Now that the dust has settled somewhat after last night's match it's time to reflect on what that result really means. I would suggest that with what is now a five point gap between us and 2nd spot the play-offs are now our only hope of promotion back to the promised land. With only 8 games to go it will be extremely difficult now to catch the top two regardless of the remaining fixtures for all those involved at the top of the league. I am extremely frustrated that the club appear to have thrown away their best chance of a return to the top flight due to the previous managerial appointment which nearly all found incredulous, all water under the bridge now I know. We really did give ourselves a mountain to climb after the poor run of results prior to Adams leaving and it was never going to be easy, our new manager however has worked wonders thus far. Alex Neil's ability to get the best out of a squad with limited ability will now in all probabilty be needed should we fail to go up when our better players, Howson, Redmond, Johnson, Ruddy et al could well leave for pastures new in the close season. We might still make it this year but our inability to put teams away when we are on top has probably cost us. After the resounding win against Ipswich which seems an eternity ago now, for the first time this campaign I really believed we could do it but subsequent results and performances' and in particular last night's, have brought me back down to earth with a bump. The reality is Watford and 'Boro are now on a roll and Bournemouth are now bang on form once again and in my opinion will finish as the top three. We the fans and Alex Neil knew we had to win last night and he said as much in his post match interview. He was gutted you could tell that and so was I, I didn't even celebrate Loza's equaliser as I knew how the other games had finished and a point simply wasn't good enough. Should we go up through the play-offs with a day out at Wembley to boot that would be fantastic, probably better than finishing second, if only victory could be guaranteed eh ? One can never predict end of season results in any division, there are always going to be surprises and it would be folly to try to do so but looking at our run in I reckon we're good for at least 15 points which would cement a play-off place but not autos. Even if we were to win all of our remaining games we could still fall short with a 91 points total, however that probably would end up being enough. We can no longer say that there's a long way to go because quite simply there isn't. Eight games to go isn't many and our players really do now need to show their mettle and sweat blood for that famous canary yellow shirt. A Norwich v Ipswich play-off final could still happen, are you up for it ? Could your nerves take the strain ? What would it be like to savour victory ? What would defeat do to you ? OTBC KIO
Watford just seem to score for fun as do the cherrys, that's my top two prediction. If we do get through via the playoffs then it's going to mean our form will have to improve dramatically ! Our strikers need to start taking these fairly simple chances that they've recently struggled to do so. Problem is our defence all ways looks like there's a goal to concede, especially through Whittaker, don't get me started there! Gas song has come back and given us a new lift at the back, I think without him we'd now be hovering just outside the playoffs. I'm not convinced Dorrans is worth his place and recent form coincides with his appearances? Personally I'd play Hoops instead and keep with two strikers, how also we seem to be missing the in form Grabban right now? Something I'd never thought I'd have said before Xmas. But a win at Wembley over whoever, I'd take, so we can't give up just yet. Plenty of twists yet?
I think there has been an overreaction to last night in particular, probably because a number of people had got slightly carried away by our previous run of form. We had such a huge amount of points to make up when Neil arrived (11) and the fact we closed the gap (though ultimately never got level at any point) so quickly raised those expectations further. But to keep up that insane run of form, no matter how good a side we have, was nigh on impossible - especially when you take into account the sheer volume of matches played closely together. Neil's record reads W9 D3 L2 - I'd say that's a fair match to this squads abilities in this league in accordance to having a manager capable of getting the best out of them. We were never going to win every game and it was unrealistic to expect we could continue to do so. I still think the top two is possible. So many of the top teams play against each other - they can't both win the game. Points will be dropped. But, given where we were points-wise when Neil took over, the play offs was always the most likely outcome. Anything more would be a bonus as far as I'm concerned. We gave ourselves a hell of a lot to do!
I'm not quite ready to chuck the towel in on the autos yet. AN does need to find a winning formula when Tettey is out though, as it seems when he is rested/suspended we struggle. As much as I have been impressed with AN since his arrival, it does seem that he too cannot iron out some of the failings of his predecessors side. We got beat at home by wigan, failing to break down or finish against them and also Derby when they were both at CR looking for a point. Add to that, that whilst demonstrably improved at the back we still cough up to many mistakes at the back. Arguably it is luck that means more of those have not been punished under AN, but also that there are fewer of them. But as I say, I still believe we could sneek a top two, win on Saturday against Forest (Tettey and Hoolahoops to start!?!) and keep some semblance of form and we could catch one of them top two and Bournemouth. Afterall they will all have at least one ricket before the end probably more. don't forget beat M'borough and thats only 2 other points to find, 1 extra win! As for Bournemouth, did I miss something? Didn't they also draw against a mid table side like us last night? With M'borough on Saturday! Will we see a reality check that we are may be 3 pts from second, 7 to play? Watford are hardly home and hosed with a number of tough games approaching, Ippy, M'borough at home and Derby, Forest and millwall away! I still believe, it's been shaken, but we're gonna do it! Bah!
I think some of that is nonsense. We are far, far more organised under AN. Players know and understand their roles. Yes there have still been individual errors (Russell Martin for instance is having a torrid week) and I agree about Tettey, but our good run wasn't down to luck. We were simply doing what we should have been all season. Edit. Sorry, that was a poor post. When I say 'some' I mean the 'luck' bit!
We are possibly all too guilty of over-reacting to a single set of fixtures but in the cold light of day I think that last night represented an opportunity to make inroads whereas in reality we dropped a bit further off the pace. It was a massive win for Boro and fair play to them, whereas Watford as has been said look very potent indeed and remain my favourites for an automatic. Bournemouth are not firing on all cylinders and hopefully they will drop enough poins to allow us a shot at replacing them. The home game against Boro is a must win now I feel and we will need others to help us out again. It could still be a very tight finish and we should be in there with a shout.
All excellent posts and we were never going to win every game. I haven't seen any highlights of last night's game, but it seems officials have 'cost' us 4 points in the last 2 games - the Derby equaliser and Johnson's disallowed goal last night, but our strikers should be putting away more chances to counteract that. We'll be lucky to make the autos, but there are some MASSIVE games coming up in the next few weeks!
Five points is not irretrievable, but the really disappointing part is that, it´s no longer in our own hands, which it was 3 or 4 games ago. We can´t keep on expecting favours from others, so it was absolutely no consolation picking up one point out of the fire when 5 of the teams around us, won. If you think back 6,7,8 games or so, it seemed as if every week, results were going our way, that is unlikely to continue, now that we´re really getting down to the business end.
When the Johnson "Goal" went in I thought my prediction was going to be spot on and we'd run out comfortable winners. Once it was ruled out you could almost feel that that would suck the life out of the Norwich players. This has been one of the most frustrating seasons supporting Norwich I can remember. Every time the hopes go up they get dashed, only to be raised again a few weeks later. Win the next 4 games and we should be back on top of our game for the crunch match vs Boro.
There have been many more frustrating and disappoining seasons than this one Colk, certainly in my lifeime, and time yet for the pendulum to swing back. The play-offs would not be a disaster but having reached the top 2 it would be a bit of a kick for sure.
All of our wins other than 1 of Melchett's I believe have been KIO's match day threads. This is ilogical but true, his return coincided with that fantastic winning run and the last time he took a break we bombed . I fully understand that he is not feeling good after his loss and Football is insignificant in comparison but we need you mate. With 7th place Ipswich behind us by only 3 points and 5 points from autos it's looking like **** or bust, we were actually very lucky to even take a point last night with both shots on target going in.
But luck is a part of it, earlier in the season we bemoaned the lack of it with the oppo seemingly scoring with their only chances, mostly errors being punished. fast forward to Derby and Bassong dallies on the ball gives it away in a dangerous position and we escape! Ruddy however was not so lucky Now I certaintly wasn't trying to say we have not improved, clearly we have, but as I said there are still vestiges of the same problems. ANd if we continue to labour against packed defenses or have lapses then we create problems for ourselves. With luck though, you do need less of it when you are playing well, and luck always seem to benefit those with momentum. So here's hoping for a dodgy penalty early on against Forest to settle the nerves! Bah!
Could the club sack a couple of stewards (They don't really do anything apart from half heartedly ask you to sit down occationally) and employ KIO to just do the threads? Surely this would be the most important signing the board could make! Bah!
Sorry, but as much as we´d all love to believe that, and as true as it is, it´s still pure coincidence, and I don´t think match threads alone will do it, do you?
it's ridiculous to believe that our form has anything to do with a person typing words on the internet but If someone else does the next thread I personally will assume we won't win . It's an experiment I would rather not test to be honest but eveyone respects KIO for taking a break, there is a big World beyong 606 and football that is way more important.
Irrelevant to this thread but HaveIGotNewsForYou @haveigotnews New pound coin design has lots of sides but is no use in Europe. bit like the Premier League. #Budget2015
It's quite simple, KIO you have to do ALL REMAINING match day threads = 8 wins and automatic promotion.
Without Grabban up front & KIO doing the threads we will struggle I tried and the best I got was a draw DH didn't get a win ,Thai neither and we are talking about a combined effort of upwards of 15 plus games & at least 5 or 6 different posters. If someone made a graph showing the win % with or without KIO's threads it would blow your mind RBF. Don't suppose you fancy breaking the curse this Saturday?
