BY the time we visit Wolves for our next televised game, we'll have a much better understanding of where we are. If we can pick up at least 4 points from our next 3 games, then I'll be quite happy.
The fact of our opponents position at this moment is totally irrelevant. If Bristol and Ipswich had beaten us they would now be on 14 points, wiith us on 13. In other words we have contributed to their position in the table.
Highlights here - sorry, no commentary Decent turnout by the G & Y army. I have been to the City Ground several times where we took far less (normally midweek games mind)
Hoolahans Pen was very tame, again. The skill of Jacob and Wes on the ball were a joy to see. The marking switched off again for their goal, their man was the only one thinking of getting to the rebound. Dorrans goal was a fantastic strike!
Definitely think it's time for a change of penalty taker as we said earlier in the thread. From listening to Canary Call, it seems the whole team played better and AN fit his tactics spot on by having Dorrans and Howson in tandem to cover for the missing Tettey. Jacob could go on to be our top scorer this season and of course hell make mistakes, but he's not afraid to 'shoot on sight'. Definitely planning on going to see the under 23 game tomorrow evening.
So happy for Jacob, and he looks the real deal, would love to see more of Josh. I think he can definitely step up. I'm sure he's going to be massively motivated by the fact he was ahead of Jacob until this season. He has a point to prove. Brilliant to see Thompson come on, but 2 minutes at the end of the game isn't going to do a lot for him...
Player ratings from the EDP. - • Michael McGovern No chance with the home opener when beaten by Apostolos Vellios from close range. Otherwise largely redundant. 6.5 • Ivo Pinto Defensive qualities tested in the first half. Beaten in an aerial duel at the far post late on by Nicklas Bendtner’s thumping header. 6.5 • Russell Martin Composure was a valuable commodity in closing stages. Forming an effective union with Timm Klose and three wins since restored to the side. 7.0 • Timm Klose Slow to react for the Forest goal when Eric Lichaj’s header rebounded off the far post but a reassuring willingness to bring the ball out. 7.0 • Martin Olsson Difficult task in the first half against the impressive Hildeberto Pereira. Heeded his manager’s half-time call to get on the front foot. 6.5 • Graham Dorrans Anchored the second half transformation. Capped by a quality finish on his right-foot. Labelled ‘special’ by his manager. 8.0 • Jonny Howson Ran his central midfield ally close for top billing. Couple of sloppy passes aside, combative and a sure finish for the equaliser. 8.0 • Jacob Murphy Assist of sorts on the corner that deflected into Jonny Howson’s path after his swerving shot was tipped over. Went close again in the aftermath. 7.5 • Wes Hoolahan Tame penalty saved in the first-half by Vladimir Stjkovic but showed his experience to become an influential presence after the break. 7.0 • Robbie Brady Couple of first half chances to nudge Norwich in front. Needs a run of games now to really show his quality. 6.5 • Cameron Jerome Key link in the second period when City finally managed to get him support. 6.5 Interesting to see to see that the lowest was 6.5, when just a few weeks against Brum ago it was the HIGHEST!!!
Interesting comments in this article, link posted below: "At present, Jerome has to start but where on earth are our signings? Apparently skint, we've bought Pritchard, Canos and Oliveira yet none of them got a look in. The idea of signing players must be to improve on what you've already got but we have one playing understudy to our talismanic Irishman, one who despite impressive cup and u23 performances can't even make the bench and a new striker we've yet to even see. If we really have spent everything we had on these guys I don't think it's unreasonable to think we might actually see them at some point. If they're literally just squad players then a window considered disappointing will start to look as **** as one with a view of Ipswich. " http://www.alongcomenorwich.com/article-archive/forest-vs-norwich-the-acn-verdict
And hard on the heels of that, here's Gary Gowers weekly MFW column http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...-of-the-canary-looks-just-a-little-brighter/?
Just got a tweet from GG, thanking me for linking his column to this site. I had no idea he even knew we existed!!
For the first time this season it would seem that we played in a manner we all knew/hoped we were able to. Watershed game? I would hope so, but knowing our self destruct tendancies probably not. Everton line up could be very interesting.
I wouldn't say its irrelevant, but it doesn't really prove that much at the moment, a bit like our current league position, however all trends have to start somewhere. So I think I'll keep going with it and maybe when we get to halfway through the season we'll be able to judge how relevant it is.
I'd LOVE to think so, but we'll certainly know more in a couple of weeks, when we've played both Newcastle and Wolves away in the space of a few days. Also, we've got Burton on Saturday, so the team needs to be ion their mettle, so that it doesn't become a 'banana skin' game.
Agreed as I clearly said in my post. I think we'd all have taken our current points tally after 8 games if we'd been offered it at the start of the season. What about performances though, was Birmingham our only unacceptable performance ? How many great performances have we had ? What if we've just been lucky and the 8 teams we've played so far are the 8 worse in the division ? As I said 3 or the teams we've beaten currently sit in the 3 relegation spots. Clearly we're in a great position, but only if performances improve going forward. If we maintain our performance levels over the last 8 games for the remainder of the season I can't see us finishing in the top 6, we might even struggle to finish in the top half. Clearly if our performance levels improve then we're in a great position to get automatic promotion. Interestingly yesterday, perhaps for the first time this season, we seemed to play square pegs in square holes. Hopefully AN has learnt some useful lessons, but I won't hold my breath.
