling Norwich team that ran out of juice second half!................
Three tough games in a week so it's no surprise the lads were leggy at the end. A decent point which I reckon could have been three if we'd had the same amount of rest as Norwich. Canas played well and JdG put in some work to help out for a change whilst Shelvey had some good moments as well. Ash Williams? He's his own worst enemy giving away nothing free kicks in dangerous positions when he should be aware, more than anyone, how fragile we are at defending them. Vorm's punch was a joke. Any self respecting keeper would have caught that but he did make amends later with a great save. I'll be glad when Bony is fit enough to start again. He's always a threat and his heading ability helps the defenders. Michu can then revert to midfield because he's pretty peed off playing up front. His body language says it all and he looks like he wants out. A few goals might change his mind set, though, and he and the team will welcome the "rest" they are going to have.
Contradiction, Phil? You agree about not trying to "walk the ball into the net" then criticise Bony for having a shot. Shelvey was in a good position but perhaps, I say perhaps, Bony might have thought he was offside. In any event, it's difficult to blame a striker for shooting when he's in a good position. It's what strikers do and we don't do it often enough. Doesn't always come off but if you don't buy a ticket, you won't win the raffle........
