What did we expect from the Sunderland game? I expected to win against the bottom side by at least 1 - 0 based on what we achieved at WBA away and that Sunderland did pick up a good win against Chelsea in the League Cup. We might argue that Chelsea may not have 'been up for it' and that Sunderland rode their fortune. I watched the Prem game on a well known internet link and after about 30 mins had made up my mind that the game was going to be a 0 - 0 draw. Went to BBC Sport text on my tv and read the summary of the game - words to the extent that the game was full of endeavour but very little quality. I expected better quality football from Norwich, but find that I am regularly disappointed by what they achieve against sides that I expect to beat. I expect to beat Fulham on Boxing Day based on out relative league positions and the fact we are at home, but are my expectations too great?
yes they are we should expect to compete with everyone we should never expect to win, I think the quality of the top 7 or 8 has increased greatly this year leaving a bigger gap between them and our mini division of 12 and we are all very much on a par
Any point away from home is a good result and from the final 12 mins that I saw we looked pretty good.
I always hope we win but I don't think you should expect to win. As they say, anything can happen in football.
I don't expect us to win particular games, as long as the points come from somewhere. I think we were slightly better than Sunderland but we didn't deserve to win. I would be very disappointed if we lost to Fulham at home; whilst I don't expect us to win because there are no easy games in the Premier League I expect Norwich City to represent themselves with dignity.
Wow, the christmas cheer must be getting to you carrabuh. I think yesterday was a good point. We had a few good chances in the first half and I thought that ricky looked sharp when he came on. The defence in particular put in a good shift, Whits less so maybe, and ruddy is starting to look his confident self taking pretty much everything put into the box at head height.
I agree with Jarrold, and the stats back us up. Any given game of football is pretty much a 50:50 gamble, even when it is a top four team v a relegation-threatened one (as in the case of Sunderland v Chelsea). Instead of having expectations regarding particular matches, it makes more sense to form expectations about e.g. league position at the end of the season, since superior quality is likely to tell over a season regardless of the outcome of a psrticular game.
A good point against a team who needed it massively, really fired up after a huge result in their season. To nullify them to shots from outside the box was a good effort and played to hughtons game plan perfectly.
Having started his "Other side of the fence" thread, we now don't know which carrabuh we are hearing from!
0-0 and you could see the risks we were taking going forward with 10 mins to go. I can't see how anyone can argue against that.
The expectations seem a wee bit high; Sunderland have given most of the top sides a good game at home this season and have been unlucky in several of those matches. But in my heart I always expect to win, I did on my visits to man city, man utd and Liverpool, not because I think we would deserve to win, but somehow we'll get a result; I never go to a match expecting Norwich to lose - i may quickly resign myself to the fact we are going to lose!
Given our results against bottom half teams this season, which have been pretty good bar Villa and Hull, I would be dissapointed to lose against one of them now. i wouldn't say I expect a draw or win, more we've done well so far and hope it to continue. we'll probably lose to palace now on new years day
I think that's fair enough Max, and IMO we outplayed both Hull and Villa and still lost. That will even out over the season. As long as the performance is good the results will improve. With RvW and Snods returning, and hopefully Martin and Howson as well, the future is looking much brighter.
One important difference this season compared to last is that we now have sufficient strength in depth to continue averaging more than a point per game even with substantial disruption due to injury. That should breed confidence. The January transfer window will be interesting. Given how inflated transfer fees become when struggling clubs desperate to strengthen open their purse strings, I would guess we will be circumspect and any signings we make will be in the "young and promising" category and almost certainly from abroad.
The 'squad strength in depth' is a huge factor this season and hopefully will avoid the post Christmas doldrums of last season.
