I must admit, I very rarely hear other fans "disrespecting" us, other than the scum, who don't count. Our football was dire for much of last season and, while attractiveness is subjective, wasn't exactly "the beautiful game" before that. I think it's been better this season.
But at the same time, we weren't in those days trying to compete with zillionaire Arab and American club owners as we are today. People who can afford to spend more on one single transfer than our entire club and playing staff is worth. So if you could bear that in mind when making comparisons, it would be quite useful
Not wishing to intrude into your debate with Superman, and without naming any names, on a board like this there will nearly always be some who come across as being more self-opinionated and more self-righteous than others, it´s very hard to avoid. But you´re absolutely right in one thing, no-one´s opinion should be more valid than anyone else´s on here, and no-one should be told they are an idiot or worse, or made to feel they are an idiot or worse, just for having a different viewpoint from anyone else. That´s what has tended, in the past, to turn many a good debate into a slanging match, but I thought things had begun to improve a little to be honest, with good-natured disagreement rather than personal insults coming more to the fore. Certainly, I would be one of the first to leave if the climate deteriorated to such an extent that only a choice, chosen few were allowed to have any say on here. On a slightly different tack, I´ve just seen kickitoff´s post calling the Premier League our rightful place, in my opinion we haven´t got a right to any sort of place, why ever are we more deserving of a top flight place than for example, Leeds Utd, Middlesbrough, Nottm F, Bolton, Blackburn, Sheff W, and countless others, whose history is steeped in top flight football. One thing is trying to stay here and establish ourselves, now that we are here, but to assume that we have some sort of right to be here, does sound rather arrogant to me.
Not talking about money, i am talking about playing styles. Money spent was irrelevant. Great to see Sunderland beat Man City
Mexican - I don't know if you saw the game against Chesea, when after we got the score back to 1-1, we were playing attractive football (IMO) and were up against top class and expensive defenders; where had they been less skilled, we could easily have gone n to score a 2nd goal, as opposed to concede 2 to players who cost megabucks. But that's history and all that really matters is the next few games where I hope we continue to pick up more points towards our survival in the PL. I do agree with RBF when he says that this is a forum where anyone hsaa the right to 'air their views' without the risk of being called an idiot or worse and some of us need to chill out. Some have their reasons for wanting Hughton out (I'm not one of them though), but my biggest concern is who is your choice to replace him????
But the two are heavily interlinked. Money buys silky skills and Barcelon-esque wizardry, but clubs like ours who can't stretch to that have to 'compromise' on some of the 'pretty' stuff and graft out points. That wasn't the case when Stringer, Brown and Walker were in charge. Though there have been steps in the right direction in several games this season, so don't rule it out completely in the future
Surely you can't refuse to believe that the amount of money involved with premier league football hasn't changed the game at all? Money can buy success, just look at Manchester City or Monaco in the French Ligue 1.
I agree, money has brought success for many teams in Europe but does that mean we should not ''try'' and play with a modicum of skill, flare and confidence? Managers can and should instill these things. I am under no illusion we can compete with the big spending clubs when it comes to attracting the best players, The truth is Norwich have never had the best players yet we managed to hold our own. Now we seem to be beaten before we begin, with the exception of yesterday. Yes, we have seen brief flashes of decent football over the past year or so but the players have little self belief, which is often demonstrated on the pitch. We have talent in our team, we must use it. At this time I feel we are not. Now we have several injuries but we were not utilizing those players before they were injured. Just my humble opinion
Lets see shall we, A good performance against Stoke that resulted in a win. A Good performance against Chelsea that we should have gotten something out of but for a poor mistake and a sublime goal. A decent performance against Arsenal though they simply out classed us and a very good performance against Cardiff that unfortunately ended in a draw. We got 4 points from those games, probably what everyone would have expected, maybe the Stoke and Cardiff results reversed. Those are good signs. Are you saying that because we put in good performances against Chelsea and Arsenal but lost we are a bad side? Clearly you need a reality check! The loses in Manchester were terrible and rightly Hughton was criticised and I had my doubts coming into this game, doubts that turned to real questions over Hughton in the first half. But even with that poor performance he rallied the players, got them fighting again in that second half and we won. Everyone on the "Hughton in" brigade has said how bad the performance was and many accepted that after the 7-0 he had to get a result yesterday or he'd be gone. We got that result, the players showed real spirit and yet you still have to criticise! No it wasn't a good performance but we got the result and that's what mattered! Lighten up and enjoy it for once! Supporting Norwich isn't always sunshine and butterflies, obviously, which is why we should ENJOY a win, especially from a poor performance!
Yes we should, but in doing so should we jeopardise our position in the league, or establish ourselves and then look to add those qualities in? When on a tight budget, the cheapest attributes in players are generally pace, strength, height and tough-tackling, so it's easiest to build a competitive squad based on those characteristics than on more attractive skills like vision, movement and guile. On our budget, we could probably bring in 4-5 Prem standard players with the former qualities, but only perhaps 2-3 of the latter. I'd rather we took a little longer to start playing decent football, but make sure we stay up, than risk trying to run before we can walk, and end up getting relegated. It'd undo all the good work we've done over the last few years.
You make some good points and I saw flashes of what we might achieve against Cardiff, but their defence held firm and Marshall was named keeper of the week. Had just one of those 10 'shots on target' gone in, the entire game would have changed and we would have an extra 2 points. As you rightly point out, we have some key players injured and unfortunately there is no cover for Tettey and he with Fer and How son were beginning to form an excellent understanding and controlling midfield. Let's at least wait until the end of Nov and see if our performances improve.
